When Chelsea Pezzola told me that she was friends with the coolest golfer gal in Arkansas, I knew that we had to meet up and do some RGV Tour golfing. Her name is Christina Lecuyer and she is one of the most generous and hospitable hosts the RGV Tour has encountered. Christina and her husband Nathan, graciously gave the RGV a spot in front of their house for several days. She set up just about every round in Arkansas and we had a blast.
I would hit the shot of the day into the par 5 10th hole. A Callaway 3 wood that will go down in RGV Tour history. Sadly, I would miss the short eagle putt.
My first round in Arkansas was Big Creek Country Club. Spring was taking it's sweet time rolling in and I teed off in 30 degree weather on Master's Sunday. After staying warm with a couple of birdies, it was time to take in the final round of The Masters at a local pub. I had some pizza and ran into some interesting bar patrons.
As I rolled into Little Rock, I found myself with some extra time on my hands. I decided to pay a visit to the Little Rock Zoo to see if any of the local wildlife wanted to join the RGV Tour. Most grown-ups don't go to the zoo by themselves and I can't figure out why. You get to see cheetahs and bears. A caracal even hissed at me. What's a caracal? It's a badass little cat. If you have an extra couple of hours, go to the zoo. You won't be disappointed.
Even out of focus, you can tell this cat is pissed.
For my first round with Christina, we tackled The Country Club of Little Rock. The course is one of the state's finest and it was just rounding into form. The weather forecast was finally cooperating. My game wasn't behaving as nicely and I made a 10 on a short par 3. The good news is that I managed to respond with back to back birdies. Golf !!
For those of you not familiar with Christina, she has appeared on 2 seasons of the Golf Channel's Big Break and recently appeared on the show Shotmakers. She won the first 3 tournaments that she ever played in and won 5 times in her college career. She can golf her ball good. The video below is one of my favorites from the tour. Not only does it showcase Christina's fire for the game, but this is also an absolutely perfect putt.
Next up on the RGV agenda was a day of 36 holes at Chenal Country Club and Pleasant Valley. I would take on Christina in match play and she would beat me severely both rounds.
I would state that I only really start trying when I am down 6, but my late round comeback would lip out hard and I would lose 6&7 in both attempts. However, I did manage to smile as my golf balls sailed into the woods.
In an exciting turn of events, we would bump into Patrick Sullivan from the Web.com tour at Pleasant Valley and he would show us how to play like a pro. He made an easy 5 birdies and we would do plenty of pushups to pay for it.
Whenever you get a chance to play with someone who is actually on a professional golf tour, you quickly realize just how much better they are than you. As a 3-5 handicap, I am light years away from being able to compete on tour.
Fortunately, there is the RGV Tour. Which is a semi professional, or "bush league" tour.
Christiana and I had a chance for payback on the 36th hole of the day. I had an eagle look and Christina had a good look at birdie. If we both made our putts, Patrick was gonna have to do 45 pushups on the 18th green. Sadly, I three putted and Christina missed her birdie putt. Patrick escaped unscathed. Afterwards, I would remark... "I have let down my country." Probably a little ambitious but it was definitely a pisser.
Patrick Sullivan makes another birdie.
After some sweet Little Rock action the tour headed to Hot Springs to take in the 144th running of the Arkansas Derby. I don't know much about horse racing, but I would try to parlay the $50 I won on a slot machine earlier into a small fortune. I would come out +$10 and just spend it on gas for the rig.
Before heading out of Hot Springs, we would dine, or attempt to dine, at Jahna's and experience an impressive display of restaurant ineptitude. To make a long story short, we sat down at 8pm, left at 10pm without ever receiving any food. The cops were called and a tornado almost killed us all. I give these guys 3 months before they close their doors.
Things would turn around quickly at Texarkana Country Club for the state finale.
The view from above the 16th
An island tee box to the 6th hole at Texarcana
With the weather warming up and the birdies dropping fast the tour heads south to Louisiana and Mississippi in search of some gators. Before I left town, Christina and I had a chance to jump on the podcast. This episode is definitely worth a listen.