Category: PURE Insurance Championship

For anyone that travels frequently from the East Coast to the West Coast, you will understand what our Day 1 was like. Our alarms went off at 2:00am EST. We were walking through Security at RDU Airport by 4:15am and boarding the plan at 5:00am. After 10 hours of travel we landed in San Jose, California and were ready to get our luggage, pick up the rental car and travel 90 minutes southwest to Pebble Beach. We arrived at Player Check In around 3:00pm Pacific Standard Time.

That’s when all the FUN began!

Mara’s Viewpoint: It was truly a long morning. By far the earliest I’ve ever gotten up, but well worth the early wakeup call! Having never left the East Coast time zone, I wasn’t quite sure how the time change would affect me. But, when we were sitting in the Las Vegas Airport eating from the lunch menu at 10:00am their time, and dinner wasn’t until 6:30pm, I knew there would be some adjustments ahead. Once we landed in San Jose, the excitement hit me. We had made it. Player Registration was really cool. They have this really nice room set up for us where we can eat breakfast and lunch, each day. It overlooks the player putting green so we can even watch the Champions Tour Pros practice during our breaks. While at registration we picked up our uniforms for the week, made practice round tee times and snagged a chocolate ice cream bar! After a quick visit to meet our private housing family, the Banks, I head to our player meeting and the Pairings Party. I got to meet a number of other Junior Participants from across the country as well as some of the Amateurs that will be playing with us this week. To find out who our pro was, they had engraved their name on a bag tag that was tucked away in our golf bag. My assigned pro is Jim Carter. I found out that he is originally from Spring Lake, NC, which is part of our local chapter. Mr. Carter wasn’t at the party last night but I’m looking forward to meeting him during practice. Day 1 was exciting and exhausting at the same time. For Day 2, I’m looking forward to seeing the facilities, playing my first practice round and making may more new friends. It’s off to bed for now. Thanks for following along!

In NC, High School Girls Golf is a Fall Sport. Last season, my freshman year, our team WON STATES. It was such a cool experience and what better way to start off my freshman year. This week we began matches for our girls golf season and we started with a WIN. My two teammates, Jacyln Kenzel and Mackenzie Battle, and myself tied for the low round with a 9 Hole score of 1 under par, 35 at Bayonet at Puppy Creek. Jacyln and I spend a lot of time together at The First Tee as we are both progressing through Eagle Level Programs. Go Patriots! 

All work and no play? No way! Duck Donuts opened this week. Just in time for my older brother, Joshua, to be home visiting from college at UNC Charlotte. So, we headed over and waited in a line that was out-the-door to try out the craze! The verdict around our table was met with mixed opinions but I enjoyed my first Duck Donuts experience. 17 Days to take off. 21 Days to tee off.

It’s hard to believe that September 1 has arrived! Round 1 of this year’s Pure Insurance Championship is a mere 22 days away. Mara will pack up and fly across country in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, September 19, arriving in California around 2:00pm there time. For now, she is back to school, beginning her Sophomore Year at Pinecrest High and getting the HS Golf Season kicked off with official team practices and qualifiers. But, with Pebble Beach quickly approaching, Mara is investing time in preparing her golf game for the unknown elements of wind, rain and much coolers temperatures. Thanks to Ryan Shpak at Pinehurst Resort & CC, Mara was able to fine tune her Driver this week, working to swap out shafts and giving her a lower ball flight that will be beneficial in the Pebble Beach elements.