June 28, 2012

Complete Trip Photo gallery

The California Golden Bear women's golf team played the second round of the British Ladies Am at Carnoustie Golf Course in Scotland. Freshman Morgan Thompson sends the final player blog of the nearly two week trip through Ireland and Scotland.

Today was the second day of the Ladies British Amateur and the final round of strokeplay before the top 64 players would advance to matchplay.

My tee time wasn't until 1:30 so I had a relaxing morning spent at the bed and breakfast I'm staying in with Emily and my parents. The biggest dilemma of the day was trying to find the perfect balance between wearing enough clothes to stay warm but not too many so you can't swing. Finally after putting on three pairs of pants, under armour, a polo, a sweater, a rain jacket, a hat and a headband, and another headband as a neck warmer, I was ready to go.

Lucky for me, the rain stopped before my warm up and didn't start until I was finished playing so I didn't need all of those clothes! But as I've learned this week, the weather in Carnoustie can change in 20 minutes so it's always best to be prepared.

I teed off on time with the same girls as the previous round, Emma and Ann. Emma was from England and Ann was from Scotland, about a 30 minute drive from the course. Of course, there was my favorite member of the group, my caddie Euan Kerr, a native to the area and very exceptional golfer playing in a Scottish Open himself.

The wind had picked up a little after the first couple holes. Some errant tee and approach shots made for a disastrous start. I eventually found my game and was on a comeback roll! Well at least until the last four holes. The last four are the hardest holes on the course and can turn an even par round into a disaster. Although there were moments of greatness in my round, I ended up finishing with four bogeys to shoot an 80.

Out of the seven of us, only one will advance to matchplay tomorrow and that is Daniela who fired awesome rounds of 72-74.

I realize now how different the golf is over here and I can see why Carnoustie's nickname is "Carnasty"!

Even though my time in this tournament has come to an end, I will never forget the amazing memories I made, the places I saw and the friends I made along the way.

This has been the best trip of my life- but it's not over yet!

On behalf of my team, Thank you so much for all the support!

As they say in Scotland, cheers!

Thank you for reading and go bears!