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.

    First off this week I need to thank my Uncle Bob and Aunt Kathy for graciously letting me stay with them all week.  They just welcomed their first grandchild into the world from my cousin Laura so I know they were busy and it was nice to be able to not have to stay in a hotel this week.  The above pictures came from my Uncle Bob who is an excellent photographer.  The second picture shows it all.  I was unable to close the 3 shot gap today on Will Wilcox who put together a fine tournament.  I shot a two under 70 the final day to tie for fifth place and on the whole really put together a nice tournament.  I played steady golf all week and was really sharp mentally as I saved poor rounds in my second and third rounds by stringing together birdies late to rally. 

    It was a great tournament and it was awesome to get that feeling of being in contention again.  This is the result of putting in a lot of hard work.  My game is really moving along here early in the Spring and I can't wait to keep getting better as the season progresses.  I may not have registered a win this week, but I will take much confidence away from a great showing and move forward.  There is hard work still to be put in and I can't wait to continue strengthening all facets of my game.  I have the next seven days off and am headed home to Saint Louis.  The following week I head to Albany, Georgia for the continuation of the Hooters Tour where I can hopefully build on a great showing in North Carolina.

    I am inside and it feels great to not be battling the elements outdoors.  The wind absolutely howled today and the scoring showed.  I shot an even par 72, but I showed a lot of maturity today by finishing my round off in world class fashion.  I struggled early and often today and the weather was making my round look like a heavyweight fight with mother nature.  She was winning big when I stepped up on my 14th hole today.  I was 4 over par for the day and just struggling to find a way to get some momentum back on my side to close out my round.  Low and behold I birdied 4 of my last 5 holes and got myself right back into the thick of things heading into the final round. 
    Tomorrow the forecast is finally supposed to be nice.  It will be chilly in the morning, but overall it is going to be relatively calm and the temperature will be bearable.  I have put myself in position heading into the last day and I am going to treat tomorrow like any other round of golf.  If I can take care of the things I can control, tomorrow is going to be a great day and I will let the chips fall where they may.  I look forward to updating soon with reports that I executed my plan fearlessly, confidently, and judiciously.  If I can do that I will be happy with whatever happens.  Thanks.

    The weekend is upon us here in Conover, NC and I have positioned myself quite nicely heading into the weekend.  I currently stand in a tie for 6th place, three off the lead, with two rounds remaining.  My first round concluded with a solid 3 under 69 that was really just a steady round of golf from start to finish.  Today we dealt with cool conditions with the temp hovering around 50 degrees and a steady breeze that presented quite the challenge.  I struggled today with my swing and got a lot out of my game at times with some great saves around the green.  I finished off my round tremendously with an eagle and a birdie in my closing three holes to turn in a one under 71 and keep myself in great position for the second half of the tournament. 
    Conditions are forecasted to be very breezy tomorrow, so I need to keep a level head and keep making prudent decisions as I have been doing.  This is why I chose to make professional golf my job out of college and not using my marketing degree.  It was to win golf tournaments.  I am sure I will be a bit nervous the next couple of days, but it will be gladly welcomed and I look forward to showcasing every bit of my talent to close out this event.