Golf, like life itself, is rarely fair.
From an individual perspective, it can give you hope – even love – for 17 magical holes, then cruelly snatch it away on the last with a double-bogey that really sticks in your craw.
Conversely, you can be thinking about putting your clubs on Marketplace for four hours, then make an amazing up-and-down on the 18th that blows your mind and ensures you’ll be back next week.
On the professional side of things and given the very nature of tournament golf, bad luck can often trend towards weather.
With opening rounds of 72-hole events such as the Ford Women’s New South Wales Open typically scheduled from sun-up to near sun-down, things need to go right to stay on track.
Naturally, this isn’t always possible.
Particularly when it comes to coastal links courses such as this week’s host Wollongong, there is – more often than not – a side of the draw that seems to be punished by wind.
And this week is a case in point.
Ford Women’s NSW Open – Leaderboard
It has taken an amazing, around-the-clock effort from organisers in the back rooms, plus event and course staff on the tools, to even ponder the possibility of a “normal” 18-hole finish on Sunday.
But in the luck department, it has meant one side of the draw has inadvertently copped the rough end of the pineapple.
Those in the morning draw on Thursday played through the worst of a vile coastal storm that pelted the course with more than 70mm of rain and was powered by winds gusting in excess of 50km per hour.
Most had to return to complete the final few holes of their round early on Friday, then sat in dismay as the winds fell away, course dried out and scores in the other half of the draw reduced dramatically.
Naturally, there were those in that original afternoon phase that were dismayed at having to play 36 holes in a day.
But they shouldn’t have complained.
Not only the weather worked in their favour, but the original morning players who make the halfway cut will also have to play 36 holes on Saturday.
So, `Where’s the proof of this luck?’, I hear you ask.
Consider this …
Of the leading 7 players heading into round three, none were in the first wave of play this week.
There’s nothing to it; just pure dumb luck of the draw.
Not all bad luck is a hook-out on a birdie putt, or a bad bounce off a sprinkler head.
It’s regularly hidden in the radar pages of your favourite weather app.
LIVE: Wollongong Golf Club
Sat 28 Feb – 2:30pm – 7:30pm
Sun 1 Mar – 12 pm – 5 pm