Greater Cedar Rapids Open

What a week I had this past week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa! The week started off Wednesday as I traveled from the Quad cities where I was staying and practicing with a college room mate of mine. I had some great practice and played some good golf while I was there so was feeling good about my game.
I got in an early practice round Wednesday as there was a Pro-Am that I wasn't in on Thursday so had to see the course a day early and was going to get a nice day of rest and practice in Thursday. First round was Friday, I teed off early in the morning and got off to a solid start shooting 69 -3. I hit the ball very good and was pleased with how the day went. Walking off I knew that I was hitting it well and did leave a few shots out there with some short putts but only used that for motivation for the rest of the tournament. Round 2 I teed off in the afternoon, It was a chilly day for the time of the year. I again played a solid round of golf shooting 68 on the day. Again hitting it very good and I did make a couple nice putts to save some pars and even for birdies. Thru two rounds I hadn't made a single bogey! I went into the final round in a tie for the lead at -7 with one other player. I was feeling very good about my game and looking forward to the last day.
So the final round began for me at 11:29. My first tee shot was less than optimal, I didn't hit it solid at all and hit it well right of my target into a fairway bunker. I hit a great shot out to 20 ft and made par. The next couple tee shots where similar as they found the right side of the fairway but I kept everything in play and was able to shoot 33 on the front nine. I birdied both par 5s on the front and made another birdie on the 5th hole.
I started the back nine with a 1 shot lead I believe over my playing partner, not sure exactly where the group in front of us were relative to par? I made birdies on 11 and 12 to get to 12 under for the tournament. I was enjoying the round to say the least! Unfortunately I slipped up on the 14th missing a short putt and made my only bogey of the week. I was a little upset but came back with a great birdie on the par 3 16th where I hit my approach from 210 to 15 ft and made the putt! The 17 hole is the hole that won me the tournament... I hit a poor drive that barely stared in play and was forced to chip out back to the fairway. From there had to lay up again as it was a long par 5. I had 108 yards and was able to hit that to 6 ft and make the putt for a GREAT par save! I made par on the final hole and ended up with a one shot win and a nice little pay day!

I have been looking for this week to happen for way to long and glad it could finally come. I have been working hard and practicing well so it was a great feeling to see some good results! Hopefully it will be the beginning of another great run of golf to finish the year strong.

Up next for me I will be playing on the Dakotas Tour in Yankton, SD and Rapid City, SD. Then off to the Iowa Open. Thanks to everyone for all your support and encouragement and for following my progress!

2013 Golf Update

Hello everyone! It has been ages since my last post, I am seriously going to try and stay on top of this. I have been updating my facebook page the last couple weeks (Chris Baker golf on FB). So to start off this year has been pretty slow and honestly I haven't had much success. Have made a few cuts here and there but nothing too great to speak of. As of today I have played roughly in around 8 eGolf Tour events, 2 NGA Tour events, 4 web.com Monday qualifiers, and a few other locally run events.

So... all that mess is behind me. Moving on I am ready to make a run at the end of this year! I am working hard on my game and am realizing that I have a lot of great things going for me and looking forward to what is coming my way. I am currently out in Iowa playing in a few events. Up next for me is the Cedar Rapids Open. The event starts on Thursday and am looking forward to a fun week. After the CR Open I'm still not completely sure where I am going, possibly out to South Dakota for a few events and then swinging back thru Iowa for the Iowa Open.

The most important thing for me at the end of this year is to gain some "status" somewhere for 2014. I will definitely be entering the web.com tour school this year and I have even had thoughts of going back to Europe. All plans are very up in the air for me right now but it is all going to work out!!

Thanks for following me, please check back for updates and also check out my FB page!