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.