Moving Forward

I must admit that the feeling of a great performance to capture a win can leave me patting myself on the back a little bit, but I know that I absolutely must continue to improve and am working hard to do just that. Following the final round of the Nebraska Open in Columbus, NE, I had a relaxing celebratory evening with my hosts in Lincoln and spent the night there before driving to Columbia, MO, on Monday. I have no competitions until next week's Missouri Open (September 22, 23), so I plan to use the coming days to get in a lot of quality practice.

After a short workout and a quick nine holes with some friends on Monday afternoon, I put in a very full day of work on Tuesday. After a morning run in some refreshingly cool conditions, I was out to the golf course by shortly after nine o'clock, and spent the whole day there doing a variety of types of practice. One fortunate thing that I have going for me is that my home course here in Columbia, the Club at Old Hawthorne, is also the venue of the Missouri Open. Therefore, I will definitely spend even more of my practice time than usual in the next week playing the course. However, I am also working hard towards achieving all of my process goals and have already gotten a lot of work done with my wedges and completed one of my putting drills. I had a very balanced day of practice on Tuesday and feel great about what I was able to accomplish.

A rainy Wednesday didn't look very promising early in the day. I had a great workout in the morning, but then sat and watched a persistent rain drench Columbia, MO. In fact, both of the courses that take great care of me here (Old Hawthorne and Gustin G.C.) were closed. I was afraid I wouldn't get any work in, but some evening sunshine was too nice to resist, so I went out to the Mizzou Team's old short range with my bag of practice balls at about 5:00 o'clock and had two and a half hours of very peaceful and productive practice. It turned out to be a great day!

My game feels very good, but the thing that has me most excited is the fact that I still feel like I can improve a lot in every area of the game. I'm going to continue to have a productive week of practice and I am GOING to FINISH all of my process goals. Come back for more updates along the way. Thank you again for your encouragement following the NE Open!

Great Final Round = Winner Winner in Nebraska

That headline says it all. I played well today in the final round of the Nebraska Open and shot a 65 to come from two shots behind the 36-hole leader and win by three shots. It was great round, and I'll give you a brief play-by-play of the action:

I was determined today to stay committed to my game and take care of things that I can control. Therefore, my plan was to hit a lot of intelligent shots and think my way around the course regardless of what I saw on the scoreboards or from my playing competitors. My play on the first three holes didn't fit that description. After a solid opening tee shot and a safe par on number one, I drove it into the left trees on number two and the right trees on number three. A low, hooking shot out of the trees on number two got me near the green and a great up-and-down saved my par. From the right trees on the third hole, I pretty much had to chip my ball out into the fairway. Facing 107 yards for my third shot into the par four, I hit a great wedge right over the flagstick and calmly rolled in a 15-foot putt for par. To walk away from with pars on those two holes was a testament to my positive attitude and my good short game. I felt awesome escaping my two errant tee shots with pars, and I got back on track in a big way with three consecutive birdies on holes 4-6 to open up a two shot lead. In fact, after my conspicuous start, I followed my game plan almost perfectly the final 15 holes. With the exception of two more poor tee shots on holes 10 and 15, I hit great tee shots the rest of the way and hit each of the last 15 greens in regulation except for number 10. I made pars on holes 7-12 and saw a couple of players get back to within one shot of my lead. But on the par-5 13th, I ended my par streak in a big way. A great drive and a sweet hybrid from 235 yards set up a 12-foot putt for eagle and I rolled it right in the middle. That eagle opened up a three-shot lead, and pars on holes 14-17 kept me two shots clear of the field before I hit a great 7-iron approach within four feet of the hole on 18th hole for a closing birdie to seal my final-round 65 and a three-shot margin of victory. It was a solid round and a great feeling.

I won this week because I did everything fairly well. My wedge play was very good, but other than that, I did everything just fairly well. I hit a lot of good tee shots and was able to keep my misses in play; I hit a lot of solid iron shots and rarely hit what I would call a "poor" iron; and I putted the ball nicely all week. My touch was great on the very fast greens. I had no three putts this week, and, though I did miss four putts this week in the 3-6 foot range, I was fairly solid from short-range on the greens. My short game was sharp this week as well, and that was great to see. All areas of my game feel pretty good, but there is definitely room to keep improving, and I am excited to continue getting better.

I do need to say that I was not good at all this week at working towards my process goals. I really do feel like I had good practice sessions and obviously I did the things I needed to do to be successful, but I didn't complete my fitness goals, putting drills, or wedge-play practice this week. I put in a lot of effort with my putter and wedges this week, but didn't really manage my time very well and was again too lenient on myself about my goals. I have the entire next week off from competition, and I am going to hold myself 100% accountable for all of my process goals and get back into good habits with my practice.

With that said, my game feels awesome. I know that I need to continue to sharpen all the areas of my game and develop more consistency and continue to improve, but I feel like I am still progressing very nicely. My next competition will come September 22-23 in the Missouri Open at the Club at Old Hawthorne in Columbia, MO. I am excited to compete in my college town in an event that I won last year. I know that some good practice between now and then will have me ready to defend that title just like I did this week in Nebraska. My game is exciting, and more and bigger good things are on the way. Keep it hear for practice reports along the way!

By the way, the outpouring of support that I have already received from all of you after this win is awesome! Thank you so much for thinking of me and cheering for me!

Exciting Final Round Coming

I played great in the second round of the Nebraska Open. A 10-minute period early in my round saw two strange things happen to me that cost me some shots, but other than that, I was very pleased with the way I executed and handled myself. I felt great heading into my round after a solid warm-up session, and started by hitting my first 13 shots of the day very well. Those shots got me through holes 10, 11, and 12 (I began on the back nine today) with a birdie and two pars and had me just three feet away from the hole for another birdie on the par-5 13th. It was there that I started a short stretch where things went crazy for a little while. I hit a horrible putt from three feet to miss my birdie on number 13 and then blocked my tee shot on the ensuing hole into some trees and rough right of the fairway. While looking for my ball, I kicked something, and sure enough, it was my ball, which must have been sitting down in some rough. I had to drop my ball back in the spot from which I had kicked it and incurred a one-stroke penalty for moving my ball. I ended making a double-bogey. I wasn't sure what to think for a minute, but I quickly remembered that I had been executing very well and realized that I just needed to get back on track with some solid golf shots. From that point on I made five birdies and no bogeys to shoot a second round score of four-under-par 67. I am very pleased with the way I rebounded from a little adversity and feel good about that score.

I currently stand at 8 under par for the event and am in a tie for second place. The leader is two shots ahead of me, but I will be playing with him in the final group tomorrow. I enjoy the position in which I find myself and relish the opportunity to compete for a win. My keys for tomorrow are going to be intelligence, patience, commitment, and confidence. If I can apply these four ideas to every shot tomorrow, I know that I can execute well and have a great day. I know that I will be enjoying myself. I expect great things, so come back to hear all about it tomorrow evening!

Solid Round One; Feeling Good in NE

In today's first round at the Nebraska Open, I delivered a solid performance. A short morning practice session before lunch had me feeling good, and I was very relaxed this afternoon for my 1:50 tee time. I began the day with three perfect golf shots for a birdie on the par-4 opening hole, and, after scrambling for pars on the next two holes, I settled into a very solid groove. In fact, I had make-able birdie putts on every hole from number 4 through 16. I missed the green right on long par-3 17th and hit a good pitch shot and a solid putt, but couldn't quite get my five-footer to fall. The bogey was my only one of the day, and it left me with a four-under-par round of 67.

Given the fast and firm condition of the greens, my solid--at times even conservative--play today was just what the doctor ordered. I kept the ball in good positions almost all day, and took advantage of the par-fives with birdies on all three of them. I had a lot of birdie putts today, and I did putt well, but had my putter gotten hot, I could have shot a very good round. As it was, my score was good enough to have me in a tie for fourth after round 1 and only one shot behind the leaders.

I feel good about all areas of my game. Nothing was particularly flashy today, but everything was pretty solid. I'm very confident that I can keep getting better the next couple of days, too. I tee off tomorrow at 9:20 in round two and will try to build on my success from round 1. Come back for more good news after the road, and check out the results at www.nebraskapga.com.

Nebraska Open Time

It is time to go in Nebraska. I competed in the pro-am today (Thursday) for the Nebraska Open, and am excited to get the tournament started tomorrow (Friday). The event is being held for the twentieth consecutive year at the Elks Country Club in Columbus, NE, and I certainly experienced some good memories being back there today. The layout of the course is the same as always and features short but narrow holes that are tree-lined and well-defended by dog-legs and some decent rough. A major difference this year is the fact that the greens are absolutely lightning fast. The course will be incredibly fun this week because shots will require a lot of intelligence into the greens and phenomenal touch on and around them. With that said, I feel like I know how to play this course well and expect that I will be able to shoot some great scores. I don't tee off until 1:50 in the first round, so I will have a relaxing morning of practice before lunch and then a fun afternoon on the course as I try to get off to a good start in the tournament!

Come back for a round one report in the evening. It's going to be good news!

Putting (Drill) Woes

I have wrapped up another great week of practice. Despite practicing in four different cities this week (Pittsburgh, East TN, Columbia, and Kansas City), I have had a very productive week and have completed all of my wedge play and fitness goals for the third consecutive week. I think it's time to admit that my putting is in a bit of a lull because I have once again come up short of completing all of my putting drills despite putting a lot of effort into doing so. With that said, I still feel that I putt the ball as well as anyone and have continued to be happy with the way that I am rolling the ball when I'm on the course. I will continue to be diligent in working towards all of my process goals and am confident that I will get the putting solved. I am proud of the work that I have been doing in all areas of my game, and I really feel like I am continuing to improve.

I will start this week with a couple more good days of practice before I take off for the Nebraska Open on Wednesday. I will compete in a Thursday pro-am prior to Friday's first round. I obviously have great memories from last year's Nebraska Open, and I think that I can repeat! Keep it here for updates as I work towards doing just that!

Great Things Coming in the Midwest

I had a very solid four days of practice this week in Tennessee and this afternoon made the long (but easy) drive from my beautiful home in Dandridge, TN, to Columbia, MO. I am going to enjoy some time with friends and my sweetheart over the Labor Day weekend, but will also be working hard on my game to ensure that I am fine-tuned to defend my Nebraska Open title next week. I have done good work towards my process goals for the week, but have a little bit more wedge work and some important putting drills to do this weekend. I need to have a good weekend of practice and will do just that! The Nebraska and Missouri Opens are the next two things on my schedule, and I am determined to deliver solid performances in both! I'll give you a report with more specifics about those two upcoming events and a summary of my weekend practice in the next couple days. Thank you for following me, and have a great Labor Day weekend!