It warmed up a bit for round 1 (no coat necessary) and it’s already been a weird day. It was a rough night for Jake. At one point early in the morning I think he was taking a bath to help with body chills proceeded by getting getting sick. He had complained of a horrible headache on our travel day and I assumed it was just the altitude pressure since this was his first flight post-sinus surgery in December. By now, he’s definitely running a fever and not well. No appetite, not wanting to hit the gym, and dozing in and out of sleep.

I even contemplated pulling him out of the tournament but we’ve traveled all the way here and he can usually rally when it involves golf. Honestly, I thought getting outside on the course would be the cure.

The course is full. The practice area and range are crawling with aspiring golfers and their coaches from prestigious sports academies in FL and Albany Bahamas. I’m kicking myself for not getting a picture of some of them doing their stretching routines on the range – I’m talking face down in the grass twisting and contorting their bodies within a few feet of people hitting. It was quite strange and already these academy kids are driving me nuts. They hang around and hit a billion balls and Jake can barely get in a spot to do his warmup.

In the meantime, I head inside to get a scorecard so I can keep stats for Jake and the gal working in the pro shop says she doesn’t have them. What!? It’s a golf shop, how do you not have any? I thought she was kidding but I walked out empty handed. Weird. I proceeded to get one from the cart guy who was much nicer!

His warmup apparently was his worst ever. I don’t usually ask but sometimes he’ll offer up the info. The first hole is already giving him trouble and makes a double bogey right out of the start. Crap. Maybe I should’ve pulled him out. Hole 2 is a birdie. Ok never mind, we’re fine. These are the rambling thoughts going through my head. The ups and downs of golf.

Sometime in the next few holes, weird occurrence #4 happens. Jake was out in someone’s yard helping to find Daniel’s ball and discovers a dead cat with flies all over it. Gross! Another first. I expected iguanas and alligators here but certainly not dead cats! Someone just tossed their cat in the yard? At least bury it (which makes me think of Brian’s aunt JoAnn😆she would probably be upset that we continued on with our round and didn’t do anything about it). We’re in a tournament here folks, we must stick to the task at hand.

Jake proceeds to play well and is sitting at +2 at the turn. Really proud of him for keeping his composure while feeling poorly and having what he described as a terrible warmup.

The gold course is a bit harder (especially the last 3 holes) and he’s wearing down a bit. In fact it is getting dark and not sure how the groups behind us can even finish. But it’s been an enjoyable day walking along and watching him play. He amazes me often with his talent, knowledge, and stamina on the course.

He had 4 bogeys on the back 9 which put him at a 78 for the round and in 9th place. This course is difficult and there is water on every hole so he’s feeling decent about his round. Of course he always wants to be better but they all do! I was pleased.

We decided to head out to Delray Beach from the course and eat at a cute place on the waterfront called Deck 84 and watch the KState game. The food and atmosphere was awesome and a cute beach town!

Back to the Boynton Beach Courtyard Marriott we go and it’s time to relax! He’s still coughing and feverish and he has a t shirt on and then a sweatshirt and this rotated throughout the night. We need this fever to break!

On a side note here, I’d like to share a few pictures from our room. Notice my side vs. Jake’s side. I don’t know how in the world he lives like this😂

Jake and I did have quite a few laughs about my backpack I was carrying on the course. I should probably invest in a cuter one! And I have lots of other little interesting bags inside of it holding snacks, chargers, meds, bandaids etc. Take note of my “Whataburger” sunglasses case. I should probably step up my game if I’m going to be out here with all these golf coaches. I’m just a mom out here getting a ton of steps in and watching my boy. Where are all the parents? I hardly see any at all!

That’s it on day 1 of the tourney and let me recap the weirdness real quick:

1. Jake is sick and throwing up

2. The golf shop has no scorecards

3. There’s golfers doing stretches and yoga poses on the range

4. There’s a dead cat in a yard on the course

Hoping for much less weirdness tomorrow!