Back in 2009 (I think?) I was defending champ at my club's club championship. 2-day deal, 36 holes of stroke play. Tough course, 6900 yards, and an extremely windy day for the first round. I recall my hat being blown off my head on at least a couple occasions.
Anyway... I made some nice par saves early on, struggled with the windy conditions like everyone else. But I get to the 9th hole, make birdie, and make the turn in +2. I found some form coming in, two birdies, three bogeys. I posted 75 on the day, one of the early ones out that morning. I figured I would be somewhere within the top-10, maybe just outside the top-10. There were at least a dozen guys in the field who I knew could easily shoot par-or-better if they're making putts, so I certainly didn't expect my +3 to hold up, despite the conditions.
I didn't wait around after the round. I went home and got an email later that evening from the club with the results and the next day tee times for the final round. Low and behold - my 75 was the lowest round of the day - by 5 shots. Next best score was 80. Wow. That's interesting. Cool, right where I want to be.
So I get up the next morning, I'm in the last group out, still got half the morning to do whatever. I do the same things I did the prior morning. I had a cup of coffee, ate breakfast and read the morning paper. Then ran to the store and bought some groceries, came home and took a shower. An hour later I'm on the practice range, hitting balls. Wow - no wind. Nice. Not too hot either, not for a summer day in late July. Hitting the ball good, nice contact, nice distance, straight... I get into my wedges, same thing. Irons - solid. No worries, not today, not if I can reproduce that on the course in an hour. Went to the practice green, balls were rolling nice, distance control was good. I was putting to a tee in the ground - an old habit I got into after reading years ago in one of the golf rags that practice putting to a smaller target prior to the round makes the holes look much bigger on the course. Hey - it worked well - if you can hit a small tee in the ground you can certainly find a 4-1/4 inch hole. Narrowed focus.
I won't bore you with the details, only to say that on the calmest day with great scoring conditions, I opened with a double bogey. It would not get any better for the next 8 holes.
I shot 89 that day, and that included shooting level-par on the back. Did I foresee shooting a whopping 53 strokes on that opening nine of that final round that day before teeing off? Hell no. I honestly thought I'd play okay. Didn't know if I'd win or not, but I knew I was going to stick to my game plan, try to make as many pars as I could, maybe get lucky on a few holes with a birdie or two. But there was absolutely NOTHING easy about that opening 9 holes. I had no control over my tee shots, shots that I hadn't hit in years were suddenly coming from out of nowhere. And honestly - I wasn't nervous, or overly nervous I should say. I'm sure my blood pressure went up after the opening hole, but at no point did it feel like I was having an out-of-body experience. It was just a miserable slog the first couple of hours. No pars. A bunch of double and triple bogeys though.
Then, when reality set in and I knew there wasn't anything left to play for - the guy from the day before showed up. Level par coming in, 17-shot difference in just 9 holes.
It was humbling. Can't explain it, it just wasn't the same after the double bogey start. Two days later I'm out there with the guy who ended up winning that weekend before. I shoot 69, same tee box, same course conditions. I just wasn't worried about the results.
And once you've gone through that - you learn to bite your tongue when it comes to watching other guys choke. You know how it feels. You understand how easily it can happen. And you never, ever want anyone to go through that, not even the most hated guy at your club. It's just a level of utter humiliation that you wouldn't wish upon anyone who plays competitively.