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!