Ruble set the tone for the round, when she drove the first green and made a lengthy eagle putt. She quickly followed with birdies on Nos. 2 and 3, and then rolled in another long eagle putt after driving the green on the short par-4 fourth hole to go 6-under. “After the first hole I thought, ‘just keep it going,’” Ruble said. “After I made my first par, I thought maybe that was when it was going to simmer down and it would be back to normal.” Nothing was normal when she birdied the next three holes. Ruble missed a birdie putt to go 10-under through nine holes and she settled for a 9-under 27 on the front side. “When I got to the back nine, I wondered how low I could go?” Ruble added a couple of birdies to get to 11-under with two holes to play. A birdie at No. 17 positioned the high school senior for a run at 59. “When we got to the last hole, I told myself that if I made birdie I could shoot in the 50’s. It didn’t seem real. If you had told me that before the round, I would not have believed you.” The 18th hole at Canebrake is an uphill par 5 and provided yet another birdie for Ruble, who hit 17 greens in regulation. “I honestly was nervous the whole round. I was shaking the whole time. I don’t know what my heart rate was.” The other players in her group shot 67, 68 and 69 respectively, but lost to Ruble by eight shots. Ruble admitted shooting such a low number was unexpected. In her previous tournament she had posted rounds of 76-80, in a weekend tournament at the RTJ Golf Trail’s Hampton Cove. Reprinted with permission from Gregg Dewalt, Editor of Alabama Golf News.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQ2Nzk4