Birdies for Education Going Strong in the Bahamas

Thank you all for your support this week at Abaco. I finished in a tie for 15th (my 3rd best career finish) in some of the toughest conditions I have ever played in. We battled 30+mph winds all week, and I took advantage of the downwind holes to make a total of 18 birdies this week. We also added 14 new donors- our Curriki Team is now up to 72 and have raised $41,552 in just two weeks!

It was a wild week on the golf course. I was hitting my driver upwards of 400 yards downwind at times, and some of my best pokes were going only 250 into the wind. My first two drives of the final round (both straight downwind) totaled 781 yards. Where I hit Driver-2iron-wedge into the par5 first in a practice round, I hit Driver-wedge in the final round.

I learned a lot about how to play in the wind- after an average putting display in the second round, I found that choking up on my putter and having a wider stance in the wind gave me more stability and control, and the last two rounds were some of the best putting rounds I have ever played. My short game and scrambling were phenomenal the back 9 final round, where I took only 12 putts on the entire into-the-wind back 9.

The island of Abaco was way more populated than Exuma – it looked like Hollywood compared to last week! I attached a few photos here:

The golf course was beautiful, with several holes having views of the ocean, and the teebox of the driveable par-4 5th hole right against the beach. I birdied this hole all four rounds as well, taking driver or 3w over the water right at the green. I lipped out a chip for eagle in the final round as well.

The greens had a ton of slope, and played really firm and fast- this picture of the first green from the Tuesday morning practice round shows all the pitch and roll that made short game and putting a real challenge.

Also if you were wondering why the beaches were so pristine and clean, the Abaco Club has a “beach Zamboni” that picks up all the seaweed and debris that washes up…

Thank you all again for your support- it means the world to me, and gets me more excited to get to the golf course every day. I leave Sunday for Bogota, where I’ll be sending the ball from 8000 feet and look forward to making some more birdies next week as well! And as always, please spread the word and get as many people involved as we can. I’m so excited about what this is going to be able to do for Curriki.

See you in Bogota,

Maverick