I keep telling you I want to remain positive on this blog, but I may take a day off today.  I'll start with the picture.  I just got home from the pre qualifier for the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens which I missed getting through by ONE shot.  On the second hole of the day I was going back to my cart to put my towel back in the basket and I caught my hand on a sharp edge and cut the top of my hand really bad.  So in the beginning of my round I had to deal with a bleeding hand on top of everything else I was dealing with.  Anyway I teed off today at 9:42am.  It was one of those days I could tell from the first tee shot that par was going to be a good score.  I was battling against 111 guys, of which the top 14 would advance to the Monday qualifier.  Usually these pre qualifiers are an organized system to weed out the guys that shouldn't be there.  Unfortunately for me today I was one of those guys.  The temperature starting out today was 40 degrees and the wind was blowing a steady 20MPH.  I knew if I could just get through the first half of my round well I would be fine because the sun was shining and the weather would warm up.  I can deal with warmer temperatures and wind, but when its cold and windy it presents quite the challenge.  It is a double edged sword because I can either bundle up and be warm, which restricts me from swinging, or I can dress lighter and swing freely, but be cold.  I chose the latter and was freezing.  I struck it really well today on the whole and hit a total of 14 of the 18 greens in regulation.  Problem was the 4 greens I missed I failed to get up and down on each of the four occasions resulting in 4 bogeys.  My bogeys all came in my first ten holes.  I was in a similar position to last week in Cancun where I knew I had put my back against the wall and I had to make a move quick coming in or I wasn't going to make it.  I battled my way back down the stretch which I was proud of.  I birdied my last two holes of the day and finished with a one over par 73 thinking I may have backdoored my way through the qualifier.  As it turned out I was sitting in a tie for 14th place as the last group of the day came in.  Low and behold one of the guys shoots exactly a 72 and knocks me into 15th place, one shot and one man out of playing on Monday.  So what did I take out of today?  A bloody hand, 4 1/2 hours of freezing, and a last second blow to knock me out.  Not making it through a pre qualifier is a really tough pill to swallow.  It more or less makes you feel like for the given week you aren't even good enough to be allowed to play in the Monday Qualifier.  This would be the equivalent in the corporate world of being told you aren't even qualified to get your chance at an interview.  Enough with the negative talk, its off my chest and its time to move on.  I'm meeting with my instructor Brian Mogg Saturday morning and we are going to sort out my short game.  Had I gotten just 1 of those 4 balls up and down on the missed greens I would be in a whole different mind frame.  My upcoming schedule is finally about to start getting busy again.  Next week is the start of the Hooters Summer Tour in Ocala, Florida.  I really, really, really want to get off to a good start this year like I said a few post back.  I believe this is going to be crucial to my success this year getting started on the right foot.  I'm seriously not that far off from where I was about last August where I couldn't help but shoot a score in the 60's.  It is frustrating in the same sense though that I am just one or two shots away each round from getting back where I was and I can't put my finger on it why I am throwing away these shots.  The answer I know comes from sticking to my routine and grinding it out on the practice tee.  I'm really close and I am excited to try and figure it out this weekend and early next week before the Hooters event starts up next Thursday (March 4th).  I encourage everyone to keep track of my progress at http://www.ngahooterstour.com/.   

Here is another reason why I know I am going to be on the PGA Tour next year.  It's 10:00pm on this Friday night.  Most of my friends are out I'm sure having a good time.  I just got off a 50 minute bike ride.  No pain, no gain.  (I might go have a Michelob Ultra to rehydrate....only kidding.)  Off to bed, another productive day in the books.  Good night from Orlando.

Unfortunately I am writing this back from my couch in Orlando.  I really believed this was going to be my week.  Leading up to the qualifying Monday everything about my game pointed towards me playing a great round.  I ended up shooting a one over par 73.  The magic number was 68.  On paper it sounds like I wasn't even close, but in reality this was about as close a call as it comes.  I made the turn in one under par 35.  I saved par with my short game on the front nine several times to keep me in it, but my birdie putts were not falling.  I stepped up on the tee on the back nine thinking to myself I need to shoot 3 under on this side to give myself a chance.  I preceded to make a sloppy bogey on the 10th.  After a couple pars on 11 and 12 I stepped up on 13 knowing time was running out.  I had 6 holes to make up 4 shots.  The 13th hole is a dangerous 286 yard reachable par 4.  How on Earth I had the patience to lay up with a 6 iron off the tee I have no idea.  As both my playing partners went for it I bunted my 6 iron out there to a comfortable wedge yardage.  I wedged my second shot to a difficult pin located on a crown to 5 feet.  I made the putt for birdie and that got me going back in the right direction.  5 more holes, need 3 more.  Well next hole is a reachable par 5.  I hit a bombed drive on this short risk reward par 5 that left me with a 8 iron.  The hole is actually really stupid because it looks like they just tried to fit it in due to lack of room when they built the course.  The hole is a sharp dogleg left.  I may have had 8 iron into the hole but I had to hit my second shot over dense forest to a blind green.  The only thing I can see is forest and an oncourse bathroom I had to go over.  Well that is the target I took, directly over the "baños" (bathroom in Spanish).  The shot came off exactly in the direction I wanted and I ended up 60 feet short of the pin on the front of the green.  Low and behold I made that putt for eagle and now all of a sudden I went from the outside looking in to back in this thing.  4 more holes, I need just one more birdie.  I stepped up to the 15th hole, a dead straight away par 4, filled with nerves.  For the first time all day I was jittery.  Lining both sides of the fairway was dense jungle that was unplayable, so a straight drive was crucial.  I did everything in my ability to make it a good one, but I lost the tee shot a little right and never found the ball.  I made a bogey with my second ball giving me a triple bogey seven with the penalty.  The last three holes I played in a meaningless 1 over.  Had I gotten past that tee shot and kept it in play, I really believe I would have made at least 2 more birdies with the momentum I had.  So basically I can look back at one errant drive on the 15th hole that really was the make or break point of the qualifier.  It stinks that it had to come to that, but at least I know I am on the cusp of breaking out.  These qualifiers are so cut and dry.  You either qualify or you don't.  There is no in between, and there is no Mom on the back of the 18th hole to hug you when you don't.  Golf can be a mean game and it can also be extremely rewarding.  I have put in my time and paid my dues and my time is coming soon.  Next up for me is the Honda Championship pre qualifier back in the states here next week.  A good round next week will open the door to the Monday Qualifier a few days after that.  I'm going to keep things rolling and keep getting better.  The picture I took is of an Iguana blending in with the terrain on the course at the Iberostar resort.  There was all kinds of wildlife I had never seen before and it was nice to capture this with my camera.  Until next time.

Hello.  I wanted to start by saying to whoever is out there on the world wide web actually taking the time to read this, thank you.  I am probably writing to just a couple dozen people, but hey at least I have a small audience.  I had an unfortunate infiltration of my website from my last post under the comments section that I just deleted.  It was a Japanese site that led to an inappropriate place.  If anyone was unfortunate to see this I apologize and it is out of my hands who decides to comment on my blog.  Well looking on the bright side, maybe I have got my first groupie.  Well, I digress.  Last week I had a brutal showing at the Hooters Winter Series Tour Championship where I posted two clumsy 75s.  I could explain all that I did wrong, but I might need to write a small novel.  I realize the peaks and valleys of what I am doing for a living, and if you sit and sulk nothing good happens.  This is the start of my 3rd year as a professional and one of the things I am much better at doing than when I started is putting a tough tournament behind me.  I have to be endlessly optimistic and like I have said before, keep moving forward.  There is a much bigger picture than two days of struggles to focus on.  My practice sessions have been going really well of late.  In fact just today I got in a real great day of practice.  It rained really hard pretty much all day here in Orlando.  Usually I would use a day like today to work harder on my fitness in the gym, but I decided to gut it out and practice in the down pour.  The people out at Bay Hill must have thought I was crazy, but I looked at it like the next time I am in a tournament with nasty weather and they refuse to blow the horn to discontinue play, I will be better prepared than the next guy.  My clubs are sitting right next to me as we speak drying off, and I could not be any more happier than the work I got in.  February for me really is going to be the only month until December that I won't be competing rigorously.  I leave for Cancun, Mexico on February 13th for the Mayakoba PGA Tour Qualifier for my only currently scheduled event of the month.  This is one of only two PGA Tour Monday Qualifiers that does not have a pre qualifier attached to it, so I am really looking forward to having a great chance to get in.  The Iberostar Resort where I will be staying is also home to the qualifier.  As you can remember from last year, this is the qualifier where I made it to the tee with only 15 seconds to spare due to a miscommunication with the shuttle service.  This year that shouldn't be a problem because we are staying on site.  I am a year older and a year wiser.  I also believe that having already played the course previously, this will help immensely.  It is another one of those rare courses that has pasplaum grass on it from wall to wall.  The course in Hawaii, Turtle Bay, that I played last month had the same type of grass on it.  I feel like I understand the intricasies of how to play effectively on it, and God willing, I believe I will be competing in my first PGA Tour event 17 days from today.  Other than that it really is pretty quiet for me here on the home front.  If you are a betting person and you wanted to know where I will be for the next two weeks, I would bet the house I will be at Bay Hill honing my craft.  Until next time....~JK