| Michael Collins Reflects on Close Call at Castle Dargan "Today was more of the same with 2 bogeys and a double balanced up by 2 birdies and an eagle for an uninteresting level par. The one highlight ( or lowlight depending on how you look at it) came on the 260 yard par 4 15th. It is drivable but with a big lake short and right, loads of sand and an undulating shallow green, there are plenty places to come unstuck, Collins explained "With the wind off the right today and the flag at the front, three wood was my weapon of choice. My focus was sharpened when, first up, my playing partner hit it into the middle of the lake! However, just off a double on 14, I was looking for eagle." "Well struck it was looking for the flag but with the bunker hiding the bottom of the flag, it was hard to know how close it was until the scorer and his son went crazy at the back of the green, clapping furiously. We started walking towards the green and saw the man and his son walking down onto the edge of the green staring intensely towards the hole." "When the hole came into view, I saw what they were gazing at. My ball was hanging over the right side of the hole. when I say hanging, 7/16ths of the ball had no ground under it. The scorer added to my disgust, telling me that the ball rolled around the back of the hole, caught the rim in slow motion and somehow, stayed out." "On reflection, I had mixed emotions on the near miss. Of course it would have been nice to have a hole in one on a par 4. On the other hand, The one under total for the day might have earned me an extra £30 but the round of drink could have cost me €500! A tricky one!" |
