Focused on the Positives from Riviera

I'll start with the bad news from Riviera. I opened the tournament horribly with four bogies in the first seven holes despite perfect scoring conditions. Throughout the week I really struggled on the greens. My pace was very poor at times and I missed several short putts. For the tournament I had six or seven three-putts. On top of that, I lost my way with my swing a little bit over the final 16 holes of the tournament and hit a lot of poor shots. I ended the tournament with a tie for 64th place finish--a disappointing result.

That is the end of the bad news! I did a lot of things really well last week. I drove the ball beautifully for most of the week. I hit some of my best iron shots in a long time. I battled back from being four over par through the first seven holes of the tournament to get myself back into a position to fight for a good finish over the weekend. I played Riviera's signature hole, the drivable yet diabolical par-four tenth in 12 shots for the week. I twice laid up and hit beautiful wedge shots to the Ping-Pong table sized back section of the green and twice drove it perfectly to the fringe short and left of the green to set up easy up-and-down birdies. That was really good. I began my fourth round birdie-birdie and had the feeling like I was going to really play well. So many good things happened, and I feel great about them!

I've definitely been suffering from a bit of low golf self-esteem lately. My results have been poor for the past 13+ months and it has taken a bit of a toll on my confidence. I know that I've been working on the right things, though, and I know that I have made great progress in my practice. That means that I am ready to play well, and good tournament play is just around the corner. I'm ready to get back in the mix consistently. My play at Riviera showed signs of that.

Today is a travel day as Alicia and I head from the West Coast to the East Coast for the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. I'm excited to keep competing. Great things are coming. Thank you for following me, and please keep it here for an update from Florida!