April 18, 2003

Kristy McPherson Diary- Day One (Friday, April 18, 2003)
SEC Women’s Golf Championship, Lexington, Kentucky (University Club)

McPherson finished the first of the three rounds in first place after shooting a season-low 68 Friday. South Carolina is in second place behind Tennessee, only four shots back.

Friday, April 18, 2003 – Day One
I thought that we played well today in the first round of the SEC Championships. The way this course is designed, I could see all my teammates playing in front of me. When they started doing well, it pumped me up.

It was a fun round today for me. I got four birdies and didn’t really make any mistakes. I didn’t make any putts today but I’m happy to have a bogey-free round. This course is really suited towards my game. This is a scorable golf course and I couldn’t ask for better fairways or greens.

It was cold and rainy this morning when I got up and I felt a little stiff. It was a dreary gray day and we played the first nine or ten holes in a mist to light rain. Finally on the last three or four holes, the clouds went away and the sun came out. The weather we wanted all day finally came at the end of the round. Hopefully, we’ll see the sun and blue skies tomorrow and Sunday.

Today was our first chance to really play the back nine of the course after our rain-soaked practice round on Thursday. It was rainy and chilly and we had a few umbrellas turn inside out on the front nine. You can’t really do too much practicing like that, just hitting shots here and there. They actually closed the course while we were out Thursday practicing and we only had the opportunity to see the back nine by cart.

We have probably 10 or 12 members of my family here in Lexington this weekend and that’s very special for me. Dad is from Kentucky and so a lot of his side of the family lives here. This is the first time I’ve seen some of them in a couple of years. My Mom, Dad, Aunt and my sister have been traveling a lot lately. It’s nice to have both of my brothers here. They were telling me to do a big “Shooter McGavin Gunslinger” thing on the green but I hadn’t made any putts to celebrate today. I made one 10-foot putt but they weren’t around to see it. I can hear them behind me on each hole and especially today when there’s a larger group than normal cheering me on.

A lot of people have asked me about the chance of winning my third title this weekend but it’s more important to me that our team wins than for me to win. Winning the first SEC Individual title as a sophomore was awesome but last year was that much more special because the team also won. That’s our goal and what we work hard for every day in practice. I’d be happy if I shot a 90 and the team won.

“It’s hard not to think about going after the third consecutive with so many people telling me that they don’t want to jinx me but….It’s exciting but I’m not going to go out there and try not to mess up. That’s not my game. I just want to play my game, post my score and hope that it’s low enough. If it is, that’s awesome. I want to be proud of the way I played this weekend.

Tomorrow, I want to make some putts. I hit the ball well today and gave myself some birdie opportunities. I had four birdies on the day with one little tap-in putt for one of the birdie. The ten-footer was my longest putt of the day but I got the ball around the cup on every hole.

It’s 6:00 and we’ve just finished for the day. We’re going to have to run back to the hotel to shower and change and go to the annual Friday SEC Banquet. It’s a nice dinner and will relax us after today’s round. The team sits together and our family are sitted near us. After we eat, they’ll have a presentation and name the SEC Golfer of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year. I haven’t had the season that I would have liked to but I’ve played well lately. So I don’t know if I have a chance at Golfer of the Year.