Hello to all.  Here I am in Saint Louis on my couch thinking about my year in 2011 and what lies ahead in 2012.  This is always an awkward time of year for professional golfers because we are fresh off our season and already beginning the preparations for the coming year.  After my 2 week sabbatical from the game when I got home from Europe I finally picked up a club December 20th.  I have had some great competition with some of my good friends around town and old teammates from Mizzou.  My game has been a bit rusty from lack of practice, but I feel really energized and excited about starting things off in 2012 in a great fashion.  Last year, I took a bunch of time off at the end of 2010, and started the 2011 season off rusty, but really refreshed.  This year, I didn't take quite as much time off, but I wanted to make sure that my game is really in good form from the moment I put a tee in the ground in 2012.  I can tell you one thing, I have a lot of inner burning drive heading into this year, so I am really ready to get the ball rolling in Hawaii in early January.
    I read a quote not too long ago by the painter Andy Warhol.  He said, "As soon as you stop wanting something, you get it."  I find this really to be true for what goes on in my head with golf.  Over the course of my professional golf career playing full time on the PGA Tour has been everything I have ever wanted.  Everything I do in my life, from nutrition, to exercise, to outworking everyone on the range, to being strong mentally has all been directed to this goal of playing successfully on the PGA Tour.  I believe it is great to have goals that you set out to attain, but the way I have been trying to accomplish this I strongly believe needs some tweaking.  I have been so one dimensional in my practice the last few years in terms of all the time that I am putting into my game I am banking mentally on that being the "fuel/ingriedients" that is going to take me to the next level on the PGA Tour.  Now, by no means am I saying I need to just cut loose, go start eating cheeseburgers, skip practice sessions, and just turn up to the golf course and see what happens. 
    I still need to practice every bit as hard.  However, I want my practice habits to serve an entirely different purpose.  I want to come home from the gym, golf course, or wherever it is and just feel good about getting better at the game that I love.  Golf is so simplistic, and I often times lose sight of that.  It is flat out just a game.  No man has ever conquered it and no man ever will.  While golf is my job, I want 2012 to be all about me just loving the process of really loving the game of golf and becoming the best golfer that I can be.  The PGA Tour isn't a result of outworking everyone, the PGA Tour will be a result from getting back to the grass roots of the game for me.  Playing golf because I love it.  I have more that enough talent to play out there full time, I just need to harnass that talent in a new light.  That is where I am headed in 2012 and I look forward to everyone of you enjoying the ride with me.  Thanks for reading and it really is going to be a great year.  My year.    

    The European Tour was not to be this year.  I had a poor tournament start to finish and could not get it done.  Starting the 3rd round I knew I had to make a move early and that is exactly what I did.  I was 4 under through 5 holes.  I had an eagle putt on my 7th hole and three putted for par.  That momentum killer rattled me a bit and I made some unforced errors after that.  I closed the final round with an uneventful 78 that mimicked the previous three days of poor play.  In fact that final round was the highest round of my 97 competitive rounds of the year.  I guess you could say it was a fitting end to the torment that my week in Spain offered me. 
    That is the beauty of golf.  There will be times of ecstasy and times of pain.  This one was obviously the latter.  I had a 5 hour train ride up the coast of Spain to digest what had happened and thoroughly examine my year.  I was able to see the big picture during this time of self examination.  What I was most excited about was what really counts for the most:  my scoring average.  I crunched the numbers and I finished the year with a 71.70 scoring average.  This was my best year of scoring since I turned professional in 2007 by a whopping 0.4 strokes.  In 2009 when I was within 2 strokes of winning the Nationwide Tour event in Springfield, Missouri I had a stroke average of 72.11 for the year.  This tells me that if I can continue to improve moving forward like I have been, I just need to be in the right place at the right time and I will undoubtedly give myself some really excited chances to win some tournaments.
    So where do I go from here?  After being on the road essentially week in and week out since February it is time for a break on the golf front.  I'm not going to pick up a club for two weeks and am going to enjoy the time away during the Holidays.  I have a great friend getting married in January in Hawaii.  It works out perfectly for me to attempt the Sony Open qualifier while I am down there.  Besides that the NGA Tour (formerly the Hooters Tour) begins play at the end of February.  So I am in the midst of my off season.  Once 2012 gets here I am going to be really excited to pick up where I left off.  It was a year of steady play, but now I am ready to take it the next step and start winning some tournaments.  Until then I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I firmly anticipate 2012 being the best year yet.  Thanks for reading and for your support in what I am going to accomplish.

    Two rounds in and it has been an unfortunate struggle.  The first day was absolutely ideal.  Sunny and zero wind.  I posted a poor five over 76 to really dig myself an early hole in perfect scoring conditions.  Today it was cold and breezy.  Despite a comedy of errors, I was even par through 15 holes playing the par 5 16th with a wedge in my hand hitting my third.  I spun a wedge off the green to a low lying area.  I proceeded to make a double bogey 7 from there and pared my way in for two over 73.  I was moving back in the right direction with the tough conditions, but the 16th hole really stung.
    The good news is now I know exactly what I need to do.  I am going to have to play absolutely exceptional golf the last 1/2 of the event in order to get into the top 20.  It has been done before, so I just have to go out there one at a time and knock some flagsticks down.  I'm not going to quit even though the last two days have been painfully agonizing.  Thanks for reading and I really really want some positive news to be in my future tomorrow.  I need to let it just come my way without pressing. 

    Hello from San Javier, Spain.  Michael Wellington and I have just completed our two practice rounds around El Valle Golf Club in the far southeast portion of this country and are excited about getting after it the next four days.  The course itself has a complete desert golf feel to it that you would compare to the golf found in Arizona.  I feel great about the state of my game, so all I can do from here on out is go out there and let my talent shine forth.  It is my goal from the moment I wake up tomorrow to the moment I hole out on the last hole four rounds from now to have the best attitude of any golfer in the field.  Michael and I have been talking about just being loose, walking with confident strides, having great body language, and talking positively at all times.  Any adversity we will just shrug off and keep steamrolling forward. 
    We made it to Spain Tuesday morning after close to 24 straight hours of travel.  We took a 2 hour flight to New York, then a 7 hour flight to Barcelona, followed by an hour flight from Barcelona to Alicante.  We then rented a car and drove 1 hour and 30 minutes to the resort we are staying at.  The course is in a very rural part of the country so it was difficult to find, but luckily we have GPS that pinpointed exactly where we  needed to go.  The food over here actually is very good.  There is a grocery store some 300 yards from our hotel which has been very convenient.  Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches are definitely going to be a staple this week.  I hope all is well back home and I look forward to reporting back with some quality news as the week progresses.  Thanks for reading!

    Hello.  I am currently two days from leaving for Spain and I could not be more excited.  My preparations have gone more than according to plan and I have followed my fitness guidelines perfectly all month.  I feel great mentally and physically and am pumped at being given the opportunity to go earn my European Tour card.  As Thanksgiving came and went I had plenty of time to think exactly what it is I am personally thankful for.  The answer really is that I am able to pursue what makes me happy and at the same time see many places in this world I would not otherwise ever see.  I am fortunate to be bringing a great friend of mine, Michael Wellington, to caddy for me over the next two stages and he will be a great asset to have in terms of bringing the utmost positivity out of my game.  He is another fellow Saint Louisan that plays golf professionally, so he will make a great American teammate to have on the bag.
    It had been a long, strange road that I have traveled in 2011.  For whatever reason, here I am ready to embark on a remarkable trip to Spain for 18 days.  It could have ended up leading to so many different paths, but the year has all pointed me toward this for some reason.  I feel that there is a definitive and meaningful reason that I am left with the opportunity to earn my European Tour card for 2012 to finish out my season.  I really have had a great year that has taken me to a heck of a lot of magnificent places.  I have played very steady all year and maintained a mature, disciplined head on my shoulders.  I am going to take all of that with me to Europe.  I obtained the latest weather outlook for the next 10 days and it is going to be a Groundhogs Day similar sunny and 65 degrees for the entirety of my first week there.  I am looking forward to playing golf to the best of my ability and having a superb attitude the whole time I play.  I will keep you posted with my progress throughout my journey (internet connection pending over there of course).  Thanks for reading!!

    I ended up missing the cut today by two shots as I shot a one under 70.  I am definitely disappointed in my results, but I have got to keep moving forward.  I triple bogeyed my second hole of the day to really put myself behind the eight ball with my final 16 holes left to play.  I responded with some serious courage by consecutively making birdies on number 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 to give myself a realistic chance of playing tomorrow.  I needed two more birdies on my final six holes, but I missed all six birdie chances coming in unfortunately.  I was really proud of the way I fought all the way to the end even though I didn't have my best stuff the last two days.
    So what did I learn over the past two days?  I have got to be more athletic and use my instincts when I am out there playing.  There were two many occasions where I was over the ball and I had multiple swing thoughts going on in my head.  I was way to mechanical.  I need to just let it go, see the target, and let my body react to it accordingly.  I am very happy I played in this event, regardless of my poor play because it pinpointed exactly what I need to work on in the areas of my game moving forward in the next two weeks before I leave for Spain.  I need to get better each day from here on out and work as hard as I can with the two weeks that I have.  If I can really bear down and grind it out on the range and have maximum internal belief in myself for the remainder of 2011, I will look back with ZERO regrets no matter what happens, because I know I left everything I have out there on the line.  I am a firm believer that with disciplined-hard work and true belief, I will find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  A great attitude goes a long way, and mix that with a bunch of athleticism, and all of a sudden I have got a dangerously lethal weapon.  Let's go out and unleash it!  Thanks for reading and I'll update you with my final preparations before leaving November 28th for Spain.

Here's the update on round one. I fired a one over 72 to put a good chunk of change between me and the leader. I didn't make a whole lot of mistakes, but I didn't do a lot right either. When I got in trouble, I didn't recover soon enough. I worked on a few things after the round at Bay Hill and it felt alot better. I need to go out tomorrow with the same positive attitude, and hopefully my technique and athleticism shine brightly. I was just a fraction off today, so I am excited to get right back on the course tomorrow. Keep you posted!

I want to give everyone an update as to how everything is progressing on my march to my European card. After the dust settled after US Q School I had awhile to recap where my game is and what needed improvement. If you recall from early this year I said that my year would focus on really taking care of myself physically in the gym and by eating properly. This would help give me the internal confidence I needed. I was really disciplined the first half of the year, but as the summer progressed and temperatures rose into the triple digits I was not as regimented as I should have been. To be fair, after playing a 5 hour tournament round in 110 heat indexes it was hard to be motivated to go work out. However, when I would come home after these tournaments I lost my workout rhythm because of these hot days where I didn't work out due to being scared of over working myself. Long story short, two days after Q School ended I began a month long fitness regime that is going to payoff huge dividends. I've rededicated myself to my fitness and after 2 weeks I can already start to feel the differences from a physical and mental standpoint. Currently I am in Orlando for 4 days for a Hooters winter series event that starts tomorrow. I'm excited to take my game back on the course. I tee off round 1 tomorrow at 7:00 am. I'll keep you posted on my results or you can follow along at www.ngatour.com . My game is feeling great and this will give me some competition before I leave for Spain November 28th.

    I can recall from my childhood when I was in 3rd grade and everyone on my sports team received a trophy just for participating.  I never understood quite why this became common practice in youth sports.  There is a winner and there is a loser.  Unfortunately this week I came out on the wrong end of the stick.  My run in 2011 here in America is over.  I am in excruciating pain inside right now after my stateside season came to a resounding and much-to-quick end after bowing out in the First Stage.  I sat in my car yesterday in shock and cried for over an hour.  It was the only thing yesterday that actually felt good.  I have had such a consistent year in terms of putting up the numbers needed to get through Q School all year.  I made 14 of 16 cuts in tournaments this summer and that is a remarkable feat.  However, when the chips were down this week in Pinehurst, NC I just didn't have any gas in the tank for whatever reason.  Through the 1st two rounds I was inside the number to advance, but over the course of the last two days I signed for back to back 77s, my highest two rounds of the year.  What an unfortunate time of year for this to happen. Golf is a fickle game, and there is nothing guaranteed in my trade.  You have to go out and reprove yourself time and time again.
    So where do I head from here?  I am going to use the next couple days to sit back and let my emotions run their course.  From there I am going to analyze and put together a strict outline for the remainder of my 2011.  The beautiful news that still remains is I still have a pulse.  My year is far from over.  I navigated through first stage of European Tour Q School a few weeks ago in Portugal, and I have my eyes locked sternly on the target ahead: a 2012 card on the European Tour.  This would be a life changer for sure, and it all is well within reach.  I leave for Spain exactly one week from today.  What will it take to get through the Second and Final Stage of European Q School.  A steady diet of the same things I have been doing.  Hard work, complete inner belief in myself, and creating a great game plan each time I step foot on the golf course. 
    As I'm sure most all of you saw last night, the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in dramatic fashion.  What the Cardinals accomplished over the last two months complete embodies everything that is great about sports.  In late August, everyone had written this team off, and they had every reason to fold up their tents.  What they did sends chills down my spine.  The St. Louis Cardinals are going to be my inspiration every day for the rest of the year.  They battled through adversity, and when I find myself in similar situations, I need to look no further than my hometown sports team to show it is well within reach.  My story is just beginning to be written.  Right now I am at a low point, but I know the sun will rise tomorrow and as I move forward I am going to move on from this sadness and heartbreak into a stronger man than I was before last week.  One poor performance doesn't define who I am.  I am an elite golfer that is waiting patiently for my turn.  In a little over one month's time, I am going to be ready to go to battle and unleash my complete potential.  Thanks for reading and your support.  I'll be dusting myself off shortly and be ready to get back into the saddle.  Forward march!

Hello everyone. Three rounds are complete at Pinewild CC in Pinehurst, NC. I stand at 7 over par in a tie for 41st. The top 22 positions and ties move on. We have one more round tomorrow. Now that I have explained my position, it is pretty clear that I have not yet put my best foot forward and that I will need to play a solid round of golf tomorrow. I have only one thing I can do. Move forward and not dwell an ounce on the past. I can't change one iota of what happened the last 3 days. Temperatures tomorrow are not going to get above 50 degrees, so tomorrow conditions will be the most difficult of the week. I'm going to go out tomorrow and play my brand of golf. That entails patience, a disciplined game plan, inner confidence, and complete trust and belief in myself from start to finish. It has been a long year where I have worked damn hard on my game. This by no way makes the game owe me anything, but I am going to lean on that tomorrow along with my faith. It is crazy how chasing a little white golf ball around can drive someone so crazy! Tomorrow is going to be a great day. As long a I do what I've listed I can go forward with my head held high. Thanks for reading and my focus is solely in front of me. One more day, let's make it an exceptional one!

    It has been quite a while since my last post and I appologize.  I ended up finishing the last Hooters event in 24th place after a solid second round 68 and a non eventful final round 73.  I attempted the final Nationwide Monday qualifier a few days later and shot a 71 to miss by three shots.  During the course of the past week and a half I did a lot of things really well on the course and had a few areas I needed to clean up.  Regardless, I got to spend a whole week down in Orlando and I got to work with my instructor Brian Mogg to put the finishing touches on my preparation before heading to First Stage of Q School.  That is where I head today.  I just got off mapquest and I have 533 miles to travel today from Orlando, Florida to Pinehurst, North Carolina. 
    I am having a hard time realizing how fast the year has gone.  I remember, as if it was yesterday morning, getting ready for the first Hooters event in February down in Florida.  In the time between now and then, golf has led me to some incredible places.  I have teed it up competitively in 5 different countries and have traveled most all of the eastern half of the USA.  However, my year is far from done.  I played an entire season on the Hooters Tour to give myself the preparation needed to be ready for the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament which starts next Tuesday.  I will speak from the heart here.  Every player out there realizes that Q School is just another tournament.  It should be treated no differently.  At the end of the day though, there is no grey area.  You either get through and pass the test or you don't.  In that aspect as Halloween is approaching, from an outsiders perspective it makes this event spooky and bone chilling.  I have a different view on the whole matter.  I am absolutely pumped up for getting the chance to earn my PGA Tour card.  I have had a remarkably steady year and I have total faith in my game that I am ready to display my talent and parlay it into my tour card.  I play two practice rounds on Sunday and Monday to get a feel for Pinewild Country Club, and then it is all systems go on Tuesday.  It is an exciting time of year, and I am blessed and honored to be a part of it.  Let's go out and finish 2011 out in style.  I'll keep you posted.  Thanks for reading and all of your support.

    I shot one under par 71 today at PGA Golf Club in Port Saint Lucie, Florida.  The course offers an abundance of birdie opportunities and I had my fair share.  I need to clean up my play around the greens tomorrow in order to play a better round of golf.  I didn't get as many balls up and down today as I would have liked and that hampered my momentum and scoring today.  It is nice to be in sunny Florida right now as Fall is definitely in the air in much of the rest of the country.  I will have another two weeks of great practice ahead of me to prepare me for the first stage of the the annual PGA Tour Qualifying tournament.  I'm just taking it one day at a time and enjoying every minute of it.  I have a suitcase full of laundry to do so I better sign off.  Anyway here is to a great day tomorrow and thanks for reading.

    After an eventful week in Portugal I am back here in the US.  I successfully advanced through first stage of qualifying after finishing in 21st place at weeks end.  The course played very easy over the first two days with not a breath of wind and warm temperatures.  The last two days were a different story.  The wind blew a constant 20mph and made scoring very difficult.  I shot 72-72-75-73.  On the 13th tee of my final round I sat at 6 over par for the tournament and knew that the cut would come more than likely at 5 over par.  I needed to play my last six holes in one under par.  I did one better in tough conditions and made two birdies coming down the stretch when it was crunch time.  This was a defining moment for me this year and further bolstered my confidence for the remainder of the season.  I flew home last night with some great memories from my week in Lisbon.
    Today I played in the Nationwide qualifier in Miami, Florida after getting in last night late.  I played poorly and shot 73 to miss qualifying.  I felt energized after getting to sleep in, but I had to play the course blind and that is never easy.  The course played really simple, but having not played the layout it was somewhat difficult to realize that.  Oh well.  Chalk it up to one poor day where I didn't have proper preparation to put my best foot forward.  Currently I am in Port St. Lucie, Florida ready to start a 3 round Hooters Tour event tomorrow.  It is a really nice course and it will give me a nice competitive atmosphere to keep my preparation going for US Q School which runs from October 25th-28th in Pinehurst, North Carolina.  It has been a busy schedule for me over the last week and it will continue over the next three days, but this is exactly what I need at this state of the game.  I feel great about my game and good things are definitely unfolding.

    Hello from Lisbon, Portugal.  It has been a whirlwind last three days but tomorrow the first round of the tournament begins for me at 1:30pm local time.  That would be 7:30am central time in the US.  We got off to a shaky start when we first arrived in Portugal on Saturday.  Our golf bags did not make the flight, so we had to wait until Sunday morning for them to arrive.  Luckily they did and we were able to proceed as normal and get two full days of preparation on Ribagolf, the course we are playing this week.  I am very excited for the next four days and am ready to get going tomorrow with a patient, but precise game plan that I am ready to execute.  My last two days of practice have been great and I am excited with how things are progressing for the week.  We will have a week full of warm temperatures and sunshine.  The only obstacle that could play a factor is if any wind creeps up on us.  It is a long course that mandates that you drive the ball with precision.  Knowing that, it is important that I make wise club selections off every tee and at no time press too hard to try and over power the course.  I am going to take what the course gives me the next four days and most importantly be patient and exude confidence every step of the way.  Thanks for reading and I look forward to 4 great days of golf.  Here we go!

    Hello.  It has definitely been awhile since my last blog, but all is well here.  This past Monday, I played a small one day event in Gramling, South Carolina.  Going into the day I wanted to use it to help jump back in the saddle after Boise, Idaho.  That is exactly what I did and I redeemed myself by giving myself a shot of confidence right in the arm.  I shot a seven under 65 and lost in a playoff.  It was a great day even though I bogeyed my last hole.  In the playoff, I can't complain, as my birdie was beaten by an eagle on the first extra hole.  So all systems are a go as I head off to Portugal tomorrow as the Portuguese national flag indicates above.  I will be playing the same course I did last year and staying at the same hotel, so it is my job to retrace my steps as best I can.  The only difference is I will be traveling with a good friend and fellow American, Adam Long.  I can not express to you how great an asset this is for the two of us to be traveling together.  The easy part about playing on foreign soil is the golf.  The hard part is everything in between, from flight logistics, to finding a place to eat, to navigating yourself around in a car.  The list goes on and on.  Moving forward, I really am excited for the final stretch of 2011 and Monday really helped reaffirm that in my mind.  Not every day will be that easy, but as long as I can really keep an upbeat attitude and not let adversity bother me, I will be in great position to play great golf.  Thanks for reading and I will be sure to update from Lisbon, Portugal about how things are progressing leading into the first round of European Tour Qualifying School.

    Hello from Saint Louis.  The week in Boise, Idaho was a short one.  I flat out just had two bad days of golf in a tournament that I really wanted to play well at.  I didn't ever press at any time and was in no way nervous of the situation.  I just didn't perform.  It happens and it is over and done with.  In golf just like in business, you can not perform well all the time.  I chalked it up to a learning experience, picked myself up off the ground and flew on home to Saint Louis.  I have ZERO time to dwell on what could have been.  I am moving forward with my season and am continuing to get ready for the months ahead that are always important at the end of the year.  I have the next two weeks basically off on the tournament front, but that doesn't mean I won't be putting in the reps on the course.  I am going to play in a one day event next Monday in South Carolina.  Other than that my next event starts the first week of October in Lisbon, Portugal for 1st Stage of Q School for the European Tour.  My game is sharp, and two erratic days are not in the least going to errode any of the confidence I have been building as the summer has progressed.  Over and out from Missouri, and the best is yet to come.

    I owe you all an update on today.  I completed just 11 holes today due to a long weather delay.  It was a disasterous day really on all fronts from the get go.  I was 4 over on the holes I played.  Three putts all over the place, errant driving, and lack of distance control made for an adventurous day.  The key to this course I quickly found out was the necessity of keeping my ball in the fairway.  The greens are about as firm as a wooden table, so it is essential to be coming into the surfaces from the short grass so that you can impart some backspin on the ball to control it.  I birdied my last hole of the day tonight in the dark to feel good going into tomorrow.  To make an analogy, if I was an arsonist I found a gallon of gas on my last hole with that birdie to spark a fire tomorrow.  I have to finish up my last 7 holes tomorrow morning at 8am, and then will tee off almost immediately and begin my second round.  Tomorrow I fully intend to play the great golf that I have been playing here of late, and put to bed today's poor play with a great night's rest.  Thanks for reading and much better things are in store tomorrow.

    Hello from Boise, Idaho.  I am currently waiting to tee off in the 1st round of the Albertsons Boise Open this week on the Nationwide Tour.  Boy that has a nice ring to it.  I tee it today in the last group of the day at 2:55pm off the 10th tee.  Having played here in 2007 in my pro debut I have good memories of Hillcrest Country Club, and am going to use that course knowledge this week to my advantage.  It is not a course that needs to be overpowered.  It is a classic, old golf course with healthy, large trees guarding the fairways, so accuracy is key to giving yourself a good chance to play the holes correctly.  I have been playing great golf over the past few weeks, so I am looking forward to carrying on that form this week.  My game plan is to just be myself.  I want to play my game, and not worry about one thing anyone else is doing this week.  Sometimes it is easy to get wrapped up in how badly I want to perform at the highest level and that can hinder me.  Yesterday in the pro am, one of my amateurs had to be taken away in an ambulance mid round after a fluke accident in the cart that left his upper arm severly bruised.  It is these kind of things that quickly put in check that on the big scheme of things golf isn't all that important.  With that being said, I really am ready this week to put my best foot forward starting today and see where that takes me at weeks end.  Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.

    Two more days in the books.  It was a sort of yin and yang over the last two days.  Going into the second round I knew I needed a well played round to make it to the weekend.  I ended up playing the best round of the year and posting a near flawless seven under 65 to get me back into contention none the less.  Today unfortunately I struggled to a 73 and went spiraling down the leaderboard.  For whatever reason all year long I just never put my best foot forward in the third round.  It was a trend all year and I never could put my finger on it.  I know it is just another round of golf and is absolutely no different from any other round of golf I play, but I just never moved in the right direction on moving day.  Oh well, this is something I will soon correct and learn from.  In the mean time I have one more round tomorrow to play well and make up some of the ground that I lost today.  The most refreshing news is regardless of how tomorrow goes, I will be hopping on a plane to Boise, Idaho to compete next week on the Nationwide Tour. 
    With this being my 4th year as a professional and having not played in a PGA Tour sanctioned event since August of 2009, I am humbled and excited to be given the chance via a sponsors exemption.  I can't tell you how pleased I am right now with the quality of my game right now.  I know if I can just go out and be myself and believe in my ability, I can compete next week for a title.  Tomorrow I am going to go take care of business by getting the momentum back in my court, and then I am going to head to Idaho ready to play the best golf of my life.  With the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 tomorrow it is very easy to put into perspective how great a life and profession I have been blessed to have and I will pause tomorrow to pay my respect to the fallen victims that died one decade ago.  Thanks for reading and exciting times are just days ahead!

    Hello from Columbia, South Carolina.  Last week in Augusta finished just fine.  I had a closing 68 to finish in 21st place and take a bunch of momentum with me moving forward.  I spent the weekend in Pinehurst, North Carolina charting my 1st stage Q School site at Pinewild Country Club.  The course suits my game well and it was great to get an early peek at what is in store come late October.  Today was the first round of the Hooters event in Columbia and I struggled today to an even par 72.  The course is yielding a bunch of birdie opportunities, but I didn't get my approach shots close enough, missed a few short putts, and had a couple errant drives.  Add all of that inconsistency up and it spells trouble.  What I did do well today was play the four par 5's in five under par and I closed my round with an eagle on my last hole to regain a bit of what I had lost during the day.  My hopes are that I can let that last hole fuel me into tomorrow and that I can tidy up my gameplan and really piece together a great round of golf on Friday.  Today was not great, but I have a lot of golf ahead of me tomorrow to make a solid run in the right direction.  Keep you posted.

    Hello from the mecca of golf: Augusta, Georgia.  We are playing golf this week at Mount Vintatge Plantation in North Augusta.  While it may not be the golf tournament in Augusta I dreamed of as a kid, it is a great tournament being played this week on the Hooters Tour.  As the above picture indicates, every move we make out here on the Hooters Tour is preparing us for the future when we compete in front of the bright lights of the PGA Tour.  Playing in Augusta only reinforces that even more.  Three rounds of golf are in the books and I currently sit in a tie for 32nd place at seven under par with one round remaining tomorrow morning.  My first three rounds have all been freakishly similar in the fact that I started off with a bunch of pars, made a bunch of birdies in the middle of my round, and then lost all that momentum coming towards the house with a bunch of pars and a few bogeys. 
    It has been really frustrating this week that I have been on the cusp of really busting out an outstanding round each day and to fall flat as I concluded each round.  I'm going to go out tomorrow with the gas pedal down all day.  I am going to have fun playing the game I love all day and play my brand of golf from start to finish.  Next week we head to Columbia, South Carolina for my final regular season Hooters Tour event of the year.  It's hard to believe how fast this summer has gone.  Looking even further down the road, the week after South Carolina I have an outstanding opportunity awaiting that I am already salivating about.  I will be playing in the Nationwide Tour's Albertsons Boise Open September 15th-18th.  It will be my first PGA Tour sanctioned event in over two years.  It will be broadcasted each evening on The Golf Channel so check your local listings and make sure to follow me on http://www.pgatour.com/ .  Take care and look forward to updating soon.

    Hello from Saint Louis, Missouri.  After spending the last three weeks on the road it is nice to come home and relax for a week.  Since I last updated I had a bum day at the Monday qualifier in Lawrence, Kansas for the Kansas City Monday qualifier on the Nationwide tour.  From there I went to Gulfport, Mississippi for a Hooters Tour event.  After two rounds in Mississippi I was in 9th place heading into the weekend.  My game was really sharp, but I had a poor showing over the weekend and dropped to 40th place at the conclusion of the tournament.  I have been playing some great golf lately, I just need a little bit more consistency day in and day out to string together 4 rounds so I can contend for a title.  I now need to turn the  small spark of fire into an inferno.  I am very close and I can feel it.  I head out Monday for two consecutive Hooters Tour events in Augusta, Georgia and then Columbia, South Carolina.  These are my last two regular season events on the Hooters Tour for the season so I really want to go out in style.  The week after South Carolina I have a very exciting opportunity coming up that I can't wait to reveal to you guys in the coming week or two.  In the mean time stay tuned and I look forward to updating with reports about playing some great golf.

    Breakthrough!  Today was a really special day for me.  Yesterday I knew I had a heck of a mountain to climb today with my remaining 13 holes.  I made 6 birdies this morning like I needed and posted a 68 to make the cut.  To finally dig down deep when I really needed it really lights a fire under me.  I play week in and week out to win tournaments, but today felt like a win even though I barely made the cut.  The obstacles I faced this morning after the adversity I felt yesterday coupled with the fact that I overcame this bolsters my confidence.  The event has been shortened to a 54 hole event due to the inclement weather that has wreaked havoc on Rogers, Arkansas this whole week.  That gives me one round tomorrow to play as well as I can and further climb the leaderboard.  Today ranks right up there as one of the most proud moments I have had as a professional golfer.  I may very well not win this week, but today proved to me finally with some tangible proof that I have the guts and talent to play this game at the highest level.  Tomorrow is going to be another great day and I finally have a springboard to rocket me forward with some real confidence.  Thanks for reading and I look forward to carrying the momentum into Monday in Lawrence, Kansas.

    Hello from Rogers, Arkansas.  Also the home of Walmart.  As their saying goes, "Always low prices".  However my golf scores are not always low at Lost Springs C.C.  The name of the course about summed up my play today.  LOST.  We have been plagued with weather delays, so I finally teed off my first round of golf a day after I was originally supposed to.  I opened up play today with an unimpressive even par 72 on an easy golf course.  I got in 5 additional holes in my second round before darkness suspended play.  I am two over in my second round, thus leaving me 13 holes tomorrow.  I am going to have to string together golf of six under par tomorrow morning on my last 13 holes to make the cut.  This is my fourth year playing in a tournament here at Lost Springs and I have just never got anything going on this course.  I like the layout and enjoy the course, but my game has just never shown up here. 
    Tomorrow I plan on changing that.  Six under par for thirteen holes is a lot to ask out of anyone, but I am going to go out tomorrow morning with my head high and try and give myself as many chances at birdie to do just that.  I can look at tomorrow as a challenge to really go low.  I have to or I'll be headed home early.  No matter how tomorrow turns out, I will be headed to the Kansas City area Saturday where the next Nationwide event is being played.  The qualifier is in Lawrence, Kansas.  Home of my arch rival, the Kansas Jayhawks.  I'm going to go into the lions den on Monday, kick him square in the mouth with a low round, and get the hell out of there with a birth in the Nationwide event in Kansas City.  I played in the event two years ago as many of you are aware, and once won an AJGA event on that same course, so I am salivating at giving myself another chance.  I'll keep you posted, but first and foremost I want to make a bunch of birdies tomorrow.

    I'm sitting in a Houlihan's in Springfield, MO trying to wrap my head around the realization that I will not be competing in the Nationwide event this week in my home state. I had to withdraw today not because I quit but because I had one hole remaining as the rules officials took us back off the course for the second time due to weather delays. Rather than wait around several more hours to play one hole of golf where I was far away from qualifying, I decided to WD and move along to Arkansas to get ready for an Adams Tour event that starts Wednesday. I actually was playing well most of the day, but right before we got called in the first time for weather I hit a shot on 12 out of bounds on a shot that wasn't that bad. The out of bounds is everywhere on Millwood CC and it got the best of one shot of mine today by a foot. If that ball stays in play I would have been in great shape to get back on track. I was one under at the time and had to settle for bogey. Anyway it stings right now knowing I didn't get "invited to the party" so to speak. I'm going to move forward with my head high. I fully intend to play great in Rogers, Arkansas this week. I have no time to dwell on the past. Here is to a week of good golf, healthy eating, and productive workouts. As long as I keep controlling what I can control and maintain a positive, confident attitude I soon will reach my potential. Thanks for reading.

    Hello from Garden City.  I have played three rounds of golf thus far in the Adams Tour event here in Kansas and it has been up and down.  Yeserday I played a really good round of 67 to get myself back in contention heading into the weekend, but today I let all the hard work slip away with a 75.  To be honest today I am really pretty mad at myself for the lack of mental discipline I had going.  The final two rounds of this tournament I play with four amateur partners and I let the format put me in a bad mood.  I had to put up with a 5 hour round of golf with amateurs that really don't know the ins and outs of professional golf.  This is one of the outside distractions that I knew going into the week I would have to deal with head on.  I had a terrible 8th hole today that derailed my round and I took a triple bogey.  For the next 6 holes I let my guard down and I was totally in a bad mood about everything about today.  I have to be better than that. 
    This is my fourth year as a pro and my fourth year playing in this tournament.  By now you would think I would be mature enough to handle what comes with playing in a pro-am.  It is something I have to do only a handful of times each year, but tomorrow I am not going to let the little things that go along with this format bother me.  Tomorrow is going to be a great day and I am going to get back to the right frame of mind.  After tomorrow I head to Springfield, Missouri to qualify for the Nationwide event at Highland Springs.  As most of you remember in 2009 I came within 2 shots of winning the tournament, so it all starts Monday at the qualifier where I look to build on what I accomplished there two years ago.  First and foremost though, tomorrow I am going to act more like the 26 year old that I am, and play a polished, professional round and get the momentum going for a GREAT week in Springfield next week.

    I just completed my first round of play in Garden City and I struggled to a two over par 73.  I turned in one under par but just wasn't really hitting quality shots.  After the round I sorted things out.  I was really struggling with alignment on the course today and if you can't aim where you want to hit it before you pull the trigger the ball surely isn't going to go where you want it to.  Tomorrow morning before I play I need to further engrain my alignment before I play by laying a club down.  I feel confident tomorrow that with a proper warm up session I will have a great day on the course tomorrow.  I am going to get a good nights rest, forget about today, and wake up tomorrow and have a great day.  Thanks for reading.

    I am currently in Garden City, Kansas on the morning of the first round of the Southwest Kansas Pro Am.  I missed qualifying on Monday in Omaha for the Nationwide Tour's Cox Classic.  I shot a 71 on a day where it took 66 on an easy golf course.  It just wasn't my day.  Last week I battled a strong summer cold that kept me sidelined for three days last week due to complete fatigue.  It probably set me back in terms of keeping my stride and continuing my steady practice, but I think overall it was nice to have a mid summer break, even if it was forced.  This is my fourth year playing in Garden City, so I know the course and know alot of the people that help support this tournament.  I am looking forward to going out today and playing the best golf I know how to play and building on that each day moving forward.  I know a win is coming soon for me, I just need to stay patient and go out and play golf my way.  I'll keep you posted on my results.  You can also follow this week at http://www.adamsgolfprotourseries.com/

68 today in the Monday qualifier. I played great but missed qualifying by one shot. Monday qualifying is both humbling and rigorous. No one there wants to be there but you have to do it to give yourself a chance. It is alot like going to the dentist. I had a nice 5 hour drive tonight to think about what is going on in my game right now. I am playing some great golf and thinking well on the course most all of the time. The one area of my game I have got to improve on is my ability to really keep the gas pedal down when I'm playing well. Every golfer out there reading this has a scoring threshold that you often can struggle getting under. The more I thought about that tonight the word threshold should be completely irrelevant to me. I need to do a better job of playing each shot for what it is worth and quit worrying about the ramifications each shot has whether good or bad. If I'm 4 under par thru 8 holes for example, there should be ZERO part of me that should start smiling inside and seeing a nice 4 under par 68 in my head as I sign my scorecard. At that point I have 10 holes left to keep my head to the ground and make as many more birdies possible. I have the next 6 days at home in St. Louis to work on this mental discipline that is soon going to get me over the hump. I have the absolutely best practice tool to help this new thought pattern. I am going to play several rounds this week from the ladies tee. It will be very easy to get WAY under par and I will get comfortable sustaining my good play as I make a bunch of birdies. I'll keep you posted on my progress. I'm getting really close to where I need to be. I head Sunday to Omaha, Nebraska for another Nationwide qualifier. I plan on being ready mentally to take it low and be in no way scared to do so. Thanks for reading.

    Well golf will giveth and then taketh away.  I struggled the final round of the Hooters Tour event in Snow Hill, NC.  I couldn't make a putt to save my life and wanted to wave the white flag when I was done after a 75.  I felt all week like I was playing great, I just couldn't get all aspects of my game to line up at one time.  I went from North Carolina to Greenville, SC for a one day event to keep my game sharp.  Yesterday I played very steady and finished in 2nd place with a 69.  I walked away with $600 dollars and a shot of confidence in the arm.  I currently am in Daniels, West Virginia where I will be qualifying for the PGA Tour Greenbriar Classic next Monday.  I have to go through the pre qualifier on Thursday which is always a hastle, but the way I look at it is it will give me an additional practice round under tournament conditions.  I really am starting to feel great about the way I am playing and I am thinking my way around the golf course in the calm manner required to win championships.  I just need to break the door down on Monday and I will have every reason to believe that in my first PGA Tour event I can contend.  This may sound like a lot to ask, but I truly believe my time is coming soon.  Now it's time to take care of business on Monday.  I'll update Monday with the news that I splintered the door hinge and broke that door right on down!

Unfortunately today was the type of round that has been commonplace here of late. I shot an eventful even par 72. The best way I could describe my golf of late is like a magnet. Every time I have a positive (+) a negative (-) seems to attract. My birdies are being followed by bogeys. I need to stop being so complacent. When I make a birdie I need to forget about it and play the next hole trying to make another one on the next hole. I birdied the first three holes today then took for granted that I still had 15 holes to play. My good play needs to gather momentum like a snow ball can eventually make a snow man. Tomorrow my goal is to stay focused throughout my round and use my good play to gain momentum moving forward rather than start thinking about my score and getting ahead of myself. The game of golf comes down to thinking properly and tomorrow I look forward to starting a new trend in how I go about handling myself in the heat of competition.

Where am I and how did I get here? That seems like a very philosophical question that could take days to answer but I meant it in the literal sense. I am in Snow Hill, NC for a Hooters Tour event. The past week was a bit of a disappointment. I struggled the final round of the Metropolitan Open and finished in 8th place. I had a wonderful chance to win but just couldn't capitolize. I was nervous from the start and my putting showed my nerves. Anyway from there I went to Cincinnati for a Nationwide Monday qualifier. I played well and missed by two stinking strokes. I had a triple bogey on my seventh hole and that really put a strain on my score. We have played two rounds here for the Hooters event and I am playing the weekend. I am a bit frustrated because today and yesterday I closed out my rounds poorly. I had a chance today with a solid back nine to get back in the tournament but I closed with a two over par 38. I stand in 33rd place at one under at the half way point and am ready tomorrow to play exceptionally well and sprint straight up the leaderboard. Dang this past couple of months I have been so close to really making some great things happen. I truly believe this weekend is going to be the start of my scores finally matching up with the potential I have been generating. Thanks and look forward to updating with great news.

    Today was a great day.  I shot a three under par 67 and obtained my goal.  I reduced the deficit and now trail the leaders by one shot.  Last night the city of Saint Louis was inundated with rain and it made for a sloppy day on the course.  My only complaint of the day came on my 16th hole of the day where my ball came to rest in a washed out bunker that was almost completely filled with water.  Under the rules you are able to take relief from water in a bunker, the only problem was there was hardly anywhere to drop my ball where there wasn't water.  I made a bogey after having to play the shot barefoot because of the ankle high water.  Other than that misstep and rules snafu I had an absolutely great day.  Tomorrow is what I live for as a professional athlete.  The chance to win by getting my nose right in the thick of things.  I can't wait.  I will have the same gameplan as I did the first two days.  I will be playing disciplined golf under the blue print I set out at the beginning of the week.  I will trust each individual shot and from there let the chips fall where they may.  If I can play my game and stay patient, tomorrow will be a great day.  Thanks for reading and I look forward to really coming into my own tomorrow at St. Albans CC.

    I am back in Saint Louis for the week.  Monday in Milan, Illinois didn't go quite as planned as I shot an even par 71 and missed the mark by five shots.  I got off to a hot start with birdies on two of my first three holes, but could not sustain that pace and back pedaled my way into the clubhouse.  Monday qualifying is such a one dimensional type of golf that you have to play a good round of golf or you flat out will not get in the event.  In the course of a normal 72 hole event you can get away with a couple of average days and still have a great week.  Anyway, I am currently one round into the Metropolitan Open in St. Louis.  It is a three round event which features both professionals and amateurs.  I shot a one over par 71 this morning and was five shots off the pace.  I would anticipate that I won't be much further off the lead, if at all, at days end.  This tournament is only three rounds, so my goal for tomorrow is at days end to have cut the deficit from the top of the leaderboard by a few shots.  In order to do that I need to stay the course and really stay within myself by trusting my routine and playing the shots necessary that have been predetermined by a game plan that I compiled at the beginning of the week.  I truly believe tomorrow will be a great day and I can play myself into contention heading into the final round Saturday at St. Albans CC.  Thanks for reading.

    Well long story short, I will not be playing in this year's British Open.  Call it heartbreak, call it meltdown, I am definitely a bit beaten down after this journey that ended far too quickly.  36 holes in one day is ALOT of golf.  I teed off on Tuesday morning at 8:20am under eerily calm conditions.  The winds subsided for all of my morning round and allowed plenty of good scores to be registered by the field for the opening half of the day.  I struggled to a one over par 69, but still left myself in position with a good afternoon round to make my move.  After the morning 18, three under par was the number to get in.  Just as I rolled in my putt on 18, a huge line of thunderstorms coming from the southeast in France rolled in and led to a 4 hour delay between my first and second rounds.
    As I sat in the clubhouse with my caddie, Ben Scott, we listened to all the locals who had come out to watch talk among themselves about how Rye Golf Club was going to show it's teeth for the second round once the storms subsided.  I teed off my second round at 5:15 pm and knew that conditions would be windy throughout and that a well played round would put me in reach of a spot in the British Open.  On my opening nine holes, I began to confidently plot my way around the windswept links with perfect precision.  The pictures above indicate how firm the course really was.  Well thought out shots that followed the terrain would be rewarded.  I birdied my ninth hole of the day and turned in a 31 strokes.  I was back in the tournament and I was nine holes away from the promised land.  I just needed to keep the momentum going and play the back nine in one under par and I would have been in a playoff.  As I walked from nine green to ten tee box something caught my eye.  On a table in the clubhouse rested the British Open trophy itself, the Claret Jug.  For some reason, after seeing this trophy I got ahead of myself and began envisioning hoisting the trophy.   
    That turned out to be a curse in disguise, as right from the onset of my back nine I began losing control of my driver.  Left tee shot after left tee shot left me scrambling on Rye Golf Club from the tall heather grass that guarded the firm, brown baked fairways.  The one under par I needed was a distant dream as I finished my round at 9:20pm at night and the reality soon set in that nine holes of poor driving at the wrong time left me on the wrong side of the leaderboard.  I was so close to reaching my goal, but knowing how close I was with the right attitude can help me immensely for the remainder of the summer.  With no rest for the weary, I am teeing off today in Milan, Illinois for the John Deere Classic pre qualifier.  Yesterday was a long journey back home to the USA, but I feel well rested after a nice night's sleep and am ready to get after it today.  The game of golf just begs you to sit back on your loins and dwell on the past when things don't go your way.  I am not going to allow myself to go down that road.  Forward I go, and I know great things are well within grasp here on the foreseeable horizon.  Thanks for reading.  I can only be held down for so long.

It's the eve of qualifying and I am tucked away on the third floor of a bed and breakfast in Rye, England. I have had a full two days of quality practice in at Rye Golf Club under sunny skies and warm temperatures. The drive down to the course on Saturday went smoothly as I took my time and really paid attention to the road. Tomorrow on the golf course I am going to need equal the attention as rain is in the forecast. The golf course plays to a par of 68 which is quite unusual. There are blind shots to be found all over the course so it really helped to get 2 practice rounds in. It is as links a course as you can find where the elements really can make or break the severity of the course. As I mentioned, mentally I'm ready for any sort of weather and I going to go out tomorrow for 36 holes with the utmost patience. I'll be playing my game to the best of my ability and when I add up my total at days end I firmly believe that my scores will be indicative of my true potential. It's off to bed for me and I look forward to a great day tomorrow on the old links of Rye Golf Club. Thanks for reading.

I'm minutes from departing USA toward England and am ready to make things happen next week. I had a great week of practice and can't wait to put my best golf together for 36 holes on Tuesday. I have my old teammate Ben Scott, who lives in England, caddying for me. I am fully prepared for mother nature to throw everything but the kitchen sink at me. My game is sharp, my confidence is high, now I just need to go out and be myself and be patient. I can't guarantee I'll have Internet in England, but it I do I'll try and update before Tuesday. Thanks for reading and I'm ready to go play some awesome golf.

    Once again sitting in the airport thinking about what could have been.  I gave it my all today and shot a two under par 70 but fell three shots shy of the number needed to qualify.  I have really been upbeat all year after disappointments, but this one for whatever reason really stings.  I felt that today was going to be my day and I was ready to play great.  I chipped in for par today on my fourth hole and I thought that was the swing of momentum I was going to need to make a surge the rest of the day.  However, missed putts and several untimely poor breaks stalled any momentum I had and I just couldn't scratch and claw my way far enough into the red by days end.  I hate losing.  I mean I really hate losing and I am sick of losing.  I am headed home tonight and I know tomorrow I will feel better about today and realize I actually did alot of things well today, but with the nature of Monday qualifiers didn't register quite enough birdies.  So where do I head from here?  I am going to stay the course and keep working harder than my competition.  I will be putting in some quality gym time and really keep after it on the range this week in terms of further refining the swing changes I am trying to make.
    I leave on Saturday for London, England.  I fully intend not to return back to the United States without having successfully qualified for this year's British Open.  I keep saying that my game is really feeling great and how confident and excited I am.  With that being said, I am beyond due for this skill set of mine to be rewarded.  I know I can't press and become impatient, but I have to keep believing that.  Golf is filled with adversity and this has been a definite period where I can't let it get the best of me.  Okay so enough with the serious talk.  I'll leave you all with a funny story.  I'm sure most everyone has seen Tin Cup.  If you haven't, well first shame on you, and second go get out from the cave you were living in.  Yesterday in my practice round I was playing right in front of Lee Janzen.  What makes this funny is on two consecutive holes I was over a hill where he couldn't see me.  He hit into our group with his driver and the first time I had to jump out of the way so the ball didn't hit me.  On the next hole his ball nailed my golf cart some five feet away from me.  I thought this was a surreal moment.  Instead of Roy Mcavoy shooting chili peppers up Lee Janzen's ass, Lee Janzen was shooting chili peppers up my ass.  Pardon my French, just quoting the movie.  My, oh my!!!!  Anyway I'll update before I leave for England later this week.  The really only part of this upcoming trip I am worried about is the two hour car ride I have to make on my way from London airport to the course I am playing.  If I can survive driving once again on the wrong side of the road, the golf part is going to seem easy!  Over and out from Hartford, Connecticut.

    Hello from Hartford, Connecticut.  I have been up in the New England area since last Tuesday and have had quite an eventful weekend passing time between the PGA Tour Travelers Championship pre qualifier and Monday qualifier which is taking place tomorrow.  I breezed through the pre qualifier last Wednesday with a 73 and headed 2 hours down the road to Boston and spent four nights with a great friend of mine Dan Costigan.  My first night in Boston the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and the whole city was out to watch it.  We had a great time.  On Friday I was fortunate enough to play at a golf course called Myopia Hunt Club.  It is in the picture above and is ranked as the 32nd best Classic course in America.  What a treat that was to play.  Friday night Dan and I took in a game at Fenway.  What a special place for baseball fans and you could just feel the history oozing out of the park.  As an avid sports fan this was definitely something I was excited to check off the bucket list.  Finally to round out my weekend in Boston we went to the parade that the city had for the Bruins for winning the Stanley Cup.  It seemed like the whole city once again was out and everyone was so passionate and excited to be there.  It could not have been a better last four days and it was great to take it all in.
    Getting back to business, tomorrow is going to be a great day for me.  I had a quality practice round today and put together a wonderful game plan on how to attack Gillette Ridge Country Club.  I have the greens completely mapped out and know the exact shots I need to hit tomorrow in order to be successful.  I am excited about the way I am hitting the ball and truly believe tomorrow is going to offer me up a great reward as long as I can play my game, walk with confidence, believe in myself from start to finish, and finally have patience.  I tee off at 8:27 am tomorrow and look forward to updating everyone with some great news.  Thanks for reading.

    I am back in Saint Louis for the week.  The Greensboro qualifier did not go quite as planned for the entirety of my round.  I shot a two under par 70 and missed qualifying by four shots.  I turned in two over par and shot myself out of the qualifier but I was really proud of the way I hung in there on the back nine and shot a four under par 32 to close out my round.  It can be hard to take away the positives after missing on back to back days in qualifiers but I did do some great things and can move forward from there.  As I said before this month and a half period I am really narrowing my competitive focus on PGA Tour sanctioned qualifiers.  These events require a slightly different breed of golf because they are one day events and require a nice round of golf to get through.  I will be in Saint Louis over the weekend before I head to Hartford, Connecticut next week to qualify for the PGA Tour Travelers Championship.  The last two times I have played golf in the Northeast I have missed qualifying for the events both times in playoffs so I definitely want a bit of redemption.  My game really is rounding into form and I just need for one break to fall my way.  I've been logging alot of hours in the gym and course lately and am excited for it all to payoff shortly.  There would be no greater satisfaction than entering my first PGA Tour event as a professional in Connecticut two weeks from now.  I'll keep you posted.  Thanks for reading.

Hello. I am currently in the Memphis airport waiting to board a plane to Greensboro, NC. I shot a very disappointing 73 today in the St. Jude PGA Tour qualifier and missed by 4 shots. I was extremely excited to play today because there were only 59 players for 4 spots, but my game went into hibernation from the sixth hole on. I three putted the par 5 fifth hole for par and played the final 12 holes in two over.
It is critical for me to put this behind me before my feet hit the ground in Greensboro because I play again tomorrow in The Rex Hospital Open Nationwide Qualifier. This is the only opportunity I have ever had to play in two PGA Tour sanctioned qualifiers on back to back days so I am hoping this mulligan I have been given tomorrow will end up with a better result. I am playing great. Today was just a small hiccup and tomorrow in Greensboro is going to be an exceptional day. Keep your fingers crossed, I'm ready to play great tomorrow.

    Sorry for the delay in updating.  The weekend in North Carolina didn't go quite as planned, but I had a solid Sunday final round to end my tournament on a high note.  As I said before, with the way I struggled with my ball striking the first two days I was just really fortunate to even get to play competitively on the weekend.  Anyways today was a real bummer on the golf front.  I played in the Nationwide Monday qualifier up in the Washington D.C. area today.  Because of the Memorial Day holiday the qualifier was pushed till Tuesday.  I ended up missing in a playoff where there were 8 guys vying for 2 spots.  I shot a steady four under par 68 with no bogeys, but I played the par 5's in all pars and that never helps the scorecard.  I did a lot of things beside that very well today and I have to take that with me.  My iron play has improved tremendously in the past week and now I just need to dial in the driver and 3 wood and I will be all set on the swing front. 
    Today was really frustrating around the greens because I was just not able to figure out how to chip my ball out of the thick, sticky rough that guarded the greens.  On all four of the par 5's my ball was just off the putting surface in two shots, but I was unable to gauge how much energy I needed to imply on the golf ball to extricate it from the tricky rough.  To be so close and not be rewarded is a maddening feeling, but tomorrow will be a new day and I am going to explain why I have a good feeling this is going to be a blessing in disguise.  On Friday I will be heading straight to Memphis, Tennessee for the PGA Tour St. Jude Classic pre qualifier.  Had I qualified today in Maryland, I would have had to forfeit my chance at qualifying for next week's St. Jude Classic because I would not have been able to play in Friday's pre qualifier in Memphis.  I fully believe that things happen for a reason and by keeping a great attitude and using today as both motivation and a confidence boost I will successfully navigate myself into the starting field for next week's PGA Tour event in Memphis.  I head home to Saint Louis tomorrow morning and will use tomorrow to get some laundry done and more importantly get my body and mind ready to play some great golf in Memphis.  Thanks for reading and I am close to making some really great things happen.

The first two rounds are in the books and I am extremely fortunate to be playing the weekend. Almost all of the first two rounds was played in steady 20mph winds. The course is very exposed because it is out in the open right next to an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. I battled my swing the first two rounds and the wind magnified my mistakes. I have still yet to grow accustomed to the swing changes Brian Mogg and I worked on last week. The good news is I have given myself two more days of competition to work on dialing in these new elements. I sit at six over thru two days having made the cut on the number. There is no where to go but up so I can be aggressive this weekend and vault up the leaderboard with two well played rounds. I'm looking forward to doing just that! Thanks for following.

Hello from Windsor, NC. We are playing this week at Scotch Hall. It is the best course we have played all year as it is right on the banks of the Atlantic Ocean. The course is in flawless condition. It is very exposed to the elements, so very breezy conditions are normal here. That is what we battled today. I shot a 77 today and had a couple tough breaks that damaged my scorecard immensely. I made a poor driver swing on number 9 and made a triple bogey. However, I hit two nine irons exactly how I wanted and misjudged the wind and suffered a bogey and double bogey on those two holes when I did everything I could from a physical standpoint to execute a great shot.
Tomorrow if I can avoid that one poor drive I hit and do a better job of calibrating the wind I will be able to be in good position to light this course up and get myself back in position heading into the weekend. It is very hot this week in the mid 90s so I need to stay hydrated, kick my feet up tonight and know that tomorrow is going to be a great day! Thanks for following. Oh, I don't have Internet where I am staying so I am updating from my phone. For whatever reason I can not indent my paragraphs so no need to proof read my error.

    Well I sat on the range all morning to no luck.  I was unable to get a spot in the qualifying field today.  So my British Open qualifying will be delayed a month where I will try my luck again in southeast England June 28th.  It was a bummer I didn't get to play because I am excited the direction my game is headed after spending last week in Orlando.  It wasn't meant to be.  So this afternoon I travel out of Dallas to my next stop in Windsor, North Carolina for a Hooters event.  I think today was a great learning experience because being an alternate for tournaments is something that is very common on the PGA Tour.  Many rookies have trouble getting in some of the regular season events due to their status they have their first year and have to wait till the last second to find out if they are in or out of an event.  Either way I am going to keep moving forward and I am going to do everything that is possible this week to get myself ready to play great golf for four days from the first shot on in North Carolina Thursday.

    I apologize for my lack of updating the site here of late.  The second round in Tennessee was a real bummer.  I shot a 76 and just simply didn't have it.  I went to throw a banana peel in the trash can from point blank range during the round and missed the trash can completely.  That about sums up how my 36 holes went in Kodak, Tennessee.  I will say I was treated to some fine hospitality at the Malnati household and for that I am very grateful for them putting me up for the week.  It was a tough week so I decided to fly down to Orlando to work with my instructor Brian Mogg for two days.  I am glad I did.  We worked diligently on my game and I came away refreshed leaving Orlando realizing that a few basic setup issues and swing issues will soon be a thing of the past once I impement a few changes that will not take long at all to get used to.
   I currently am in Plano, Texas.  Tomorrow is an exciting day if I can be a part of it.  78 golfers will be teeing it up at Gleneagles CC for 8 spots into the British Open.  I am currently the 7th alternate heading into tomorrow.  The Official World Golf Rankings determines who has priority to enter the field first and currently I am just out of the starting field.  With a few withdraws tomorrow I will have a great chance at playing 36 holes for a spot in the British Open.  The good news is even if I don't get in as an alternate tomorrow I will still be eligible to head to England in late June for the qualifier over there.  Logistically it would be huge if I could play tomorrow because it would save an entire roundtrip and a lot of money if I don't have to go to England until the British Open itself. 
    I am getting a bit ahead of myself and I am going to go into tomorrow ready to play and if my number is called I am going to go out there and simply just play my game to the best of my ability.  That is all I can do.  I head from Plano, Texas to Windsor, North Carolina Tuesday for a Hooters event.  Following the Hooters event I will head to the Washington D.C. area for a Nationwide qualifier on May 31st.  Over the next month and a half I am going to be really highlighting my schedule with quite a bit of Monday qualifying.  The Hooters tour isn't too busy this time of the year so this is a great time to try and get into some PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour events.  I am excited about the progress I am making and look forward to keeping the momentum going.  Thanks for reading.

    Hello from Kodak, Tennessee.  The last four days from a golf standpoint have not been classified under "fun".  On Monday in Davenport, Iowa I struggled to a four over par 75 on a tough golf course and missed advancing through US Open local qualifying by two strokes.  A one round qualifier is always either feast or famine, and my game really never surfaced all day.  It has been very painful for me the last few days I am not going to lie because I really wanted to play this year at Congressional in our nation's capitol.  It wasn't meant to be for whatever reason.  I ventured from Iowa to Tennessee where I now stand for my 7th Hooters Tour event of the season.  It is a nice course we are playing this week, but the scores are going to be tremendously low because the course is playing very player friendly with nice greens and bountiful wedge shot opportunities on the vast majority of holes.  I struggled again today with an even par 72 that is going to put me at days end way down the leaderboard.  I want to say it wasn't a hangover from my play Monday, but I know internally I still have been struggling to cope with not reaching my goal.
    A lot of times things happen for a reason.  Fifteen minutes ago I was really down in the dumps about my round today as I was going to lunch at Subway right after I signed my card.  The Subway employee asked the guy behind me how he was doing.  He replied "Not great, I just lost my job from the post office."  Here I am sulking about a bad round of golf and this poor guy just got fired from the only thing he knew.  After paying for my meal I sat down and the table next to me all bowed their heads, grasped hands and said Grace before they ate.  I once again came to the realization that you know what, I really do have it great.  I was hungry, so I decided to go eat without even thinking about it.  There are millions of people out there that when they get hungry they don't have the luxury to just eat at will.  I still am frustrated with my golf the last few days, but I quickly gained some much needed perspective at lunch today.  Tomorrow is a new day.  I am going to play great and know that I really am fortunate to be in the shoes that I'm in regardless of the outcome.  Thanks for reading.

    Golf just lost a great man by the name of Seve Ballesteros.  I wanted to take a moment to offer up my small little remembrance of this great man and exquisite golfer.  There are few people in my generation that have ever got the chance to watch Seve Ballesteros play.  I was fortunate enough to play with this mystical legend back in 2007 in a practice round for the Masters Tournament.  Everything that I ever was told about this man was true.  Seve was not a good driver of the ball and lacked a solid iron game day in and day out.  But the man more than made up for these weaknesses with the best short game that the game of golf has ever seen.  That early spring day in 2007 I saw with my two eyes this style of play unfold over the course of a wonderful walk in Augusta.  Seve Ballesteros couldn't keep his driver even remotely close to on the map.  Yet I just took it all in when the man was around the greens chipping and pitching.  His hands just fit on the club a certain way that I can not explain.  It just looked so easy to him and you could tell he was passionate about the art of a delicately played short game shot.  What Mozart was to music, Seve Ballesteros always will be to a sand wedge.  For one brief moment in time, I was a part of the inner circle that Seve Ballesteros lived and breathed.  What a special man he was, and I along with every other professional golfer owe alot to this man.
    As I previously reported, tomorrow I head up to Davenport, Iowa for my US Open local qualifier.  I am beyond excited about beginning the journey to Congressional CC in Washington D.C. in June.  I feel I am playing the steady, disciplined golf required to compete and win a US Open Championship.  I need to just stay in my routine and not get ahead of myself.  The challenge is knowing that the carrot that is being dangled in front of your nose is something I want to taste so bad, but I have to put it out of my mind and just keep my head down and stay in the present and execute each individual shot to the best of my ability.  When I add up my score at the end, I hope and pray it will be enough to get me where I want to be.  I firmly believe and know I have what it takes to get what I want, I just need to be myself and be patient to get it.  I'll update Monday with my results and will hopefully be one step closer to realizing my potential.

    I just arrived back in Saint Louis after playing five straight days of competitive golf.  The weekend in South Carolina went great from a goal standpoint of being great mentally, but I was only able to get three more strokes under par on the weekend and fell to 24th place at weeks end.  I did alot of great things this past week and have plenty to be proud of and build on.  The final round was even more special because there was actually a gallery out there watching.  On the 3rd and 18th holes there were upwards of 300 people watching and it brought on a nervous feeling of wanting to perform well. 
    Yesterday I played in my first Nationwide qualifier of the year and shot a two under par 69 and missed qualifying by four shots.  The course played extremely easy with zero wind and three very reachable par 5's and one short drivable par 4.  I was right on track on the early going as I was 3 under par through seven holes, but a double bogey on my 8th hole really set me back and made it an uphill climb to the finish that I was unable to climb.  It was very disappointing yesterday when it settled in that I didn't qualify, but at the end of the day it was just one round of golf in the big picture.  I am doing a lot of great things right now with my golf game and have the week off in St. Louis to tighten things up.
     I need to stay focused on improving my short game, staying fit in the gym, and eating well.  These are just a few of the things I can control to help me keep progressing to where I want to be.  I have US Open qualifying next Monday in Iowa.  This is always one tournament each year I highlight on my calender and dream that on Sunday afternoon in June I will be hoisting the trophy.  It all starts May 9th in Iowa where 60 of us will be vying for 4 spots to advance to the sectional qualifying stage.  I couldn't be any more excited, so now I just need to stay patient and go grab the bull by the horns.

    I have finished my first two rounds in McCormick, SC and stand at 6 under par at the half way point.  In my last blog post I said that I had a goal to be great mentally for all four rounds.  This goal required four rounds, which each take five hours to play, of thinking clearly, positively, and rationally.  If you add this all up at weeks end in order to be great mentally for a tournament, you have to be at your best for 20 hours.  During my first round I had a two hole stretch on my back nine where I was angry and frustrated after three putting a par 5 for par.  So I came unraveled for 30 minutes yesterday out of my 5 hour round. 
    Today I started off beautifully.  I birdied my first two holes and was all set to pile on the birdies.  I hit a brief speed bump on my third and fourth holes today where I made a clumsy par on a par 5 and failed to get a routine chip up and down on my 4th hole and made a bogey.  I stepped up to my 5th hole today and had every reason to be mad and lose control of my emotions.  This was where I made sure to stand true to my goal for the week.  I hit my second shot into the greenside bunker on #5 and was not the least bit rattled.  I holed that shot for birdie out of the sand and used that to propel me forward to shoot a great round of 67.  I had some more mistakes along the way coming in, but my goal of being great mentally was easily accomplished.  After two rounds and ten hours on the course, I have only been spent 30 minutes in the wrong frame of mind.  The goal I set to be great mentally for all four rounds still stands.  Through two rounds, I have accomplished just that.  Two more rounds, and with the same frame of mind I can expect more great things to come.

    Well today did not turn out as planned.  I shot 75 and missed by 6 shots.  As I said, Mathews, Louisiana is one of the windiest places I play all year and today didn't disappoint.  It blew a steady 25mph all day with gusts upward of 40mph.  Still this is no excuse, four guys found a way to shoot 69 or better, and I did not. I am disappointed in myself in my inability today to remain calm under the difficult conditions.  EVERY single player today was going to hit some miserable shots today because of the brutal winds and I did not respond well early to hitting some terrible shots.  I let my poor play early stress me out and lead to some really poor decision making.  Today was one of those days where mental dicipline really would have gone a long way.  I am going to move on from this better, but I have to be more cool under pressure in grueling conditions.  Pars were great today for the most part, so I just need to do a better job of reading what the course is yielding early and not getting so down on myself if I don't birdie every stinking hole.  I am in route from here to McCormick, SC for a Hooters Tour event that starts on Thursday.  I will keep you posted on my goal this week to be great mentally all four rounds.  I am playing great and one poor day in demanding conditions won't deter me from contending in South Carolina.  No PGA Tour event this week, but the PGA Tour will get plenty of me soon in the future.

    Sorry I am a little late on the blog post.  I successfully navigated my way through the pre qualifier last Friday with a nice round of three under 69.  I spent the past two evenings with my friend Parker LaBarge in New Orleans.  We ate like kings in the "Crescent City".  I really believe next to LA and New York that New Orleans has the best restaurants in the US.  If I lived in New Orleans I would be morbidly obese.  Gumbo, crawfish, etouffee, oysters, eggs benedict, bread pudding, and red beans and rice were just several of the southern specialties we took down.
    Anyway, back to the golf and the reason I am down here.  Tomorrow is the Zurich qualifier at La Tour Golf Club and I am very excited with the state of my game heading into tomorrow.  The course is a David Toms design that is flat, spacious off the tee, and day in and day out one of the windiest areas I will play all year.  As long as I can have a nice day on the greens and hit crisp, well thought out iron shots, I will have a great chance at playing one heck of a round tomorrow.   I look forward to updating tomorrow with some great news and I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter.

    I'm going to try and keep this as short as possible because no one likes a whiner.  I ended up missing the cut today by one shot, but the way I did it makes me want to pull my hair out.  I came to my final hole today 5 under for the event and one shot inside the cutline.  I blocked my drive right, but my ball bounded further right on the bounce and continued rolling and rolling until my ball settled right on the out of bounds line.  My playing partners and I got on our hands and knees and couldn't tell whether or not the ball was in bounds or not.  So I pulled out my cell phone and called the rules official.  He came over and pulled out his fishing line.  Under the rules of golf your ball is in play if any part of your ball touches the inside edge of the out of bounds margin.  The rules official wrapped the fishing line around both out of bounds stakes that were in between my ball and pulled the line taught. 
    As it turned out my ball lay less than one centimeter on the wrong side of the fishing line.  My ball was out of bounds and less than one centimeter on my final hole cost me making the cut and being in great position to make a run up the leaderboard and being cut after 36 holes.  I made par with my second ball and signed for a double bogey after the penalty of hitting it OB.  That is how life goes sometimes.  I'm not going to sulk over one crap break.  I am going to hold my head high, learn from what happened and move on.  I head to New Orleans next Thursday morning where I am going to successfully qualify for the PGA Tour Zurich Classic on April 25th.  My game is in great shape, and today isn't going to hinder my confidence moving forward.  I'll update next Friday night with a report from New Orleans after the conclusion of the pre qualifier.

    The first round has come and gone and I am now waiting at my hotel for my second round to get under way.  I shot a two under par 70 yesterday, but once again I battled my way back late in my round to scratch out a round that keeps me in the tournament.  I opened up play yesterday morning in semi cool conditions and my body just felt tight.  I didn't have any kind of pain or anything like that, but my body just wasn't responding as fast and fluidly as I would have liked.  I made 3 early bogeys and was deep behind the 8 ball. However, I showed great maturity and poise and didn't let the adversity keep me from playing well.  I made 5 birdies on my final 11 holes and rebounded nicely.  The scores as I said are extremely low and I expect that to continue.  Today's conditions call for breezy winds which will help me move up the leaderboard as long as I can manufacture a good round.  I look forward to having a fun filled afternoon on the links and reporting back to you on my results.

    Here I am in Albany, Georgia on the eve of the first round of the Hooters event at Stonebridge Golf and Country Club.  I can tell you this about the tourney being held over the next four days:  pars on this golf course are going to be irrelevant.  It would surprise me if a four round total was not 20 under or lower at weeks end.  With that being said, that past sentence is the last time this week I am going to talk about relation to par.  What is shot on the scoreboard matters very little in this game.  It is all about my game and asking myself how I can get the most out of it on each shot.  That is a very selfish way to put it, but golf is an individual sport where you often times have to be greedy and self centered in a certain way to play your best.  This week I am going to do my very best to once again commit to my designated game plan and execute to the best of my ability.  This course is going to yield a bunch of birdies, and with trust, patience, and smart execution there is no reason I can't tally a bushel full of birdies.  (And in case any of you were wondering a bushel is defined by the unit of measurement containing 8 gallons....that is alot of birdies!)  Look forward to updating soon.