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.