I was hoping that I’d have played a tournament or three between visits to the Fort this year, but between weather and postponements and weather (did I mention weather?), I haven’t officially played a tournament since First Folf back in January.

And after the winter we’ve experienced here in Maine, we couldn’t have asked for a better day for the event. Sun and warmth and the chance to throw in short-sleeves.  Only downside to the great weather is we weren’t the only ones at the Fort enjoying it. The park was crawling with other folks trying to get over their cabin fever.

That made for some interesting additions to the “course” and some longer waits than we typically encounter playing the Fort in the cold winter.  One such addition was that the gates were open and the parking lot was full, giving us some extra obstacles to avoid on a couple holes.

My partner and I entered the day as the defending doubles champions at Ft McClary.  We got off to a good start in our defense, carding the low score of 44 in the first round.  That put us in a tie for first heading into the second round.

Through the first 9 holes of round 2, we matched birdie for birdie and par for par and remained tied.  Then it started to slip away a bit.  Our opponents managed an impressive birdie on hole 10, the bunker hole.

We parred and just like that we trailed.  We gave another throw away on hole 13 when we failed to birdie.  When we finally managed to gain one back, it was a birdie on 18 to their par.  Too little too late.

Second place isn’t so bad. We got outplayed…barely.  No shame in that. One of our goals was no fours on the card and we accomplished that. The other goal was to win, of course, but it wasn’t to be. I feel pretty good about our three year record at this event: second, first, second.

Big thanks to Steve Foley and his son Alex for not only kicking our butts but putting on another great day at the Fort. Also a thank you to my doubles partner, Charlie Sawyer, for indulging me in trying this event two years ago and enjoying it enough to keep coming back.  Next year, we take it down.