Making the highly improbable happen (almost)

The phrase "highly improbable" was used by Douglas Adams in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series of books and though that term is likely designed for things like being struck by lightning or winning the lottery, I like using that term to describe things in my life even if not in the original intent..

There was good reason to not be optimistic about winning the Illinois Open Series 2019 closing event in Rockford for multiple reasons. There were two elite players who registered for my event and of the other 10 rated players, I was 8th and one of the two unrated players finished higher than me at the previous IOS event in Oswego 4 weeks prior. If there was gambling, I would have made myself 50-1 to win.

My goal was to possibly finish in the top half of the field and collect a small amount of merchandise credit. What actually happened was that another player on the last hole had to make a 15 foot putt to beat me by one shot for first. How did this happen?

Problems at the top. Two players who were registered chose not to play including the second highest rated one. The top two remaining players, including the highest rated one in the state were in a group that failed twice in its first 5 holes to play to the correct basket (other groups in our pool made a similar error) of the two that most holes on the course use. There is a two shot penalty for each violation and both of them eventually withdrew from the event. The UDisc app (which I now use after making multiple adding errors this year) had course layouts for the event per pool so I could look at my phone and know which basket and tee pad to use to make sure we were correct.

The courses design. The two Anna Page park courses played by the MA50 group were mostly beyond the range of the players in the division first shots making birdies difficult to get and putting a premium on approach shots. The player who won did not get one in 36. My three came on a 40 foot putt, throwing a drive as hard as I can to reach a basket, and putting one in from over 100 feet.

The weather. No doubt the 2-3 inches of rain that fell in the 24 hours including during most of the event were a factor. Having dry skin, a slow walkup to my drive, and not having much a preshot routine made the rain less a factor for me than other players. I don't think it is a coincidence that the other player who usually chooses a disc and immediately throws won the division.

(In an event two months later where a cold, windy drizzle was falling all during the event, I won the MA50+ division by six shots that equaled the score posted by the MP50+ winner who is an eight time major champion in female events so apparently bad weather hurts my game less than most.)

Also, I prepared for the weather. I had plenty of towels with me to use and still had a dry one left while other players did not have one. I also wore for the first time rain gear which helped keep my arm and back warm as well as using my old pair of non slip work shoes which prevented me from slipping on wet tee pads even after walking through the mud that was present in round two.