The Final Stretch

These last two weeks have been a little bit of a struggle for me. It has been very frustrating because it feels that my game is close to putting up some great scores, but I am just making too many mistakes each round. I missed both cuts in the last two tournaments a number of great holes, but then making bogies and doubles on the other holes. I am excited to come home take a little break from golf, I have played the last 7 weeks in a row with no break. That sounds great to a lot of you (which it did to me at the beginning of the year), but I didn't realize how hard it is and how much it takes out of you. I am tired and ready for a break, but as soon as that break is over it is time to work hard on my game and prepare for Q-school. Josh and kevin are going to be driving home with me, flying out to Nashville where I will be meeting them to start our adventure home. We are planning on taking about 6 days to drive home, turning it into a road trip instead of a burden on my shoulders. They will be coming out on Wednesday the 30th and we should be home by Tuesday the 5th. Thank you so much for your support and your prayer this year. During the off season of the Hooters tour I will be playing golf at home in Newbury Park and in tournaments in Southern California. I will continue to post and keep people updated on results and future tournaments to come. Please pray for a safe trip home for the three of us. Thank you.

Thought I did this over a week ago

I am very sorry I really thought that I had posted this message that I am about to write about a week ago, but I guess it didn't make it. Going back two weeks ago I finally made the cut at the Pearle River Resort Classic. The second round had been delayed to Saturday so as soon as I finished I had about an hour until I had to tee it up again for the third round. With all the confidence that I had from a good finish in the second round I got off to a hot start making birdie on the first hole followed by 4 pars and another birdie. Back to five under for the tournament, I was feeling really good about my game and my mental approach. I finished the front nine making two bogies to shot even par on the front nine. Then I started out the back nine bogey, par, bogey, so now I am 2 over with 6 holes to go. I finished the nine with three birdies in a row, two pars and a bogey to finish at even par for the round. The fourth round did not go very well. It seemed as if all parts of my game were down a level. My driver was poor, my irons were not accurate, my chipping was bad, and I struggled with my putter. I ended up shooting 77 to finish the tournament at (+2) 290, which put my in a tie for 45th place. Even though I struggled on the weekend I am still happy with my overall performance and I am thrilled to say that I made my first cut in a professional tournament.

Finally, I Did It!!!

Finally, at last I made a cut. I am so excited right now I can't really contain myself. I feel so relieved to get that heavy burdon on not making a cut off my chest. I started out this tournament with a bang, the first round I came out firing shooting a 67 (-5) which put me in third place at the end of day one. The round went a little something like this, I started out on the par 5 10th hole where I hit a great first drive of the day right down the middle of the fairway. I hit my three wood for my second shot and hit it right on the green giving me a putt for eagle. I barely missed my eagle putt giving me a tap in Birdie on the first hole. What a good way to start. I made a par on the next three holes and then made birdie on the 14th hole (my 5th hole) to go two under for the day. I made par on the next two holes and then on the par 5 17th I got the break of the day. I pull hooked my drive heading into trouble, but it hit a tree and bounced back into the rough. I felt so relieved when I saw my ball bouncing back into play. I layed up with a 7 iron leaving myself 90 yards to the hole, I hit a little lob wedge in there to 5 feet behind the hole. I made that putt to go 3 under for the round. I made an easy par on the next hole to finish the nine at 3 under. On the first hole (which is my 10th hole) my tee shot landed in the fairway and rolled into the rough by 2 inches. I get up to my ball and there is a huge glob of mud right on the back of the ball, right were the club makes contact with the ball. I tried not to make it bother me and I hit my shot, missing the green long and right of the pin made it for a difficult up and down. I hit a good chip shot that left me with a 15 footer for par, which I barely missed making my first bogie of the day, back to 2 under on the day. Now after that I had to do some pep talking to myself to get me motivated not to be satisfied with 2 under par. I teed it up on the next hole and ripped a drive right down the middle. It was a par five leaving me with 240 yards for my second shot, I hit my two iron just short of the green then chipped it up and made the putt for birdie. I then birdied the next hole and the next hole for three in a row to get to 5 under for the day. I finished the round with 5 straight pars nearly missing birdie on every one. The second round was just as exciting coming down the stretch. I will just tell you about the end. Anyway I was really struggling for the first part of the round, feeling very nervous, trying to do everything I did in the first round and it felt like nothing was going right. I was 5 over par through 11 holes, all the way back to even par for the tournament with 7 holes to play when they blow the horn for inclement weather, and thank the Lord that they did because things were not going well. They ended up not starting play until this morning, Saturday, at 8:30. So I had time to recoop, regain my focus and come back out the next day determined to play well. So I came out this morning playing the 12th hole, pared 12 and 13, then I birdied 14, 15, pared 16, birdied 17 and pared 18 to shoot 1 under on the back and 74 (+2) for the second round. Three under par for the tournament, not only did I make the cut, but I was tied for 21st place with two rounds to play.

A good week off

Last week after the tournament in Miami, Oklahoma (Pronounced Miama) we had a week off that I decided to go down to Birmingham, Alabama where my friend Holt lives. I didn't play very well in Miama, missing the cut by a number of shots, I was eager to have a good week off from tournament golf to work on the game. It was a really good week, my friend Holt is a member at a great course named Greystone. This place has two great golf courses and a great practice facility and the course was generous enough to only charge me a cart fee to play out there with him. Needless to say it was a great week of practicing and playing, I was able to really hone in on my swing and work on my short game. All this practice gave me a tone of confidence to go into this week in Philadelphia, Mississippi.