The Latest results from Greenville

The years second major for the NGA Hooters tour was hosted at Brook Valley Country Club in Greenville, North Carolina. The course was interesting to say the least, greens were not as good as the last couple tournaments we have played, but to truly presented a challenge. Scores were higher this week because of the difficult and bumpy greens. For the first round I hit the ball solid all the way around the course hitting 13 greens in regulation and hitting 11 of 14 fairways, but I only got up and down 1 out of 5 times and three putted twice. To upset all of those bogies I had four birdies that brought my total score to 74(+2), which puts my one shot above the cut line after the first day. So I figured I go out there the second round and shoot an even par round and I will be there for the weekend. My second round started out steady by making pars on the first 4 holes missing a 6-foot birdie putt on the 4th hole. I then made bogey on the next hole because of a poor tee shot, and double on the next hole because of another poor tee shot. I was frustrated, but I know that I can come back from this. I made par on the next hole, then preceded to hit the ball to the front fringe in two shots on the par 5. When I failed to get up and down there I started to feel the heat, time is running out, there are only ten holes left with only two par 5's left. The ninth hole is a 225 yard par three over water, I hit my tee shot pin high on the right fringe when the pin is on the left side of the green. Again I failed to get up and down from the fringe to make bogey to shot 4 over par on my front nine. I made a bogey on my tenth hole, things were not looking to good, but I never gave up. The next hole is a par 5, I hit driver then 6 iron to the middle of the green 25 feet away from the pin. I two putted for a birdie to get back to four over for the round. I made par on the next three holes and then birdied the par 5 15th hole to get to 3 over on the day. Then I made a bogey on the next hole to go back to 4 over and finished par, par to shot 76(+4) on the day. For the two day total I shot 150(+6) to miss the cut by 4 shots. One of these tournaments coming up I am going to break through this funk and make a cut. I am very close, but I just can't seem to finish it off in the second round. I feel that once I figure it out the flood gates will open and I will start making a bunch of cuts. Keep praying for me as it is tough out here for me spiritually, but with God's help anything is possible. I will be flying home on Monday night so please pray for safe travels as I drive the motor home by myself to Nashville, TN and then fly home from there. I will see some of you soon.

Greenville, North Carolina

This week we are in Greenville, North Carolina playing at Brook Valley Country club. I have had the chance to play two practice rounds at this course and feel I am ready to take it on tomorrow. I am really starting to hit my irons and driver good to go along with my steady putting. We have a two week break after this tournament, which I would like to go into having made my first cut of the year. I feel that I can play well at this course and really contend here. After this tournament I will drive to Nashville, TN where I will fly home for the two week break. Nashville is just about the half way point from this tournament and the first tournament after the break so that is how I came up with that. For any of you who want to see me or hang out with me while I am home, please contact me either by email or commenting on here or by calling my cell phone. I would love to see a lot of friends while I am home, I will be home from June 27th through July 7th.

Finally, a town big enough

I am truly sorry to all of you who follow my blog, I have been trying to post for the past week and a half but have not been able to get any Internet reception. I am finally in a town where I can use the internet. Well the past two weeks have been up and down. Two weeks ago in Statesville, NC I played the best tournament of the year, but still missing the cut shooting 144 even par for the two rounds. The first round I shot 70(-2), my best single round score of the year, with 5 birdies and an eagle to follow that up with a 74 in the second round to miss the cut by 3 shots. Much closer though, it feels nice to get a round under par and to also have a two round score at even par. Things definatly seem to be improving. This last week was not so good though, I was feeling really good about the week, excited to play and see how I could improve on the week before. I was going along nicely just one over par through my first eight holes and then I made a 9 on a par four, (+5) on one hole, not very good. Needless to say I then tried to get a little more aggressive on the back nine to make up for the loss and bogied the next hole and then made a triple bogie on the hole after that. At the end of the first round I finished at 10 over par 82 being 9 over par on three straight holes. The next round I just tried to relax and see what I could do, again I was playing pretty good, 1 over through 13 holes but then finished the last 5 holes double bogie, double bogie, par, par, double bogie to shoot 79 (+7). Not anywhere close to what I was hoping for after the good performance the week before. I am working hard on my game, practicing everyday trying to get closer to the ultimate goal.

U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier Results

Well you won't be watching me on T.V. playing in the U.S. Open. I failed to qualify in the sectional qualifier today at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville Maryland. Although I didn't make it was a very valuable experience. I learned a lot about my game and about what it takes to make it to the next level. I ended up shooting 73, 77 for a total of 150. I left before all the scores came in, but when I left the leader was at 136 (-8) and there was a group of guys at 140 (-4), so it looks like it will take 4 to 5 under to have made it. I was fortunate enough to be paired with Omar Uresti, who is on the PGA Tour right now, so I got to see up close how he plays and what he does different so I can learn from him. I will be leaving early tomorrow morning to drive to Statesville, North Carolina for my next Hooters tour event. I am excited about the steps that I am taking in improving my game. I will post after the next event to let you know how I did. Oh and Kiki thanks for hint, I didn't really know who I was until you let me know.

The Great City of New York

After spending the week just outside of Pittsburgh Steve, Mike (steve's brother), Jan (pronounced Yan, he is from Germany), and myself decided that for the break that we had in the tour that we should take the motor home to New York City. So we packed up our things after we all missed the cut and headed out for New York. It took us about 7 hours to drive from Pittsburgh to NY in our gas guzzling beast, going at our slow but steady pace of 68 miles per hour. We never actually drove the motor home into NY, we thought it wouldn't be such a great idea, so we found a RV park just across the Hudson river in Jersey City, NJ. We had so much fun traveling around the city going to all the tourist hot spots, doing everything that you are supposed to do for you first trip to NY. Everyday we would hop on the PATH train in Jersey City and take it into Manhattan were we would take the subway where ever we wanted to go. We went all over the city to Central Park, Time Square, Union Square, 5th Ave., WTC ground zero, Financial district, Wall street, Broadway, went to see a musical on Broadway, went to the top of the Empire State Building, all this great stuff. One thing that I am disappointed that we didn't go do is go see the statue of liberty, but I really like the city, and hope to go back there many times. I just wanted to also show you guys a couple of the pictures I took and one that my friend Jan took of me while we were having fun changing the settings on our camera in Time Square. We are down in Maryland, just north of D.C., waiting and preparing for my Sectional Qualifier that is in this area this coming Monday. The tournament is in Rockville, MD at Woodmont Country Club. I am really excited because my dad is flying out here to caddy for me during the tournament. This is a tough qualifier for one it is 36 holes in one day, and secondly out of 51 players close to ten of them are PGA Tour players and they are only taking 4 guys to the U.S. Open from here. It is going to be tough, but I think that I can do it. I know that I have the ability to compete with these guys up at this level and I am going to start showing it. Please be praying for me that I would trust in the Lord and not try to do this on my own strength, but that I would rely on him and glorify him with my golf. Thank you for your prayer and support.

The second round of the Quicksilver Classic A week later

I am sorry for the delay on my blog. The second round at Quicksilver golf club was an interseting couple of days. On friday the assigned second round of the tournament ended up getting rained out. I started my round and finished 5 holes when the siren went off to warn us of Lightning in the area. We then proceeded to get off the golf course and wait in the club house for almost 3 hours with the rules officals only giving us updates every 30 minuets. When the rained stoped they sent us back out to play around 5:30 in the evening, we finally arived at our hole that we left off on. We all hit our drives for the next hole and are walking down the fairway when we hear the siren blow again. One more time we have to get off the golf course becasuse of dangerous weather. Once we get to the clubhouse the rain really starts to come down, it is flooding the greens, there are rivers going down the fairways and finally by this time the suspended play until the following morning. With all that going on I got off to a horrible start for my second round, I was 4 over par through 5 holes. (not good) But I was still optomistic because scores were high so far in the second round so it looked like the cut line was going to be around 2 over par. So I came out the next morning with confidence ready to go out and play some good golf and make the cut. Needless to say that didn't happen as I was hoping for. I finished the front nine par, boggie, par, boggie to shoot 6 over on my front nine. Again I was still optomistic because I know I have the ability to play at a level that could get me to where I needed to be to make the cut. By the end of the second round, that finished on Saturday I made no birdies. I finished the back nine of my round with 9 straight pars to shoot 78, a two day total of 150. I missed the cut by only 3 strokes. I am keeping my chin up though, I am excited to see what is going to happen the rest of the year, I still continue to see improvement in my game and I see my self breaking though at one of these tournaments real soon.