U.S. Senior Open 2013

Originally Published on July 13, 2013 by ranchomurieta.com

Diaries written by: Don Thames

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DAY #3:

July  12, 2013: My final round and final thoughts

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Omaha, Nebraska – The second round started with the prospect of good putting as I rolled three or four putts from varying lengths over the edge of the hole without making anything.  Now for the positive:  The third hole par three was played from the “up” tee straight down wind.  Flushed a seven iron right into the bunker and proceed to chunk the bunker shot out to 25 feet.  When the left to right downhiller rolled in the crowd erupted.  Finally I made a putt.  Better late than never, I suppose.  I have to admit that even though I was a few over par and above the cut line, the response by the crowd was exhilarating. 

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We came to the last two holes and I was trying to savor each and every minute because I knew that our playing in the tournament was nearly over.  The eighth hole played all the way back at 477 yards into the wind.  Crushed a drive and proceeded to launch a three wood straight away toward the flagstick.  The ball carried about 10 feet past the cup dead on line and ended up stopping about 20 feet from the hole.  Again, big crowd applause and some hat tipping.  I heard a loud whistle coming from the throng of people (perhaps a thousand or so) that I recognized as Carole’s.  Looked through and through the crowd and could not find her.  Had a testy downhill right to left with five feet of break that I left an inch on the low side.  To tell you the truth, I was happy to two putt.

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Hole number nine is a narrow heavily bunkered, straight uphill 399 yard par four. Crushed a tee shot into a left to right cross breeze and stood over a 112-yard approach to a back right pin.  Spent more time with my caddie trying to figure out how to stuff the caddie bib into my bag than we did analyzing the final approach shot.  Perhaps, for this reason, I yanked my approach shot to the safe side some 30 feet from the hole.  All that remained was a left to right breaking uphiller.  For one of the few times in the tournament I did not think of ramming one by.  As the putt rolled toward the hole, I knew it was going in.  When it dove into the cup the crowd roared similar to what you would see and hear on TV.  Dropped the putter, raised my hands and carried on a bit with a few vertical fist thrusts.  Followed that with a few high fives and just stood there with a big smile on my face peering into the crowd with a tremendous feeling of appreciation and exhilaration (have I over-used this word?).  At any rate, it was a great way to end the round and, in my case, playing in the 2013 U.S. Senior Open.

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Suffered a bit of sadness when I signed my card and turned it in knowing that I had missed the cut.  Hung out in the family dining room with Jerry, Josh (my so-called brother in law and nephew), Dan/Sue Cullen, Carole and Makayla.  We had some beer and lunch and luxuriated in the air conditioning.

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The rest of the tournament we will spend as spectators and leave Omaha on Monday morning early.  Carole is collecting a bunch of durable beer cups as souvenirs.  We seem to know no shame as we have done a bit of dumpster diving to find them.  I will take a picture and show off our collection.  

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This article will be the final writing in this blog.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the fantastic people of Rancho Murieta who have supported us with the fund raising effort and your kind emails, texts and phone calls.  We are overwhelmed by your kindness.  Thanks to all of you once more.

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Don and Carole Thames

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British Open 2017