1) What was the most memorable moment of the day?
OL: The 18th hole. I pushed my driver to the right and into some deep rough. From a bad lie deep in tall grass, I hit a sandwedge onto the front of the green but well short of the flag, which was placed in the back of the green. Left with a 100 foot birdie putt (and little did I know, a very important putt), I was able to sink the tourney winning putt.
DO:I forget the hole #. I hit my drive into an environmental area, so asked my friendly MGA teammate for a ruling on where to drop. Low and behold a course regular behind our group yells out: "The drop area is way up there! It's a hell of a lot more fun and legal as hell!" We all had a good chuckle at that one!

2) Did you have a personal goal going into the 1st tee box?
OL: Yes, it's been several years since I've golf regularly and played in any kind of tournament. I think the last one was a MGA 4-man scramble at Santa Clara in 2003. I basically wanted to come out, have fun, and play with good tempo throughout the day (and not have an embarrasing round that Jack Chin could heckle me with). Winning was definitely not my goal when we teed off on number 1.
DO: Not losing a ball on the first tee...

3) What was the most challenging part of your round?
OL: On the first par 3 on the front nine, I must've dropped my shoulder on the downswing because I ended up hitting a lot of turf and little ball. I jammed my right wrist (dropping the club in pain) and watched as my ball softly floated into the water in front of us. I think my foursome was in shock as was I. Anyways, I ended up shooting a 6 on that par 3 and still reeling from the pain, I double-bogeyed the next hole (par 5). After going +5 over those two holes, I thought about withdrawing from the tournament because I could barely cock my right wrist. Luckily, I was able to ignore the pain and focus on the round again.
DO: On #11 I believe... hitting out of really deep grass next to the cart path with both feet on the cart path over water and onto the green. Everything about that shot spelled disaster. Somehow I just barely made it over and saved par.

4) What did you think about Metropolitan Golf Links, and would you play it again?
OL: The golf course is challenging. The wind, fast greens, and hazard lined fairways made you consider every shot carefully. However, some of the yardage markers were pretty off (15-20 yards shorter than they were marked), so there were a few holes that I ended up in the back of the green.

5) If you were to play this round again, what would you change about your game?
OL: Not trusting the yardage markers and trusting my gut feel on yardage for some of the holes.
DO: Hit more shots into the free drop areas... That free drop thing rules! Seriously, tee up a little lower on the cross-winded shots. Tough to keep those high trajectory drives in play.

6) Please write a haiku about your experience on Saturday.

Yes, I played with Top Flite balls
Monarch Bay logo
brought me home the victory!
by Oliver Ling

7) What's in your bag?
Oliver's Bag
Driver: Titleist 976R (8 degree)
Fairway Woods: Titleist Pro Trajectory 975F
Irons: Titleist DCI 962 Black (R300 shafts)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design Raw Steel (52 degree, 56 degree)
Putter: Titleist/Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Pro Platinum (polished finish)
Golf ball: Top Flite XL 2000 (with a Monarch Bay logo on it)
Favorite club: That day it was my putter

David's Bag
Driver: King Cobra 350
Irons: Titleist 762 Wedges: Titleist Vokey
Putter: Odyseey White Hot
Golf ball: Usually experienced Titleist Pro-V1s I find behind my house - I tried Calaway HX tours for this round though. I liked them.
Favorite club: 5 wood - it's my comfort club.