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.