Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Farmers Insurance Open (La Jolla, CA) - Practice

The North and South courses at Torrey Pines are playing long and tough. Even with dry conditions over the weeks leading up to this event, the rough is extremely long. Narrow fairways, long rough and firm greens all equal tough conditions. On top of all of that...the bumpy poa annua greens will test patience. It's going to be a difficult test but we are ready for the challenge.

We played the North course on Monday in a charity pro-am and then had a practice round Tuesday on the South course. Kevin hit the ball well and drove it awesome during both rounds. The bumpy greens made it frustrating practicing each day but it is something we have to deal with. We knew this coming to these events on the west coast but it still makes it tough mentally. Today we had our normal practice Wednesday. After Kevin's morning workout, we hit some balls and then worked on our putting. We took a break for lunch and then spent some more time on the putting green before calling it a day. We tee off tomorrow on the South course (number 10) at 9:50 with Ed Loar and Michael Block. 

Here is a link to an interview I had on Tuesday. A retired caddy that has a blog stopped me Tuesday morning and asked for an interview. He posted it last night so you can take a listen if your interested.

http://lpgacaddy.com/2014-farmers/

Monday, January 20, 2014

Humana Challenge - La Quinta, CA

The results don't show it but it was a solid week in La Quinta. One of my favorite spots on Tour, the weather was perfect every day and we leave town with a 48 place finish and 19 FedEx Cup points.

Kevin had a solid ball striking week. He fought the driver at times but hit his irons well. He ranked 12th in greens in regulation for the week and gave himself numerous looks at birdie. With rounds of 66,70,69,69 (14under), the results would have been much better if we just had an average chipping and putting week. Kevin has worked hard during the off season on his chipping but the new technique has his feel / touch off. He is hitting his chips and pitches solid with the correct trajectories but his distance control is off. We'll need to continue with reps everyday and all of that will take care of itself.

After the tournament, it was a short drive over the mountain to San Diego, CA for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. After playing and learning three different courses last week, we now will be playing two courses (North and South) here at Torrey Pines. I am meeting Kevin later this morning as he is playing a charity pro-am on the North course at noon.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Sony Open Recap

It was a week where we did lots of good things but just made too many mistakes. After 36 holes, Kevin totaled 11 birdies but had nine bogeys and one double to go with it. His even par total (72-68) missed the cut by one shot. With seven weeks off from competition, the mistakes could be summed up by being a little "rusty". His touch around the greens was a little off and led to nine missed up and downs and two three putts over the two days. For the most part, his long game was solid considering we come to a golf course that he has struggled on in years past. Considering everything, we leave this week in a good frame of mind and feeling good about the weeks ahead.

With the weekend off and next week's tournament in Palm Springs being played on three different golf courses, we both looked at changing our flights and heading out early. Kevin was able to make the change and left Hawaii yesterday (Saturday) but I could not get out. I'm still on my original flight tonight and will not be able to get to Palm Springs until Monday afternoon. Fortunately for me, my nephew, David, is stationed in the Army here on Oahu and I've been able to spend some time with him over the last few days. I guess there are worse places then Hawaii to be "stuck".

Thursday, January 9, 2014

The Start of 2014 - Sony Open (Waikiki Beach, HI)

It's time to start 2014 and it looks like it came just in time. As most of you have been experiencing sub freezing temperatures, we start the year off in Hawaii. Kevin and I both traveled on Sunday but my day was a little longer then expected. I started out early with a 6am flight out of Charlotte only to arrive in Houston to learn that my flight to Hawaii was cancelled. After a 12hr layover, I finally arrived in Honolulu at 1:30am making it a 27 hour travel day.

After a few hours of sleep, I met Kevin Monday morning to begin our preparation for the Sony Open. Kevin worked hard over the break and is in great shape coming to Hawaii. We have struggled the past two years we played here but Kevin had two great practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was a nice light practice session in the morning and he is ready to get started. Our tee time today is 1:10 with Ben Martin and Wil Wilcox.