A painful day at the office

I want to update everyone on my week at Providence Golf Club. I ended up shooting 69-75 for the first two days and missed the cut by three shots. The results obviously speak for themselves. For the 5th straight time this winter I will not make a penny for my efforts. My finish was something out of a horror movie. After making the turn today in two over par I rallied on the back nine and got five shots back putting me at three under for my round and six under for the tournament. This was refreshing because for the first time in over a year I was in contention in a golf tournament! However that excitement soon faded as I finished off my round double bogey, quadruple bogey. It would be easy to sit here and beat my head against the wall thinking about how I made Jean Van De Velde's meltdown at the British Open look tame, but I won't. I will be leaving for California Friday afternoon to spend a couple days with Neale Smith, my sports psychologist. To be honest I am thankful I had this appointment penciled into my calender, because after today my head is spinning. I am going to keep plugging away at it like I always do. Its hard to keep a solid mindframe when the chips just don't seem to be falling your way. I will update everyone with the insight Neale gives me when I get back. I KNOW he is the one who is going to help ME get over the hump. My next event begins February 10th at Rio Pinar. I have good memories at this course. I finished the event in 10th place last year and am very familiar with the course. From an outsiders perspective it would be easy to tell me to just go out there and make the cut at Rio Pinar and build from there. However, this is not how I play. I play to win everytime I tee it up. If I can erase the last two holes from my memory and rally around the other 34 holes I played well this week, there is a ligitimate chance I could do just that.

I want to welcome everyone to 2009. The year tournament wise has gotten off to a slow start, but to be honest I am not overly concerned. I have missed my first two cuts of the year on the Hooters Winter Series. In the first rounds in each of the two tournaments I have dug holes to deep to come back from. I would be a fool not to mention that in the first round of the first tournament I teed off in the third to last group and had to play 15 holes in a solid rain at Forest Lake. The first round of the second tournament at Deer Island was played in a steady 25mph wind in 50 degree temperatures. These were extremely difficult conditions, both of which rank in my top 5 most difficult rounds weather wise in my young career. However rounds of 79 and 81 are inexcuseable. I am working on finding ways in difficult conditions or days that I don't have my best stuff to grind out scores a lot closer to par. In both these tournaments I bounced right back the next day with scores that were a bit more reasonable in relation to par. What has led to my slow start in 2009 has been poor putting that is costing me some 5 to 6 shots each round. It also boils down to trusting myself from the moment the gun goes off in the first round from tee to green. In the second rounds when I have had nothing to lose I have played a lot more steady. I am really looking forward to keeping that mindset going into next week at Providence Country Club. The holidays were good to relax and sit back and set some high, but attainable goals in 2009. I got in some great time in the gym with my golf trainer Allison Thietje of Motion Memory Golf in Saint Louis. After the tournament next week I am headed to California for the week to work with my new sports psychologist Neale Smith. I have a great team of support behind me and I am ready to get this motor running shortly. Once the putter heats up I am fully expecting and ready to get a win in the near future.