An Eagle on the 18th???

Yes, you heard it correctly.... an Eagle on the 18th!! And I'm not talking about a "golden" or a "bald" eagle. I'm talking about 2 under on a par 5 to end the Qatar Masters Volunteers Tournament. Team Taylor along with our new friends Rob and Bob, had a successful run ending up at -15 on what some call the most difficult and longest course on the European Tour. 

The format was a modified Texas Scramble and we all had to contribute at least 3 drives. After each player hit their drive we selected best ball, but the person who hit the best ball was not permitted to take the next shot. Finishing up each round, we were all allowed to putt. 

There were around 160 volunteers playing in the tournament which took place over a morning and afternoon session. I had a bad case of the tournament jitters, especially because I've never played the beautiful but very difficult Championship Course. Thankfully, Kris was there to calm my nerves and coach me through each shot. Our team handicap was 8 with Kris contributing a very low 6 and me at the other end of the spectrum with a 36.

Our team started off ok... we birdied the 1st after selecting my drive (which was closest to the fairway) and a 25 foot putt off of the back off the green by my hubby. We also had a solid par on the 2nd. After a disappointing bogey on the 3rd hole we decided to just play and have fun. That strategy seemed to work for us and a collaborative effort began to take root. That was our first and last bogey as we started racking up the birdies. Bob started it off with the longest putt I've ever seen at about 50 feet. Kris picked up his game on the back 9 and drove the ball well over 300 yards down the fairway on every hole. I contributed on the front 9 with 3 drives and one putt and rounded it off on the back 9 with a few chips and 3 more putts topping off at about 20+ feet long.

There's no better way to end the tournament then with Kris hitting his 3 wood 266 yards onto the green for our second shot. We all took a stab at the 15 ft putt, but Kris ended up sinking it to clinch our win with an eagle on the 18th hole. Although I should mention that we swept first place by a landslide with the runners up more than 4 strokes behind us.

Later that evening we were treated to cocktails and a delicious buffet dinner before the awards ceremony took place. At this point we were feeling confident with our win, but not many players had shared their scores after the tournament was over. There were cheers (and boo's... some people just can't handle losing) when our team was called and our score was announced. Kris and I were extremely excited to clinch our first win in the first tournament we played together. Each person on our team was awarded a beautiful  watch (valued up to $800 each). Although I'll be trading mine in at some point to collect a women's watch. I'm not really sure how to take it that they must have anticipated an ALL MENS team to take first place. Either way it was a huge accomplishment for us all. We've also heard our picture will be featured in World Golf magazine. We'll make sure to get more than a few copies of that!! As if the night couldn't get any better, we ended up taking home 2 raffle prizes including a free round of golf and a bag of goodies including golf balls and a beer koozie.

All in all it was an absolutely wonderful day on the course and we'll be looking
for a repeat next year! =)