Well, however hard I have tried to remain upbeat this week, it was all for not.  My game just didn't travel with me to Spain this week and I sit at a disappointing 9 over par through 3 rounds of golf without a chance tomorrow even with a world class round to advance to Finals.  It really sucks that it has to come to this but my hopes have been dashed and my golfing season for 2010 comes to a close officially tomorrow after I sign my card.  Once again for the 4th straight year I have not passed the test to improve my rank off the neophites on the mini tours.  I would be foolish to tell you I am an old man, but in the golfing world I am definitely getting older.  So many of my friends I play with my age have made the jump to the PGA Tour and I have stayed in my tracks since graduating college.  I really am a very upbeat and positive person.  I have a zest for life and really am passionate about golf.  However, with such a passion, it can often times be hard to swallow a long period of not reaching my goals and dreams.  One thing I have realized is I would much rather be a struggling golfer than a rich business man that isn't passionate about his/her work.  Not that I don't have tremendous respect for the corporate working class, but I know where my passions and talents lie.  I would be a fool to ever make a career change.  I have always been a late bloomer in golf.  As I graduated high school, I finally found my footing at the national level my senior year and won on the national level.  In college as it has been documented, heading into my senior year, I finally found my footing again at that level and nearly won the US Amateur.  I have now been a professional for just 3 years and 2 months.  The start of 2011 basically will be my "senior year" from a professional standpoint.  If history is any indication, next year there is a good chance I am about to once again find my footing and break loose into the upper echelon of the pro ranks.  I just need to regroup over the holidays and take some much needed time off.  I am very fortunate.  In 2010 alone I have traveled to Mexico, Puerto Rico, England, Scotland, Portugal, Spain, and all four corners of the US in pursuit of my dreams.  Thank you all so much for your support.  I'll keep you updated on my offseason and I can't wait for next Spring when everything starts anew and I begin to pour the foundation on a 2011 destined for greatness.  God Bless. 

My group was the first tee time today.  However, with the weather delays we got in only 11 holes today as we started at 2:30 pm locally.  I birdied my first hole today and was ready to take charge on a brutal day of wind, rain, and cold.  On the second hole, disaster struck.  It was a par 3 220yds to the hole howling into the wind.  I took out 3 wood which would only get me to the front of the green at best and pushed one ever so slightly.  The wind moved it further right and it went out of bounds.  I took a triple bogey at the second and put myself squarely behind the 8 ball after double bogeying the very next hole.  I made a great run at the end of the 11 holes we played birdieing my 8th, 9th, and 10th hole to get it back to 1 over for the day.  However, I once again lost that momentum with a bogey on my 11th hole as darkness fell and play was suspended.  So I sit at 2 over on the round with 7 holes to play, with a need to close out my round tomorrow morning with a fleury of birdies.  It is unfortunate that we will be playing tomorrow under sunny skies given that we had to endure the most of the inclement weather given our group was first off.  That is how golf goes somedays, so hopefully I can make up for it tomorrow by finishing my round off well.  I did a great job maintaining my composure after my start, but sometimes you just need some luck to go your way.  I am a long way back of where I need to be score wise and am going to have to light it up the last 2 and a 1/2 rounds to have any kind of chance.  I'll keep my head up and fight on even with the remote odds and will keep you posted.

Hello from Spain.  I arrived at Costa Ballena on Tuesday in one piece, but my golf game went missing on day one yesterday in the first round.  I shot a disappointing 77 to open up play and put myself in a rallying  position heading into the last three days.  I am looking forward to playing some great golf the last three days and scratching and clawing my way back up the leaderboard where I belong.  Yesterdays first round I just never settled into any kind of rhythm in any department of my game.  We are in a severe weather delay currently and my 2nd round has been pushed back currently for two hours.  Tomorrow(Sunday) is the only day in the extended forecast without rain so it will be interesting moving forward to see how this event plays out with the weather.  I know one thing, the worse the weather, the better off I will be in terms of if I play well I will be able to leap frog many more players, so bring on the elements!  I have three more rounds, so I just need to be patient and be myself and my game will shine forth and I can battle back.  Stay tuned. 

Alright!  So I headed down to Orlando last week with two goals in mind.  I wanted to square away my swing on an instructional front with my coach Brian Mogg.  Check!  Secondly, I wanted to have a successful preparation in my final tournament here in the US before Spain.  Check!  I flew in last Saturday and saw Brian immediately.  I was just a little bit off in my setup and by rectifying it I feel so much better standing over the ball.  The tournament began two days later and I ended up finishing in 8th place.  The beauty of it was I put myself in position to win the tournament the last day with a good round.  You absolutely can not mimick that and it was great to experience.  I struggled the final round a bit, but I kept my wits about me and finished strong to preserve a nice finish.  Believe it or not, this was my best finish in 27 events on the Hooters Winter Series.  That last round even though I struggled, I was great mentally.  I was patient, confident, and not at all jittery.  My first year out I put myself in a similar situation a couple times and my body didn't know how to react and I blew up.    This further aids in my progress toward Spain giving me the true belief that I am ready.  Golf is so fickle, so you can't ever go into an event without caution.  However, you can go into a tournament ready to play your best golf and not back down until the final putt is holed.  That is one guarantee I know is in store, and I could not be more excited for it.  I take off Monday the 22nd for Madrid via the Atlanta airport.  From there, my friend Dan Jermak(who is caddying for me) and I will take a train south to Cadiz and taking a cab to the golf resort.  John Candy from the movie "Planes, trains, and automobiles" would be proud!  I'll present an update as soon as I can from the southern tip of Spain, and I'm sure I will have a couple stories to reveal as well.  Stay tuned.   

It has been awhile now since my last round at Q School.  I needed a 62 the last day and I came with a 69.  That last round I gave myself 18 chances at making birdie and I only converted two of them.  My two birdies both came on two putting on par 5's after reaching the green in regulation in two shots.  So as you can see, I struck it well enough to give myself a chance to shoot a low one, however the putter just didn't cooperate.  It was at least refreshing to execute a round of golf from tee to green at Q School flawlessly.  This was my 4th trip to Q School and I bowed out once again without making it to second stage.  As honestly as I can put it, this one hurt just as bad as the last three.  For several days, all I wanted to do was be alone and collect my thoughts.  I had just lost my grandfather and I had put in a whole year's worth of hard work all to see the PGA Tour dream come crashing down in 4 days at Q School.  What is different about 2010 is that unlike 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 my dream is still alive even after failing at US Tour School.  The reason is I head to Cadiz, Spain November 22nd to take on 2nd Stage of European Tour Qualifying.  I navigated through 1st stage in Portugal in September.  For whatever reason, it has been just a mental barrier for me to get through the opening stage of Qualifying School.  Now that I have done it in Europe, I feel this is my time to seize the prize.  At some point, all the greatest players in the world had to make the jump and transition to the upper echelon.  The European Tour is the 2nd best tour in the world behind the PGA Tour.  I know what I want, but talking about it isn't how you reach your goals.  After I gathered myself back together after US Q School a couple weeks ago I sat down by myself and put together a plan as to how I would reach my goals over in Europe.  From the time I put my plan in writing, I had exactly one month before my plane departed from the US to Spain for 2nd stage.  I have a one month window to work tirelessly on my game and get every single part of my game ready for the rigors of 2nd and Final Stage over in Spain.  If you have ever seen the HBO boxing series documenting the fighter's leadup into their respective fights, that is more or less what is going on in my life right now.  Every move I make right now is made in regards to benefiting my progress towards Spain and my opening tee shot Nov. 26th at second stage.  That last round of Q School may not have mattered much, but I took a way a tremendous amount of confidence from a ball striking standpoint.  For the first time in my career, my back is squarely against the wall.  It is time for me now to make my move.  I will be playing one event Nov. 16-18th in Orlando before I depart for Spain.  I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.  This time I will be ready.  This time I am going to get what I want.

Thought I'd post an update for those interested.  I registered a 76 today and put a dent in my chances of moving on to second stage.  It is looking right now like I need a 62 tomorrow to advance.  It was a frustrating day today.  I didn't miss a shot on my front nine and turned in one under par ready to make my move.  I had the difficult side out of the way and had the easy back nine to play.  However two costly double bogeys and two additional three putts made for a stressful, painful, agonizing, and (insert mad adjective here) back nine.  Why did the first three rounds go this way?  I don't know, it is golf.  I am going to go out tomorrow with the same game plan as I had the first three days and try to shoot as low a score as I can.  Of course, I am going to have to play tomorrow like it is a Monday qualifier and try to knock the flag down on every shot.  I will say this.  I hit the ball on the front nine well enough to shoot a low score.  If I can duplicate that tomorrow and get the putts to start dropping, anything can happen.  I face long odds, but there is no chance I will ever throw in the towel.  This is my career path, and I will do whatever it takes for however long it takes to make this thing work.  Thank you all for your support.  One more day.  Lets make it a great one! 

Greetings from Charlotte.  This is a picture of Secretariat, the best thoroughbred horse of all time.  I went and saw the movie this afternoon and it was great!  Secretariat was known as a slow starter who turned it on and made his best strides at the end of the race.  Anyway it is nice to get away from the golf now and again at the movie theater.  We are half way through the tournament and I stand at 3 over par through 36 holes.  I opened up play yesterday with a one under par 70.  Today, I struggled a bit playing in a steady rain my opening nine holes.  I turned in two over par on the easier nine.  I matched that score on the back with another two over par to tally a four over par 75 in round two.  The top 23 players will advance to the next stage.  I currently sit four shots off that pace.  Every golfer who has ever played knows the feeling of it just not being your day.  On my sixth hole today I had a four foot birdie putt to move to two under par on the round.  As I addressed my ball with my putter, the ball quivered and moved a fraction of an inch.  The ball had moved and I had to call a penalty on myself.  Crazy things happen in this game, and it was just one of those circumstances that come along every now and again.  It was a bad break, but I was determined not to let it derail me.  I know it didn't, however my game the closing two thirds of the way just didn't tag along.  The beauty of this game is there still is a long way to go.  It is that time of year where only the strong survive.  I battled adversity out there all day and I didn't let it trample me.  I got up and dusted myself off.  I'm ready to go these next two days and put my best foot forward.  Nothing in this game is a guarantee.  I can make one guarantee though.  These last two days I am going to outpour everything I have to allow myself to play the best golf I know how to play.  Secretariat was the best closer there ever was, and these next two days I want to make Secretariat proud by doing much of the same.

I don't really know where to start for once.  My family and I have gone through a tough week.  My grandfather, who had been struggling with his health,  passed away on Monday October 11th.  What a wonderful man he was and he meant so much to me.  I was in Auburn, Alabama when I received word of his passing.  I played the event with him weighing on my mind.  I shot 71-76 and missed the cut, but that was not important in the spectrum given the circumstances.  I headed home and we buried him today.  He may be gone, but my memories with him will last forever.  This afternoon I got in some quality practice after not having swung a club for the past day and a half.  As most of you know, on Tuesday Oct. 19th I begin my 2010 quest towards the PGA Tour with 1st Stage of qualifying in Charlotte, NC.  It has been a great year for me on the course.  I know my grandfather will be watching from above.  In times of adversity I can lean on that and feel comforted.  This is my 4th trip to the annual tour school.  From that I can dip into the experience of what it takes.  I know I am ready, it just comes down to playing golf and just plainly being myself.  It is me against the course and may the battle begin. Here is the link to follow my progress: http://www.pgatour.com/qschool/

Sorry for no updates.  The Madison qualifier on Monday went poorly.  I replicated another 74 on a challenging day of wind and difficult pin positions.  I needed a 67 and didn't sniff it.  From there I headed to Callaway Gardens in LaGrange, Georgia for a Hooters Tour Q School Prep event.  That is one of the sites for the first stage of q school so they have an event there for guys to play.  I shot even for the first two rounds and missed the cut by four.  I made some dumb mistakes along the way that cost me.  I did hit some very nice shots so I will take that with me going forward.  On Monday (Oct 4th)  I was in Chattanooga for the final Monday qualifier of the year for myself.  I was first off on the day.  It was cold and there was a bit of wind which made the course fairly challenging.  I played very well minus two tee shots and wound up shooting a 3 under par 69.  I figured in my head that was a decent score and I had a realistic chance of qualifying.  So I stuck around for 3 hours to see if it would hold up.  Going into the last group of the day I was tied for 7th with one other guy.  The top 7 players advance, so I was in a 2 for 1 playoff at the time.  Unfortunately the guy shot 68 and bumped me to 8th place.  It was devastating to once again be so close and looking from the outside looking in.  I did the math on my way home.  I have played in 19 Mondays this year and didn't get through one.  I can promise you this is only adds to my determination moving forward.  The crazy thing is I shot under par in most of them but had nothing to show for it.  It is essential to take the positives moving forward.  I am still playing great golf and I have Tour school starting up in two weeks in Charlotte, NC at a course called Irish Creek.  It has been a consistent year for me in terms of scoring and that is what you need at Tour school.  I have one more event before next week in Auburn, AL.  I am really looking forward to the process this year and playing some great golf in the coming months.  This is what I have poured my life into and I really am cherishing the opportunity to see the fruit of my labors paying off.  I'll keep you posted in the meantime with my progress in the coming weeks.  Thanks for your support.

I'm at my hotel in Madison, Mississippi and I am very fortunate to be sitting here.  I made it through the pre qualifier yesterday on the number with at 74.  46 guys teed it up and the top 34 guys made it through.  I started off with a 3 putt on my first hole and a 4 putt on my third hole to put me at +3 through 3 and playing catch up the rest of the day.  I hit some good shots the rest of the way, but really nothing too special.  On my final hole of the day I missed a point blank tap in and that about summed up my day on the course.  It was a rude wake up call as my heart pounded as the last group came in.  I needed 2 of the 3 players in the group to shoot 74 or higher or I was going home.  Low and behold that is exactly what happened.  Call it fate, or call it luck, I secured my spot on Monday and everything starts anew.  I am playing great golf right now, I just had a slip up yesterday.  These are sometimes the breaks you need to make things happen.  I fully intend to capitolize Monday by playing the golf I know I am capable of and getting in the Viking Classic.  I'll update Monday with some great news!!!

Nothing good to report, but I'll file a report anyways.  I went to Columbus, Nebraska last week for the Nebraska Open.  I finished 36 holes with a 73-72 and that wasn't good enough to make the cut.  It is a real strange course with hard doglegs where you have to bend the ball real hard or take your tee shot up over trees to cut the corner.  For me personally, I really don't like the layout because I think it puts a strain on your swing mechanics.  When you are constantly off the tee trying to manipulate the golf ball in funky ways it can mess with your fundamentals.  Maybe I sound bitter for not playing well, but that is my two cents about Elk Run CC.  Anyway I went straight from there to Boise, Idaho for the Albertson's Boise Open Monday Quallifier.  Since the PGA Tour playoffs are going on simultaneously, the Nationwide takes 10 spots away from the qualifiers so that the PGA Tour players that don't make the playoffs can go down to the Nationwide Tour and compete.  That left the Monday qualifier with only 4 spots.  It sounds crazy that they would "reward" the tour players who have had a miserable year with this opening, but that is the way it is.  So as you can imagine, the shootouts that occur every Monday were even exponentially even harder this past Monday.  I played a steady, solid round and shot 68, but I missed the playoff by 4 shots which occured at 64!  It's a hard pill to swallow that 68 just doesn't cut it, but I have to take confidence away that I played a nice round but just wasn't rewarded.  My next event more than likely is going to be the Tour qualifier in Madison, Mississippi.  I have to go through all the hoops and hurdles to get there with the annoying pre qualifier ( scheduled for 9/24/10) and then Monday qualifier, but I am deadset on getting in and finally getting my first PGA Tour start as a pro under my belt.  Looking at the big picture, my game has progressed nicely all summer, and as Q School is right around the corner I am very excited to put my best foot forward in a month's time when it gets kick started at First Stage just north of Charlotte, NC.  From Jan 1st of this year I have known this is going to be my year, and I am not backing down from that thought process in the least.  There are ups and downs and everything in between, but by the end of the year when I look back and evaluate it is going to have been a remarkable year.  Anyway back to the present, thanks and I'll blog soon.  

So great news.  The trip to Portugal was a resounding success.  I successfully navigated my way through the 1st stage of European Tour Qualifying by finishing 13th place at Ribagolfe Club just outside of Lisbon, Portugal.  It was a very difficult course that demanded length and accuracy off the tee.  That really is what characterized this layout:  driving it straight with length.  I drove the ball just okay this week, which would normally not be good for this course, but my putter saved me this week as I made a ton of putts during my 4 rounds.  I finished the 4 rounds in a total of 2 over.  4 over was the cut at 20th place.  Normally I would be scratching my head wondering what went wrong after posting 2 over for 4 days, but trust me that was a solid effort on a grueling championship course.  The winner only posted 5 under for the week.  Going into the last round, I knew I needed just a solid round to get through, and when the pressure was turned on I delivered with a steady round of even par 72 to lock up my spot into 2nd stage in Spain the last week in November.  I can take away a great deal of confidence from this week realizing that A) I have the game to get to the next level and B) I was able to perform well under the gun while completely maintaining my composure and mental clarity in the heat of the battle.  This was my 6th try at Qualifying Schools if you count my 3 US Tour Qualifyings and 2 Canadian Tour Qualifyings in years past.  It was the first time I have successfully advanced onwards to the next stage.  Though it has been a painful process at times, the giant gorilla has finally been lifted and I am exuding confidence from finally passing a test.  This was just the 1st stage of 3 total for European Tour Qualifying, but now there are only two left.  The 2nd stage is much like the 1st where only 25% once again will move on to the final stage.  At the final stage the top 30 players earn their tour card.  So that is it in a nutshell.  I arrived home today after 9 hours on a plane.  Above are pictures of my family at dinner one night in Lisbon, and also of a 60 yr old glass of port wine I had for dessert the last night of our trip.  A nice way to cap off a successful week that points me directly in the direction I need to go.  Next up for me is hopefully the Nebraska Open later this week.  I am currently the 3rd alternate, so I am waiting to see if a couple guys drop out.  After that I head up to Boise, Idaho to try and get into next week's Nationwide field.  Things are coming together for me and it is nice to feel some positive vibes come my way.  I'll check back soon.

First off good news.  I smoked out the Asian contingent that was deadset on smearing my blog with links to adult websites by posting them under my comments section.  If you want to post something, I just have to clear it first, so don't hesitate to throw something my way.  It has been awhile since I updated.  Let me catch you up to date.  Well Springfield was uneventful.  I shot an even par 70 where I couldn't get anything kickstarted due to a balky putter.  I wanted to get back in the field and prove again to myself I could get in contention, but I sputtered out at the qualifier.  I drove 600 miles with my tail between my legs down to Lagrange, Georgia to try my luck last week on the Hooters Tour.  I opened the event with an impressive 4 under par 67 that was highlighted by my 2nd career HOLE IN ONE which put me in 7th place.  Unfortunately as it has seemed as of late as soon as I get the momentum, the golfing gods want to spit right back in my face.  I had an early second round tee time and as I woke up to the sound of my alarm, it startled me and I twisted my neck and tweaked it.  It was Friday the 13th and I succumbed to it unfortunately.  How I gutted out a 1under par round in the second round was beyond me but I did.  Might as well have been a 59 in terms of mentally how good it was to some how block out the pain.  I went straight to the chiropractor where he realigned my neck.  It was really sore and tender for the weekend, but I had trouble really trusting it and when you lack trust, you lack staying in contention.  Each round after the 1st round was just a little bit worse and I wound up in 52nd place, but wondered what could have been given how well I played the first round w/ proper health.  The good news is I am back now to 100% and ready to move on from this fluke injury.  I have a week and a half to get ready for my next excursion.  I head tomorrow to Orlando for the day to work with my instructor Brian Mogg to get ready for 1st stage of European Qualifying School which begins August 29th.  I haven't been assigned my course, but I will be traveling to either London, England or Lisbon, Portugal where the top 25% of the players at my field will advance to 2nd stage.  I'm going into this ready to win, and realizing that getting to 2nd stage in Europe will definitely cut the tension of US PGA Qualifying 1st stage by having successfully navigated thru a stage of Q School in Europe.  So that is the goal and I am going to make it happen.  The work I put in the next week and a half is absolutely essential to my success and I am not overlooking anything.  It is an exciting time of year in my life and my game is getting better every day little by little.  I just am going to keep chipping away and getting better.  I can only control myself, and tomorrow I am going to do all that I can do to get better.  Always looking forward, ~JK.

Just what the Doctor ordered.  I came back after my poor 3rd round and put together a 4 under par 68 in the final round.  I actually had it to 6 under with 3 to play, but a bad break off a perfect drive on 16 where my drive bounced off the cartpath into the weeds allowed me to make a bogey rather than what would have been a simple birdie.  It may have held me back from really going low, but regardless I played solid.  Going into the last round with really nothing to gain from a position standpoint, I made it a point to come out with a personal goal that I could attain to keep my focus.  It just so happened me and Tiger Woods were both 11 over par thru 3 rounds.  I wanted to beat him in relation to par for the event.  I finished at 7 over after a solid final round and he struggled in the final round and finished at 18 over for his tournament.  Take that Tiger.  Nonetheless, it was good to get the game back on track after the one day derailment.  I made it into Springfield last night at 2:30am and got a full nights rest waking up at 11.  I'm going to head out to Millwood soon to prepare for tomorrow and get myself in the right frame of mind to go out and play to the best of my ability. 

85.  There I said it.  That's how many strokes it took me to get around today.  I have no one to blame but myself.  I took a quadruple bogey early and steadied the ship by making two birdies to close out my front nine and turn in two over par.  However, a triple bogey on my 10th hole derailed me.  For the first time in quite a long time I let the golf demons get to me and I more or less put my mental toughness in a blender.  Sure, I wasn't hitting it my best, but I could have grinded it out coming in and I didn't do that.  I am not mad about shooting 85, I am mad that I more or less lost it mentally.  I tried to put the blame on the fact that I was playing in a group today with 4 amateurs playing a scramble and it took us 5 hours to play.  I was back on a junior golf level with the way I acted on the course.  I didn't throw any clubs, or shout any obsenities, but I didn't have the swagger of a professional golfer.  I'm no psychologist, but I think I realized that I still haven't let the Turning Stone Monday Qualifier go in my head.  It just was totally uncharacteristic for me to fold it in like I did today, and the only thing I can rationalize is I am still held up on the ramifications of Monday.  Well this shocked my system the hard way back into reality and I can now move forward with no regrets.  This was my highest round of golf as a professional and it was embarrasing.  The good news is the sun will come up tomorrow and I have a final day tomorrow to play a solid round of golf and erase this 3rd round disaster from my memory forever.  I am playing great golf, I just slipped up today and for some reason flipped the switch off.  I'm going to flip the switch back on tomorrow rest assured.  I head from here to Springfield, MO for the Nationwide Monday qualifier.  You never want to make an event bigger than it is, but I really want this one on Monday.  It was last year that the Springfield Nationwide event left me 2 shots away from changing my life forever.  I need to play my way back into the tournament, so I can give myself that same chance.

No Wind @ Southwind

As the title of this post indicates, we had another eerily calm day on the course.  The name of the course is Southwind CC for crying out loud.  That name explains it all.  The course was very soft, and with the calm conditions it was a low score happy hour out there all day.  I struggled and never felt comfortable with an iron in my hand all day, but scrapped it around with pretty solid putting and put up a three under par 68 to make the cut on the number.  I made a 30 footer on 18 to play the weekend.  I'll tell you the strides I have made over the last couple years.  My first year as a professional, I think I made 1 out of my 10 cuts for the season on the Hooters Tour.  Today, on my final putt of the day the cut didn't even register in my mind.  I was trying to find a way to convert that putt to not make the cut, but to get one shot closer to the leader.  If you play to make the cut, you set yourself up for disaster.  You have to play to win, and that is one of many things I have learned that has helped me become a more polished professional.  I am taking nothing for granted these last two days, as I know the wind that usually reaks havoc here can come up at any time.  For my sake I need some wind, because a challenging course will allow me to gain some ground on the 9 shot margin that seperates me from the top of the board.

Alright, so I have had a few days to cool off from Monday and keep going with my life.  As they say, pardon the French, Shit happens.  I'm doing my best to look at the big picture, and realize a bad break in a one day qualifier barely registers as a blip on the radar.  I made it into Garden City, Kansas last night at 10pm.  I can't tell you how hard a process it is to get from rural New York to rural Kansas.  I had to fly home to Saint Louis, then bite the bullet and drive 10 hours to Garden City.  I played the first round this morning and was off my game all day.  Luckily, this week is a riding event, so energy wasn't the issue.  I shot an even par 72 on the easier of the two courses we play this week.  There were a bunch of bees out there today for whatever reason that kept interupting me during the course of play and it bothered me a bit.  Today was the day for scoring because the wind layed down as best it could for this part of the world.  As I mentioned in a blogpost back in 2009, Dodge City, Kansas is on record as the windiest city in America.  We are only about 20 miles from there this week.  My trip over to Scotland should very well help prepare me for the inevitability of playing in strong winds at some point the next three days.  Hopefully I have gotten my poor round out of the way early and can light it up the next 54 holes!  http://www.adamsgolfprotourseries.com/ for results.

I'm in Albany, New York in a Holiday Inn all by myself.  This is a story I don't want to tell, but I feel it is necessary for all of my supporters out here that take the time to read this.  For those that are sqeamish, I'd stop here.  Today @ the PGA Tour Turning Stone Monday Qualifier I missed in a 4 for 1 playoff to get in the event.  I shot a quality round of 4 under par 68 to put me in the playoff, but the hose job I received on my 9th hole today rivals the worst bad break in my 25 years of existance.  On my 9th hole of the day I was cruising along in 3 under par when I teed off with a driver.  The hole is a split fairway where you can go left or right.  There is a series of bunkers in between the two fairways that makes the player choose which side he is going to drive to.  I hit a solid drive down the left center of the fairway and as I went up to find my ball, it was nowhere to be found.  In golf under the USGA rules of golf that govern play you have exactly 5 minutes to look for your ball.  Well we searched for 5 minutes for my ball and mysteriously could not find it.  After that 5 minutes your ball is deemed lost, and I had to take a penalty stroke and retee from the tee box, which essentially makes it a 2 stroke penalty.  As I began my mystified walk back to the tee 5 minutes and 15 seconds after looking for my ball, low and behold I found my original drive just sitting fine 40 yards back from where we were looking.  Unfortunately even though I found my ball, I could not play that one because my 5 minutes were up.  So instead of making a routine par I made a double bogey.  My grandpa died some 7 years ago, and this was the first time I had tears in my eyes since then.  In my mind I qualified for the event today, but it was taken away from me from the cruel, strict rules that govern our sport.  I know I have to abide by these rules, it just so happened they hampered me from realizing a dream of mine today.  In the playoff I was proud of myself for recomposing myself.  I made birdie on the 1st hole by getting up and down greenside on the par 5 first hole.  It was one of the most crafty pitch shots I have hit in all of 2010 and my ball lipped out for eagle.  I tapped in for birdie.  Two of the other playoff contenders matched my birdie.  On the 2nd playoff hole, I had to get up and down for par to extend the playoff.  I had a relatively challenging pitch shot from the short side right of the pin.  My ball was sitting down just a hair and I decided to take out putter and be safe, rather that mishit a wedge and have no chance at par.  I hit the first putt to 7 feet, and just missed my par putt to extend the playoff.  Hindsight tells me I should have trusted the work with my pitching that I have put hundreds of hours into with my instructor Brian Mogg, but I think I made the prudent club selection with putter given the lie.  I need to gracefully salute 59 YEAR OLD Dick Mast for beating me in this playoff.  If I can take any solace, and help lick my wounds, I can walk away from today realizing I still can be competitive for 34 more years in this game if Mr. Mast can do it!  59 must be the new 29.  I am ready to qualify through Tour School this fall and putt Monday qualifying behind. me.  I have served my apprenticeship and know in my heart and soul I am ready to take it to the next level.  I head from here to Garden City, Kansas tomorrow for an Adams Tour event.  It is an event that I love, but it is a tough pill to swallow realizing what could have been.  Until next time. ~JK

Well.  I have a lot to report.  Let's start from the finish to the Tarheel event in Greensboro.  I put the game into neutral on the weekend and coasted in unfortunately to a seven under par total.  I played the last 36 in even par and spiraled down the leaderboard.  From there I flew to Omaha for the Nationwide Monday Qualifier.  I had an unfortunate circumstance occur.  American Airlines lost my luggage so I didn't have my clubs.  At the 11th hour both figuratively and literally my clubs arrived.  At 11pm Sunday night, the night before the event, my clubs came in.  I was worried, but I had my clubs to give myself a realistic chance.  I shot a 3 under par 67 and missed by 2 shots.  I played well all day, just missed 2 too many putts and that was the difference.  I have been frustratingly close the last handfull of qualifiers, but I know my time is coming soon.  I am writing in fact from Verona, New York at this week's PGA Tour Turning Stone Monday Qualifier.  Yesterday, as we have the weekend off before the Monday qualifier, my friends and I went to Cooperstown, NY and took in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  If you have never been, go.  If you have, consider yourself fortunate to see one of the neatest landmarks in all of sports.  Anyway, on the golf front,  I successfully navigated through the pre qualifier with an unmotivated 74 where I knew at the beginning of the day basically all I needed was a pulse to get through to Monday where 50 of the 68 contestants advanced.  My game is really coming along.  What I am most excited about is the venue we will be qualifying at Monday.  It is without a doubt the best course I have played in 2010.  It goes completely against the grain of your typical Monday Qualifier course which sets up extremely easy and you have to go out and shoot in the mid 60's to get through.  It won't be like that Monday I can nearly promise.  It is a remarkably challenging course that I can't wait to go out and tame Monday and earn my spot into my first PGA Tour event in my professional career.  It's all about execution and I feel ready to go out and finally paint that masterpiece of a round on the Turning Stone canvas.

Now I'm cooking with gas!  The first two rounds are completed at this week's Tarheel tour event in Greensboro, NC and I sit 5 shots off the lead at 7 under par.  I fired rounds of 71 and 66 the first two days.  Today was a great day at the office where everything was working properly.  Yesterday on the secondary course I struggled on the greens that were extremely soft and slow.  The picture above of course is of Dave Matthews.  Why is this relevant?  Last night my friend Peter Malnati and I went to Charlotte to see him in concert.  Everyone has their passions and interests and the Dave Matthews Band ranks right up there with what is most important to me.  I found a lot of inspiration out there on the course today from last nights show, which might sound weird, but probably only I can understand.  I actually obtained the setlist from the show last night from the crew members at the soundboard.  This was one of the highlights of 2010 for me.  Just figured I'd offer you a little insight on one thing in life that drives me other than golf.  Well I have two day now to finish this tournament up properly.  I have put myself in position through two rounds to make a charge.  The key for me is to just keep plodding along, staying in my natural rhythm and routine, and when I add it up at the end hopefully it is enough to celebrate a huge success.  Keep you posted.

Well, I got what I asked for.  Birdies.  The first round of the Waterloo Open yesterday I made 8 birdies in my round!  A three hole bad stretch didn't allow me to go as low as I needed, and I settled for a 4 under par 68.  Today I shot a steady 69.  I made my first bogey of the day today on the last hole to end my round on a sour note, but I played consistent.  There were 5 par 5's on this course all reachable with iron, and I unfortunately like Cincinati did not fully take advantage of them this weekend and this is what seperated me between winning and finishing T25th like I did.  Still, this is exactly what I needed, an easy course like this to shock my system back into shooting two nice scores that have gone against my boring trend of 70s I had been shooting.  I am ready for my summer now to really get cooking.  I have been knocking on the door so long now, my knuckles are beginning to bleed.  However, today I felt the deadbolt on the door begin to give way.  I head tomorrow to Greensboro, NC for a Tarheel Tour event.  I'll let you in on a little story as to why this week could be very special.  As you know, last year I had a great finish in the Nationwide Springfield event.  The winner of this week's Tarheel event gets a sponsor exemption into Springfield.  I feel like I got kinda hosed on not getting a spot into this year's Springfield event, so I am out to gain my spot back in this year's field on my own merit.  If it doesn't work out this week, I still have a great chance via the Monday Qualifier in a few weeks to get in so don't be too nervous for me.  On top of that my neighbor back in St. Louis, Trevor Dodds who is also a professional golfer, won the 1998 PGA Tour Greensboro Open at Forest Oaks.  This is the same course we are playing this week on the Tarheel Tour.  If I win, there can be two winners on Camberwell Drive in Saint Louis that have hoisted trophies from Forest Oaks CC.  What a story that would be!  My game is here and ready to win, now I just need to go out and trust it and execute.

Well, another Monday qualifier by the wayside and still nothing to show from it.  Yesterday in Cincinnati all stars were completely aligned for qualifying into this week's Nationwide tour event.  The PGA Tour is at the British Open this week, and they have an overlapping event in the states here in Reno, Nevada which allows all the conditional members of the PGA Tour to get into the field in Reno.  This trickle down effect allows all the conditional members of the Nationwide Tour to get into this week's Chiquita Classic in Cincinnati.  Factor in that this is a brand new event in Cincinnati and all of a sudden you have a Monday qualifier that the mini tour players don't know about and all the conditional members don't have to qualify for.  With that said only 70 players teed it up yesterday for 7 spots.  The course had 4 par 5s reachable for me with a 5 iron on each of them and 3 par 4's that were drivable.  Conventional wisdom tells you that is basically 7 more or less simple birdie/eagle opportunities and makes par at the beginning of the day more like 65 for the course.  Well I made zero bogeys yesterday, but parred all four of the par 5's with 5 iron or better in my hand on each of them.  I also squeezed in a three putt par on one of the drivable par 4's, and two violent horseshoe lip out on two other holes.  This equates to par on the score, but double bogey mistakes during the course of the round.  I missed the playoff by 1 shot and drove straight home for 6 hours in a daze after a melt down that left me limping home.  I feel like I have just stepped out of the ring with Mike Tyson.  I can keep preaching to the choir about how I am so close, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  It is going to eventually come down to me finally just getting over the barrier myself.  I myself can be my best friend or worst enemy.  I have to seize the opportunity myself and no one else can help me do it.  I haven't made a BOGEY competitively in 34 holes of golf.  This is by far the longest streak of my life.  This is proof that my game is more than consistent enough to go out and win a title soon.  It also tells you that PAR in the professional ranks will leave you scratching your head if you don't add in some birdies.  It's all about making birdies, and I feel they are coming soon.  I head next to Waterloo, Iowa for the Waterloo Open.  It is a two day shootout over next weekend where the winner takes home $50,000.  Being this close to where I need to be makes me way more mad than frustrated.  Hopefully I can use this madness to my advantage and take it out on my competitors this coming weekend with a pair of 65s and an oversized cardboard check.

Two rounds are in the books at St. Albans CC.  I am extremely fortunate to be playing the final round after posting a pair of 4 over 74s.  My game has been rough the past two days with every club in the bag.  My longest putt I have holed has been from 4 feet.  My only three birdies have come from two putting after reaching the green in two on a pair of par 5s and driving the green on a par 4.  One of the great things about playing at home is that my Dad got to caddy for me today on my back nine.  We were finishing the round today when we were on hole 15.  It was a par 5 and I had 283 to the hole with my second.  My dialogue to him was the only way I am making birdie is by getting a 3 wood on the green and two putting.  It was that bad with the putter.  Well I hit probably the best 3 wood of 2010 on that shot and set up an easy birdie.  It is little things like this that I have to take away from rounds in times when I am struggling.  As I sat in the middle of the fairway on my last hole of the day thinking I needed to make birdie to make the cut, I told myself to breathe and just think about a rhythmic tempo.  The scary thing was as I got over the ball, I was completely unsure where the ball was going to go.  Left, right, high, low?  It sure as heck didnt fly straight.  I ended up blocking it short right in a bunker and made bogey from there.  Due to the lack of quality in the field this week, I somehow still made the cut at 8 over.  If this was a Hooters event I would have missed the cut by a half dozen, so I'm not going to allow myself to pat myself on the back just for making the cut.  What this does allow me to do tomorrow is get another round under my belt competitively.  That is exactly what I need right now.  I can pinpoint my weaknesses under the gun.  That's the best place to do it.  Golf has been a hard game for me here of late and I have been slightly stubborn not allowing it to get under my skin.  This is the nature of what I am doing.  There will be highs and there will be lows.  My absolute worst golf, which was on display the first two days, still allows me to at least salvage something and that is reassuring and proves I'm improving.  I am anxious soon to prove to myself that my best golf allows me to win on the highest level.  Sunday I leave for Cincinnati, Ohio for a Nationwide qualifier.  There are 80 guys at my course for 7 spots.  This is as good an opportunity numbers wise you can ask for in a Monday Qualifier.  I am determined to have a great day tomorrow to springboard me onto a very successful Monday.  If you were to give me the option to win this event this week and fail at the Nationwide Monday qualifier or play poorly this week and successfully qualify for the Nationwide event, I would take the latter every time.  Hopefully I can peak Monday and run the tables next week.  That's what great about golf.  One bad week means absolutely nothing.  The next week could be the best of your life and there are no reprecussions as there would be from a win/loss standings standpoint in other sports.  Good night.

Plan A-Nope...Plan B-Nope...Plan C-YES...What exactly does that mean?  Well unfortunately I missed at my plan A in Scotland for the British Open Qualifier.  My plan B was to get into the John Deere Classic this week which also unfortunately did not work out.  I was in Milan, IL on Monday for the Monday qualifier where I needed to shoot a 4 under par 68.  I got it to two under par with 5 holes to play and needed 2 more birdies coming to get in a playoff.  I went the other way unfortunately and finished at level par.  Once again, just like Scotland I gave myself a chance.  It absolutely stinks I struck out at the plate these last two chances when I put myself right in position to close late.  However, I know I have to take the positives out of this that I have put myself directly in the place I need to put myself in every time I play.  For many months prior to these previous two qualifiers I wasn't even giving myself chances.  Well I am down to my plan C now for the week and am competing in my home town of St. Louis at St. Albans CC for the Metropolitan Open.  It was last year where I finished second place here and that instilled the confidence in me to springboard onto a tear the remainder of the summer.  I said in my first blogpost of the year it was very important for me to get off to a good start to the year from Jan.1st on and keep it going all year long.  I may not have played my best golf in the first half of the year, but I was WAY more improved from last year from a consistency stand point.  So where does that leave me going into this week?  Well, I feel like my game is at a much higher level than it was at this point 365 days ago.  From that fact it only makes sense that if I can give myself a couple chances in the second have through Monday Qualifiers to get in some Nationwide/PGA Tour events that I can give myself a realistic chance at winning.  I did it last year in Springfield, and I fully intend at some point this year to do it again.  It all starts this week at home in Saint Louis for the Metro Open.  The first round starts tomorrow morning, and I need to give all my attention to my first shot and go from there.  A nice week this week can go along way for once again kickstarting my 2010 campain like it did last year.  You can follow my progress this week at http://www.metga.org/ .

I am sitting here in Scotland in a Bed and Breakfast updating you all with the unfortunate news that I will not be playing in the British Open in 2010.  Above is a picture I took from St. Andrews with the bleachers on 18 as empty as my heart is at the moment.  I have traveled from far and wide to get here and spent thousands of dollars on my journey to turn up a bit short of realizing my dream.  I must say it has been a marvelous trip here in the brief 5 days I have been here.  It was a bit of a spiritual experience I could say getting to play the windswept link of Scotland.  It is just pure golf over here.  None of the fancy clubhouses or any of that other frivolous extra stuff you would find in America.  I have not had this much fun playing golf since I first picked up a club when I was eight.  Though I didn't make it, I realized even more how special this game is to me.  The creativity required over here is second to none and the quality of the course I played rivals any I have ever walked.  Kingsbarns Golf Links hosted the qualifier.  There were 72 participants qualifying for 3 spots into the Open Championship at St. Andrews.  I opened up play in the morning with a two under par 70.  This put me in 6th place and just one shot off the pace of qualifying.  I played so well this morning and had every intention of carrying on my great play into the afternoon.  For whatever reason, I got off to a horrific start on my second 18 and I dug a hole early that I was unable to climb out of.  It was extremely painful to withstand as I watched before my eyes my spot in the open blow away into the Scottish wind with a 78 that left me a distance from where I needed to be.  I only needed to copy and paste my opening 70 from the morning into the afternoon and I would have qualified with a score of 140.  My playing partner Jamie Abbott qualified through and I expect great things from him in the British Open.  2010 thus far has really been tough on me from a results standpoint.  I am on the cusp of breaking through, I just haven't found a way to do so.  This must be my 10th blogpost this year in which I say the same thing like I am a broken record.  I would be lying to you if I didn't admit the travel and poor results really are hard to overcome mentally when things just aren't going your way.  The truth is things are actually going my way, just crazily not quite enough to cross the finish line on top.  It is as if I was in a 100 yard dash and with 5 yards to go I have tripped and fell every time.  95 percent of my execution on the course is spot on, but the other 5 percent is just tricking me up enough at the absolutely wrong times during the course of play that it is hindering me from being successful.  Much of this goes beyond the physical tools I have and delves into a deeper mental side.  I have to have complete belief in myself and the utmost confidence in what I am doing at all times to make this happen.  Right now I know I don't have this with me for all 18 holes of each round.  Once I find this there won't be any stopping me.  I head home tomorrow and then head directly to the PGA Tour John Deere Pre Qualifier in Quad Cities, Iowa.  I know in my heart of hearts I am going to break out soon.  I hope that I can believe it and trust it completely in Iowa.  Thanks for your support.

I am in Bentonville, Arkansas this week as mentioned with the Hooters Tour.  Bentonville may ring a bell with some of you because it is the home of Walmart.  Well the 1st two rounds are in the books and I came in with a 1 over par 143 total.  This is my third year playing here and for whatever reason I just have never really put it all together on this layout.  It is a great course that I like, for whatever reason scoring has always been hard for me here.  As of right now it looks like I am going to be taking the weekend off by one shot.  Its crazy how golf can just come down to one shot when I am on the course for a total of 10 hours.  I hit a lot of really nice shots the first two days, which was pleasant after Monday's US Open debacle which was emotionally scarring.  However, I had 4 pathetic three putts that really hurt my scoring and momentum.  A couple of straightforward chip shots that didn't come off the wedge as planned also led to a couple pathetic bogeys that should have been routine pars.  All that adds up and instead of being around 5 under par barring the 3 putts and misfired chips, I am sitting in my room biting my nails looking at missing the cut.  Anyway, thats how it goes some times.  Regardless I head about an hour south from here Sunday to Fort Smith for the Nationwide Monday Qualifier.  This is a welcome relief from a travel stand point.  I am used to flying cross country for these qualifiers and sitting in airports just waiting my turn.  This week I get to make an easy commute from one location to the next.  Hopefully this will help put me in a more relaxed frame of mind and I can go out and play my game.  The older I get the more I have realized for me I play my best golf when I am not rushed and am completely relaxed and calm on the first tee.  This week's travel itinerary affords me just that.  I can't wait to tee it up on Monday and play a great round.  Oh and I have also just started a new working relationship with the clothing company Fairway and Greene, which I will be supporting on the course here for the rest of the season.  They year in and year out have put together some great collections and I look forward to playing great in their line from here on out in 2010.  Update soon!

First off, whoever you are that keeps posting spam under my comments, shame on you.  You are a waste of space that gets off on ruining my site that I put my heart and soul into.  As you can probably tell I am running a little hot under the collar.  The reason being is I just got off the course in my US Open Qualifier and posted 79, 81 for a stellar 36 holes of golf.  I was on the course today for 9 hours searching for all that time for some semblance of a golf game.  It was soooo frustrating to know that I was on the brink of playing at Pebble Beach in my 2nd US Open and I walked away today feeling like I got run over by a truck.  Lets get the facts straight.  This was a hard course.  The greens were very fast and very firm.  The rough was high, so it put an absolute premium on driving the ball in the fairway to be able to impart some spin on the ball coming into the greens.  I didn't drive the ball worth a darn and from there everything else spiraled out of control.  I made 5 double bogeys in 36 holes.  I keep harping on eliminating these huge numbers off the card and it keeps biting me in the butt.  I fly out of Philadelphia tomorrow morning to St. Louis to regroup for a 1/2 day before continuing on to a Hooters event in Bentonville, Arkansas which starts in 3 days.  One week from today I will be playing in the Fort Smith Nationwide Monday Qualifier trying to get back on track.  Today was just one day.  The good news is I still have a pulse and a warm body.  I am going to have to move along from this and pick myself up.  This is definitely the worst I have felt in a while, and it is perfectly human for me to feel that way.  After the Arkansas swing next week, which hopefully will be extended another week with a successful Monday Qualifier attempt, I will have some time to get ready for my British Open Qualifier June 29th in Scotland.  That is the saving grace of all this.  Today may not have gone according to plan, but I fully intend to make up for it June 29th by punching my ticket to St. Andrews for this year's British Open.  2010 is going to be my year and I won't take NO for an answer.

Here I am sitting in the Charlotte International Airport waiting to get home.  As the picture above illustrates, my flight is delayed coming home to add a nice final touch to a week that saw both good and bad.  I played my first Tarheel Tour event this week in Greenwood, SC and ended up finishing in 47th place, finishing 5 under par for the 4 rounds of competition.  We played an easy golf course this week that unfortunately had aerated greens that made putting more luck than skill.  A bad putt could go in the hole just as easily as a good putt could miss.  There just was no consistency in the roll of the ball off the putter face.  What did I do well this week?  For the most part I drove the ball real well and hit great mid and long irons.  My sand wedge play from the fairway is what really limited me this week.  The course was very short, so I saw many looks at the green with a wedge.  My distance control was completely off and instead of having putts inside 10 feet for birdie I was dealing with 30 foot looks all week.  This problem was compounded by the poor greens, which more or less completely ruled out a birdie from long range on the greens due to the inconsistency of the grass.  Unfortunately due to a mixup, I will not be entered in the Nationwide Monday Qualifier this upcoming week because I forgot to sign up.  So I am sitting here at the airport trying to get home with hours of delays giving me ample opportunity to think about my next couple weeks.  I have all of next in Saint Louis to get ready for US Open sectionals in New Jersey at Canoe Brook.  My game is extremely close, and I am hoping this will be the venue where I break out.  There will be 62 individuals playing for tentatively 3/4 spots into the US Open at Pebble Beach.  These opportunities are why I play golf.  I am extremely excited to earn my spot next week and will report back as soon as I can.  Look at http://www.usopen.com/ for scoring.

The Saint Louis area Hooters event has come and gone and so has the rain.  We got in 54 holes of the scheduled 72 after hours upon hours of delays due to inclement weather.  It was a complete slop fest that really tested everyone's patience.  This is never any fun for anyone to have to deal with.  I fortunately made the cut on the number after a decent start to the tournament with a 70 I backed that up with a miserable second round 76.  The last round I found much of the same with another 76.  I really have got to keep the double bogeys off the card.  Big numbers hurt.  It is fun to see that my miserable golf still allows me to make the cut and that is a heck of a stride from my first year out professionally when I felt I played well and still missed the cut.  Anyway it has been much of the same struggle I have been documenting over the past few weeks.  Basically my iron play is off kilter.  I am getting the club stuck behind me because my lower body is outracing my chest, arms, and club.  It is resulting in either a weak block slice to the right or a shot that starts left and moves further left when I try to compensate at impact and flip the club.  I'm chipping and putting the ball well, I just need to get the iron game going.  Ok, now for the positive, upbeat news.  Sunday night after the flood and tournament ended in Edwardsville I flew up to Minneapolis for my US Open local qualifier at Hazeltine.  I was not overly optimistic to be honest due to my struggles the past few days, but I vowed to myself that I would put everything into somehow getting around a course that I know how to play better than most anyone else.  My warmup session on the range Monday was no different from the past few days.  Aweful and I couldn't find my rhythm.  So as I walked to the first tee at Hazeltine Monday I had to improvise.  I was yelling at myself internally that no matter what happened that round I was going to have fun, remain calm, and really get into my routine and visualize.  All day I felt completely uncomfortable over the ball, but I made up for it by really keeping my composure.  I made all my short putts for par and my short game really saved me.  I birdied 16 and 18(my 7th and 9th holes of the day) with spectacular shots.  A 9 iron on 16 to 4 inches for a tap in birdie and an 8 iron to five feet from the fairway bunker on 18.  The shot I was most proud about was on my penultimate hole on number 8 since I started on the back nine.  I was 2 over par for the day on a day I knew par was a great score due to the insane pin positions.  Number 8 is a 175 yard par 3 surrounder by water short and right.  Funny how the short right shot is the shot I have been struggling with.  So as it happens at impact I naturally flipped the club and my shot was way left of the green.  I had to pitch from heavy rough over a bunker to a green sloping away from me with water lurking past the pin.  I hit the softest pitch I have hit in all of 2010 and landed it exactly where I had to and got my up and down for par.  I pared the last for a 74 and waited all day to find out at about 7:30pm that I had qualified through to sectionals where I will be playing June 7th in Summit, New Jersey.  I am so proud of myself for getting through Monday with a golf game that was basically put together by duct tape and sheer will.  I am going to grind my butt of this week to get my game back on track.  I am really proud of the way I have not allowed the demons of golf get to me and I have been scratching and clawing my way through this minor detour on my way to the PGA Tour.

Hello.  As I get ready for next week's Hooters event in Saint Louis, I sit here at home in Saint Louis just trying to get rested.  I got back home from Orlando a week ago today and had all week to get my game in order.  The week went very smoothly from a golfing standpoint.  I had been struggling a bit with my iron play.  The crispness in the strike just hasn't been there.  I have been hitting a "baby push cut" with my irons that just isn't 100% flush.  It is more like a bit of a sideswipe.  The problem is very small, but I think I made some nice strides in correcting it.  Other than that the rest of my game is good.  I have been dealing with a sore throat the past couple days.  I am trying to narrow it down to allergies, a cold, or strep throat.  The latter of which I may need to see my physician and get on some antibiotics, but that can't keep my down.  Next week I also have been selected for the pro-am on Wednesday to play in as well as assist in the junior clinic on Tuesday.  It is nice to be able to give back a little to this game that has given me so much.  It is apparent that I am excited for next week, but the month ahead has a lot in store.  Following the last putt next Sunday, I will be flying up to Minneapolis to play in US Open Local Qualifying at Hazeltine National Golf Club the very next day.  This as many of you are aware is a course that I have fond memories of, when in 2006 I made it to the finals of the US Amateur there.  It is nice to go back to a place where great things have happened for me.  I am sure on the first tee there in 9 days I will have a range of emotions from nerves, to feeling of triumph, to feelings of what could have been.  It will definitely be a reunion I can't wait to make and hopefully I will be able to take away more positives from that spot.  There will be 150 players in Minnesota seeking roughly 10 spots to advance to the sectional qualifier on June 7th.  From there it gets a little more complicated.  On May 24th I have signed up for the International Final Qualifying for the British Open in Plano, Texas.  In order to qualify for this qualifier, one must have official world ranking points from the OWGR ranking system.  Only 78 players can fill the qualifier, and about 150 players have signed up.  I sit about 135th or so on the list in terms of the rankings (I'm ranked 843rd in the world), so that puts me at about 50th or so alternate.  It is actually very satisfying to be able to look at the list of names signed up next to mine for this qualifier.  The likes of Fred Couples, Billy Mayfair, Chris DiMarco, Davis Love, etc. sit right next to mine.  Many PGA Tour pros drop out at the last second due to one reason or another, so I should have a decent chance of getting in at the 11th hour.  Right now I am sitting in limbo until the last few days before to see if I get into the field.  Either way I will fly down to Texas on May 23rd to see if I can get in the day of due to a last second withdrawal where the officials turn to the onsite alternates.  If I don't make the starting field there, I am working on a Plan B to fly to Scotland for the June 29th Qualifying held across the pond where I will be given my chance to obtain a spot in the British Open field.  These qualifiers kind of get you back in the mindset of strickly playing golf.  You don't earn a dime for your efforts, just the satisfaction of moving along to the next stage or ultimately qualifying for the big event.  Before I get too far ahead of myself, I want to settle down and thoroughly enjoy this week in St. Louis.  You can follow me this week at http://www.ngahooterstour.com/ .  If anyone is interested in coming out I will be playing at Sunset Hills CC in Edwardsville, IL just across the river.  Admission is generally free or maybe less than 5 dollars for the day.  Tee times are posted on the website two days before the start of play.  Sunset Hills is indeed a hilly course that requires smart course management on a funky layout.  It rewards the patient golfer.  It is ironic the event's main sponsor is Lumiere Casino.  The reason being is I won't be doing a whole lot of gambling out there.  Those golfers that do gamble may as well take the weekend off and find a seat open at the Lumiere on Saturday and Sunday at the blackjack table with their name on it. 

Well I am back after a 12 day golf fest that took me all along the south.  If there was a golf vacation package that toured the south/southeast part of North America I just bought the VIP package.  Well to sum up the two weeks I sandwiched a mediocre Hooters performance between two futile Monday Qualifier efforts.  The trip started in New Orleans for the Zurich Classic Qualifier.  I played okay in the pre qualifier to advance, but on Monday I had nothing from the first tee on.  So off I went on to Hampton, Georgia for a Hooters event.  I played fair the first day and posted a one under 71.  The second day I had it rolling and was 5 under with 5 to play.  4 bogeys later I posted a pathetic one under 71 again and gave up all the momentum I had going.  The third round got rained out Saturday and on Sunday I went for the gusto to try and make a surge up the board and backpedaled a shot to finish one under for the tournament.  The following day (yesterday for those interested) I played in the Nationwide Monday Qualifier up the road in Gainesville, Georgia.  It was a windy day, but the greens were smooth enough to make putts and very receptive.  I managed my ball well off the tee, but didn't hit my irons close enough to give myself enough realistic chances.  I fired an even par 72 and missed the playoff by 5 shots.  I feel like my mental frame of mind is really good right now.  I think the thing I am struggling the most with right now is adapting to the changes I have made in my pitching and chipping.  I have made some great strides in that department, it is time for me to just trust it.  I am moving my things back to St. Louis this week out of Orlando and my next event falls in the middle of May back in St. Louis with the Hooters Tour.  It is the traveling tour professional's dream to be able to sleep in his bed and that is exactly what I get to do.  The next couple weeks will be really good for me to recharge and really dial it in with the areas of my game I need to.  It should present a great opportunity for me to put my best foot forward in St. Louis in a couple weeks.  I couldn't be more excited.

Here was my rental car for the week, The Toyota Yaris.  What a beauty.  She came fully equipped with manual locks and crank windows.  "Hi, welcome to McDonalds.  May I Take your order?"  "Yea, hold on I gotta roll this window down."  I will say all kidding aside, I filled her up at the gas station for like twenty bucks.  However, I will never be caught dead in this model again.  On to the golf.  I took a nice step forward this week in Chattahoochee, Georgia.  I finished the week tied for 16th place with a six under par total.  I did alot of things really well this week.  What I think I did best was I kept the ball in front of me all 4 rounds and kept a solid head on my shoulders all week.  My mental game was as strong as its ever been for a complete tournament.  What prevented me from finishing better was inconsistent wedge play and a few poor pitch shots.  I am making strides in both those departments thought.  As I mentioned earlier, you can get away with certain parts of your game performing poorly as long as everything else is working efficiently.  My week consisted of all 4 rounds under par.  This is a very positive sign that my consistency is pointed in the right direction.  I have been struggling mightly to keep the double bogeys off the card, and I had only one this week which came in the final round.  In the final round I birdied three of my final 4 holes to battle  back from a really poor start and I think that is what I am most proud of for the whole week was finishing off the tournament like a true professional.  I have a couple of weeks off which are much needed.  My laundry pile is so high I need a ladder to get to the top.  I have taken the day off today to recharge the batteries and enjoy the strides I am starting to make.  16th place isn't perfect, but I'll take it and keep moving forward.  My next event is the Zurich Classic Monday Qualifier two week from now.  I certainly have to believe I stand as good a chance as any of getting one of the 4 spots available April 19th.  Watching the opening day of baseball today got me thinking.  My spring training is over too.  Now its on to a great regular season wherever it may take me.  Play ball!

Here I am in Helen, Georgia at Anna Ruby Falls yesterday taking in a scenic waterfall.  It has been a nice couple days of both business and pleasure getting ready for this week's Hooters event in Chattahoochee, Georgia.  No that isn't a sneeze, it really is Chattahoochee.  A few of us went hiking yesterday after our practice rounds and took advantage of some great weather.  It was nice to get away from the golf and just take in the scenery.  Back to the golf.  Last week ended abruptly for me after two days.  I missed the cut by one due to a real poor second round.  I got off to a horrible start the second round, regrouped in the middle, and faltered with a double bogey on 17 to ultimately miss the weekend by a shot.  I was battling the right shot again like I had mentioned the week before.  That led to my demise.  I believe it was a blessing in disguise, because it gave me a few extra days to get away from the competition and sort it out.  I really have been working on my transition tempo on my downswing and I am back on track with my ball striking.  It took me a couple of days in Durham, NC to figure that out when I was staying with a good friend on Duke's campus.  I used their facilities to sort out my eratic ball striking, and here I am now in Georgia excited for the tournament to begin tomorrow.  I have been saying now for a month I am close.  I really hope this is my week to go out and play well.  I definitely have been pressing the past few weeks for good play and it probably has hurt me a bit.  I am going to go out this week with a patient, laid back attitude.  I am playing well, so there is no need to rush or get stressed.  I just have to let the good play come to me rather than panic and stress out over it.  Here is to a good week.  I'll check back soon.

I'm sitting here at my cousin's home in Hickory, NC waiting for my 2nd round tee time in this week's Hooters event.  I got to thinking about motivation and I think I have a pretty good explanation as to what is driving me this week (no pun intended, keep reading).  From all the traveling I have done the past 5 days, whether it be by plane or car, I traveled 1,866 miles to eventually end up here in Hickory, NC to find a place to play competitively.  What really eats at me is in my own backyard in sunny Orlando, FL, at my HOME course nonetheless, the PGA Tour is playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club and Lodge.  I had to navigate what almost makes out to be in miles the entire diameter of the continental US, and instead the PGA Tour is competing 15 miles from my house in Orlando at my home course and I wasn't even invited to the party.  They even made me clean out my locker for the week so the players competing could borrow mine.  Digressing, I shot a one under par 71 yesterday and have positioned myself after day one to go out the last three days and compete for a title.  It's not hard to see I'm motivated this week to play well, and I am mentally ready to go out and do just that.  One of the most satisfying parts of this week is for the first time in about 5 months I get to putt on Bentgrass greens which I grew up putting on in Saint Louis.  These are my kind of greens and I feel at home on these surfaces.  I've also got to spend some great time with some of my family that lives here in the Hickory, NC area, which has made for a nice respite from the weekly hotel scene us golfers are accustomed to.  I tee off at 1:48 today and hopefully I can go out and continue striking the ball well and sinking putts even if my golf ball doesn't know the difference between Orlando, FL and Hickory, NC.

Greeting everyone from Lafayette, Louisiana.  I have a busy schedule upcoming so I'll try my best to unravel my trip as best I can.  I shot an up and down even par 72 today in the Nationwide Monday Qualifier to miss by 4 shots.  I had an uncharacteristic day on the greens missing 3 putts from 3 feet.  At this level, those putts have to be gimmie's and I just didn't convert them.  Those three strokes and a double bogey on a par 3 resulting from digging around in a bunker like I was a kid at the beach never wanting to leave cost me the 4 strokes that seperated me from getting in the event and me flying to Hickory, North Carolina tomorrow.  I keep telling you this game is puzzling me here of late because I am doing alot of things right, but every round there seems to be one ingriedient missing, whether it be putting, driving, iron play, chipping, etc.  You can get away with doing most things well and a few things average, but if one of those "ingriedients" is poor, it more than likely is going to hurt your scorecard.  I need to get all parts working simultaneously at the average level every time I play at the very least.  That is what leads to steady, consistent scores.  Well the circus continues three days from now with my plan B for the week now becoming my plan A.  The Hooters event in NC will start on Thursday.  I am staying at my cousin's home just 5 minutes from the course so this week should be unique and be nice to get out of the hotel routine for a few days.  After the tournament concludes Sunday, I will be flying to Atlanta for the next week's Hooters event on the far outskirts of the city.  With the Monday Qualifier finished think of my travel as like a rectangle that eventually gets me back to where I started. Orlando-->Lafayette, LA-->Hickory, NC-->Atlanta, GA-->Orlando.  It's about time I sandwiched some good golf in between those Orlando's!  Today wasn't what we were looking for, but like I said let's build on this and get all the parts working simultaneouly so that I have to check another bag at the airline counter.  When they ask me what it is, I want to say, "Oh that's my oversized winners check for $30,000 I just won!  I guess its only going to be worth $29,950 after you ungrateful people charge me for luggage."

I wanted to update everyone that I was mistaken.  Yesterday only took a one under par score of 70 to get in the PGA Tour event.  The fact that I was 3 under thru 4 was about the equivalent of holing out from the fairway on 3 consecutive holes yesterday given the conditions.  Sure everyone was going to make some bogeys out there, but on days like that it is all about minimizing mistakes.  If you get in trouble don't get greedy.  I'm learning, it may be the hard way right now, but I am learning invaluable lessons that are going to some day help me win golf tournaments.  This makes me even more sick to my stomach realizing this was my golden opportunity up to this point in my pro career.  The good news is at least I have reason to be sick to my stomach.  If I was going out there and never giving myself chances then I really wouldn't be accomplishing anything now would I.  These mini "setbacks" if you will tear you down, but build you up in the long run.  Very soon my time is coming.  Think of me as like a dormant volcano just waiting patiently.  

Well I feel like its Ground Hogs Day.  Every post of late has been what could have been.  I try to be positive on here, but when you are not shooting good scores I'm not going to be politically correct and say "Oh Golly gee I may not have played well today, but I sure tried my hardest and had a fun time doing it!"  I'm freaking tired of shooting crappy scores.  I was 3 under par today thru 4 holes in go figure, brutal conditions once again. (trust me I'm getting used to playing in hard conditions this winter)  It looks like the number today is going to be 3 under.  I was right on the number with 14 holes to go.  I could have pared in and I would have made it.  The wind was blowing a steady 20MPH and gusting to 30MPH.  The greens were fast and firm.  All that equates to extremely hard conditions.  I had an absolute freakin' strangle hold on this qualifier out of the box.  It was mine for the taking, however I threw it right away with a series of chunked pitch shots and two foul balls OB on my inward holes.  What does this all mean.  It means I have to once again regroup, figure out why I did what I did and go out and be stronger and better for it the next time.  It's hard to do that sometimes when in the back of your mind you know you really let a golden opportunity slip by the wayside.  The reality of it is there is not one thing I can do now that changes what I did.  I can sulk, which I'm currently doing now, but I got to pick myself up and make it next time.  I believe that if you give yourself enough opportunities and believe in yourself, you will inevitably conquer whatever demons it is you have and ultimately triumph.  Why I can't put together 18 holes in these qualifiers lately is beyond me, but I know I am hitting enough quality shots each round to get it done.  I head to Lafayette, LA on Sunday afternoon for the 1st Nationwide Qualifier of the year.  The Nationwide allocates 14 spots each week as opposed to 4 with the PGA Tour, so you traditionally don't have to shoot quite as low.  I'm going to lick my wounds, practice hard this week and do a better job of remaining calm under fire next week.  If I get it going low next time, I will be ready to keep making birdies and finish it off properly.  I can only be held down for so long. 

I'm going to try and make this short because I need to close this chapter in a hurry.  I ended up missing the cut in this marathon of a tourney this morning.  I got in 10 holes Friday night before the sun set.  I closed last night birdieing 3 of my last 4 holes in the dark to get my round to one under par for the day, 3 over for the tournament.  I knew in my head this morning I had 8 holes to make 3 more birdies.  After getting up and down on 11 and 12 this morning for pars after shaky iron approach shots, I made a routine par on 13.  Thus I had 5 holes left to make 3 birdies.  I played 14 like a professional and hit my pitching wedge from the middle of the fairway to 1 foot for a tap in birdie.  4 holes to go, 2 more birdies needed.  On fifteen this hole summed up my first two rounds perfectly.  I got away with a drive that was technique wise not very good that should have leaked a little bit right, but I saved it on the downswing with my hands and released the club and the ball found the middle of the fairway.  I had 197 yards to the pin on this par 5 for my second shot.  On the second shot I leaked it again just a hair right of the target.  It ended up plugged in the face of the right bunker so far down that I couldn't see one dimple on the ball.  I was only 20 feet from the flag hitting my 3rd shot, but I did well to even get the ball out of the severely buried lie I was in.  Had that ball been two inches left of where it ended it would have kicked left and I would have had a realistic eagle chance.  Instead I chunked my 4th shot in the sand and it once again buried in the lip of the bunker.  The comedy of errors and just plain aweful luck from one swing resulted in a double bogey seven and ended my week on a sour note.  A matter of inches sometimes is what can make this game so brutal or so rewarding.  I am hoping that the inches go the other way on Monday when I tee it up in the Transitions Monday Qualifier in Tampa.  I most definitely earned my spot in the qualifier getting through the brutal pre qualifier last Tuesday as mentioned.  If I can tweak my swing just ever so slightly where I can get the club moving in sync better with my body, the ball is going to start flying straighter and on target and I should have a wonderful chance at playing a fantastic round of golf on Monday.  Going to go get a good workout in, since this is hard to do on the road and have a nice meal.  Good evening and I'm going to get it done on Monday.  It's my time.

Well yesterday was a bit of a bummer.  For a good portion of the day I hit the ball well enough to get it around under par.  However, we had a big rain storm come through for 4 holes of my round on my back nine and I bogeyed 3 of the 4 holes in the rain.  That put a damper on my score card and I registered a 76.  The morning wave definitely drew the short straw this week because the afternoon wave played without getting a drop of rain on them and calm wind.  We had a hard rain which resulted in a 2 1/2 hr rain delay and a strong wind for a good portion of the round.  For the first time in I would say a couple of years I am really confident in my short game and where it is headed.  I am usually really comfortable with my driving and iron play, while trying to pick up the missing pieces with my chipping in pitching.  It seemed a bit backword yesterday because my short game is excellent, but I am leaking my Driver and irons right.  I made some adjustments on the range last night.  Looks like I'm going to need a 68 to play the weekend.  I have it in me, lets see if I can make a power move up the leaderboard by getting everything working together.  I tee off this afternoon at 3:09pm and should get in about 12 holes before nightfall.  Here's to some birdies!

Update

Well yesterday was interesting.  I woke up at 6am and had to drive 2 hours to the outskirts of Tampa like I said.  I shot an even par 71 and advanced through to Monday's Qualifier.  The bleeding has stopped.  Thank goodness they let us ride in carts.  I took full advantage of that.  There were 60 guys and the top 12 advanced to Monday.  It took a score of exactly 71 to make it through.  I guess I probably shouldn't have 3 putted on my last hole, but I wanted to make things interesting.  Anyway I slepted like Rip Van Winkle last night and am headed to Amelia Island today to scout out the course this afternoon before the event starts tomorrow (Thursday March 11th).  Once again you can follow the results at http://www.ngahooterstour.com/ .  I will be batting basically leadoff this event with the second tee time of the day tomorrow at 7:09.  I hope the early bird gets the worm.  Until next time.

Sitting here in Orlando in the middle of one of the craziest stretches of golf in my life.  Let me take you through it.  I completed all four rounds last week in Ocala, FL with the Hooters Tour.  It was ashame because the course was really a special layout, but needless to say there couldn't have been more than five strands of grass on the whole premises.  The greens were pure dirt and it made the whole week a crapshoot.  I told you earlier that I am in the midst of reworking my short game.  Well this wasn't a very good week to test it out because I looked foolish trying to make solid contact off dirt around the greens.  I made the cut which was nice, but didn't do much of anything right after that.  Well last night I flew to Puerto Rico to try the PGA Tour Qualifier.  I ended up missing my first flight from Orlando because my name is on the "no fly list" and I was rushing to make the flight as it was from Ocala.  I took the later flight and got to the resort in Puerto Rico at 1am.  I woke up at 7am and went and played the qualifier blind having not seen the course on 6 hours rest.  It was a demanding golf course off the tee and I hit a few wayward tee balls early and turned in five over par 41 on the first nine.  Just like that all that travel and boom I'm out.  I hurried back to my hotel, gathered my things and got back to the airport to catch a flight back to Orlando tonight.  I was in Puerto Rico for less than 24 hrs.  Some excursion!  Tomorrow morning I am getting up at 6am to drive to Tampa to play the Transitions PGA Tour pre qualifer.  Luckily I have played the course before, so I know where to hit it on this course.  That will mark the 6th straight day of competition.  I will have Wednesday off as I travel from Tampa to Amelia Island, FL in the NE part of the state.  The Hooters Tour will resume Thurs-Sunday.  If I successfully qualify through tomorrow and make the cut in the Hooters Tour event I will have played competitively 11 of the last 12 days.  I have never done that and I am flat out tired and a bit burned out.  The reason I am putting myself up to this is because I want to play on the PGA Tour.  You can't play if you don't try to qualify the last time I checked.  The travel is hectic, I'm exhausted, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Unfortunately my game still isn't where I need it to be.  I knew that coming in.  If my game was good for this stretch I could have really rolled with it, but w/ the struggles I have had it seems relentless due to the nature of the scheduling.  I would like to play a solid round tomorrow to stop the bleeding and head to my one off day w/ some momentum.  I'll keep you all posted.  Good night, I'm tired.