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.