A Power Game: Jonathan Sanders on the JAG Tour (Redux)

[TPB Player]

FYI, there is only 1 cut in these 4 day tournaments. It comes after the second round. Once you make the third round, you cannot be cut.

[jksander]

Good to know. Also, I use the term "cut" that way, though I know in the game they refer to "consecutive cuts" in terms of money earned. Correct?

[Rob4590]

Originally Posted by jksander

Good to know. Also, I use the term "cut" that way, though I know in the game they refer to "consecutive cuts" in terms of money earned. Correct?

Yeah same difference - if you make a cut (ie qualify for the last 2 days) then you automatically make money.

[jksander]

Didn't know that either! Wow, you learn new things every day ... although I suppose you have to place high enough to not lose money, since I've seen some people come away with as little as $500, when it costs $1,250 or so to enter.

February 22, 2006
It's a sunny, nearly breezeless, day in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina as we get the Norsoft Pro Championships underway! My group-mates for the first two days? Harry Eager, 41, is an Australian golfer who has failed to get past the first two days at both Escaline and Nilstar. Jesse Ortiz, meanwhile, is a 33-year-old American who hasn't competed since the River Oaks Classic, where he played two TERRIBLE games, averaging a 79 in the first two rounds. So my competition is not in this group ... I'll have to do vastly better than them if I want to be in this one. And I played a great game, for an opening salvo, starting out slow but hitting par or a birdie in the last ten consecutive holes! That gave me a 68, four under par, while my two opponents broke even. Unfortunately a lot of golfers had vastly superior games today, so I'm in an eight way tie for 12th, with English golfer Sebastian Smith well in the lead -- he hit a 59, 13 under par! Smith, 40, is playing in his first major tourney this year, and there's hope for the rest of us that he'll stumble in later rounds. That's a steep expectation to hold that level of play the rest of the tournament.

[jksander]

February 23, 2006
This round went pretty much by the books, as I only bogeyed three times, coming up with a 70 score, going two more under par (I'm currently six under). Harry Eagar is one under and Jesse Ortiz, improving nicely, is four under. I'm now atop a four-way tie for 14th, as Sebastian Smith (16 under par) continues to astound the fans.

[jksander]

February 24, 2006
I'm golfing today with two new faces. Hugo Sundberg, 23, is an up-and-coming Sweedish golfer who has participated in all four of this year's events without making a cut ... until now. So he's raring to go, at five under par. And Andrei Smith, 42, is an American golfer participating in his first event. He's also five under par. I started six under, and playing safe golf I made it through the tenth hole having hit every single hole for par, no exceptions! Then I gained a stroke on the eleventh ("Reservoir"), improving to seven under, but bogeyed for the first time on "Three's A Crowd," the 12th hole, which has consistently given me trouble. But I earned that stroke back on the 13th hole, "Carolina Narrow," and seemed to be at the top of my game! A bogey on the 14th was followed by a par performance on the 15th, a birdie on the 16th and (unbelievibly) a bogey on the three par 17th! So, heading into the final hole, I was back where I'd started, six under, leading Hugo Sundberg by four and Andrei Smith by one. I hit it in par, and finished the night even at 72, six under for the three days so far. That knocked me into a nine-way tie for 20th in the standings, and barring a nuclear meltdown, the stunning performance of Sebastian Smith will lead to a win ... he's hit 59, 69 and 67, for a total that has him 21 under par. He has a seven stroke lead on his nearest competitor.

[jksander]

February 25, 2006
Day four dawned sunny and mild, without a touch of breeze, always good news. Jesus Melendez, 40, hails from Spain and is six under par, having placed 35th at the Nilstar Championship prior to this appearance. And Cristian Hart, 41, who is also six under, placed 31st at the River Oaks Classic and 17th at Nilstar. I played a fairly average 70-game, and finished the tournament with a score of eight under par. I finished 19th overall, worse than I'd hoped, but came out with $8,300, so it wasn't all a waste.

[jksander]

March 22-23, 2006
Time for the Equared Open, played at River Oaks in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina! I love this course, and if they'd let me take up residence in a tent on the beautiful edge of Shipwreck Reef, the first hole, I certainly would consider it. I hit 71 in my first round on Thursday, putting me one under par and in 36th place. Then on Friday I hit a spectacular 66 to improve to seven under par at the point of the cut, at which point I moved into third on the overall leaderboard! Scotland's Jack Aitken, 25, is in second place (eight under) and has made the cut in a tournament for the first time. And American golfer Anthony Garcia, 20, is also in his first "cut" appearance, with nine under par.

[jksander]

March 24-25, 2006
I finished day three with a score of 71, which puts me eight under par for the tourney thus far and knocks me up a notch to #2 on the standings, only four behind Anthony Garcia! So the two of us are paired up for the final round, slugging it out, an experience I've never had to this point in my career. Early on, Garcia got up to a huge lead, at 13 under to my five under (I really f---ed up some early holes). But by the time we hit the 13th hole, heading into my best stretch, I was eight under to his nine under, having just birdied a hole he double bogeyed! So we're battling it out to the end. A similar thing happened with hole 15, when I birdied and he bogeyed, evening us up at eight under apeice! I birdied the next hole as well (he hit even) which finally put me in the lead by a stroke with only two holes remaining! But he birdied the next hole, and I hit for par, which made us even nine under with ONE HOLE LEFT: "End Game." And would you believe it? I hit the hole for par, and poor Anthony Garcia flubbed his drive into the trees and took five to get it home. I finished the game with a 71 and was nine under in the end, while he finished with a 76 and ended up eight under. But wouldn't you know it, I end up with second place ($53,999) because Sebastian Smith (remember him? he won the Norsoft Pro Championships last month?) had a great 68 game to pull ahead, finishing 11 under par for the tournament.

Interesting to note: after that second place finish, I've moved up to sixth on the JAG money list, with $77,522 this year! Smith, at #1, has made $197,998 in only his first two appearances. I wonder when he'll end up moving to the WSGA tour.

Also, and I barely believed they had the nerve, Cypronsi Balls, one of the worst ball manufacturers in the game as we know it, offered me a miserable $3,000 sponsorship and free balls, but said if I dared use better balls, they'd demand their money back. I told them I wanted my email space back, and deleted the offer without a thought.

[Tim Moungey]

looks like you need to start stalking Smith