I have always wanted to play in a Ryder Cup style tournament, and this year I got the invite to participate in the annual event at North Hills.

The Ryder Cup is invite-only, based on results from the season’s tournaments, and pits two teams (American vs. European – I heard that I will be on the European team) against one another in a series of nine holes of 2-man best ball, nine holes of 2-man alternating shot, then ten individual matches.

So how did I get the invite? I was bounced from the North Hills Cup tournament in the first round, but my friend, Bob, and I won the season’s inaugural member/member event, and my Green Coat partner, Mike, and I made it to the third round in that tournament.

I was not on the original invite list, but was one of the next ten invitations. Either way, I’m ecstatic to be one of the participants and look forward to an awesome weekend, starting tomorrow around 2.

I’m also feeling very hopeful about my game right now, after starting off terribly but shooting 44 on the front nine last night (4 pars on the last 5 holes), and a good weekend at Geneva National including a 41/47 on the Trevino course, and a 42/40 on the Player.

I’ve got my handicap down to 12.8, which is still not the ten that I want to get to, but it’s a start. With a strong finish to the year, hopefully I’ll get there!

As a B-T-W, the tournament that I would really like to play on next year: The Writer Cup Tournament. This is an annual tournament of Wisconsin golf writers vs. Illinois golf writers, and is typically won by Wisconsin. I was told I might get an invite for next year – would be very cool!