Sunday, October 19, 2014

Shriners Hospital Open (Las Vegas, NV)

It's been a long week here in Vegas. We all arrived on Monday and took the day off. I headed to the Doctor's office to figure out why I was getting red, itchy, rashes popping up on my body for the past five days. The Doctor ruled out shingles, bug bites, etc. and believed it was a reaction to a flu shot I received the day I left for California. He prescribed me some medication and I've been getting better each day.

Tuesday and Wednesday was our normal preparation. We played an afternoon practice round on Tuesday with Lucas Glover and their instructor, John Tillery. Kevin continues to hit it well so there was just some maintenance work done on the full swing with the majority of work spent in the bunker. We're still struggling with consistency out of the bunkers so he is trying to figure it out.

Thursday and Fridays rounds were played with Sean O'Hair and William McGirt. Kevin played well but we had two three putts the first day for a one under par (70). Friday's round was a bit of a struggle starting out but Kevin was able to make a 12', 17' and 33' putt on the first three holes to keep us even par. He settled down and stayed hot with the putter. He was able to birdie 6 of his last 10 holes including his last four to shoot six under (65). His seven under total had us in 12th place heading into the weekend and feeling great about the opportunity ahead of us.

Unfortunately, the mojo with the putter left us. Kevin struggled a little with hitting a few shots but he absolutely made nothing over the weekend. We could only manage four birdies over the final 36 holes and the 72-72 (2 over) weekend fell us back to T56th when it was all over.

When we finished, I helped Kevin get packed up and he headed straight to the airport to meet Brittany and Kate for an earlier flight home. Our early tee time in twosomes allowed them to change the flight so they would not have to deal with the red eye flight home with Kate. They'll get home tonight and be able to spend the day home before heading out to Sea Island for next weeks event.

This week I was surprised by my great Canadian friends Rick and Beverly from Victoria, Canada. They showed up Friday morning to watch us play and it was awesome having them here. We had some great dinners and it was fun catching up. Rick is also planning on coming to Mexico in a month when we play in Cancun. I'm looking forward to another great week with him down there. As for me now, I'm still in Vegas waiting on my red eye home. I'll be flying back to Charlotte tonight and will head home for the day before driving down to Sea Island early Tuesday morning. It will be another long night but I'm looking forward to seeing Geraldine and the kids for the day.

With Sea Island being close enough to feel like a "home game", I'm also looking forward to seeing some of you all next week.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Frys.Com Open (Napa, CA) - Rounds 3 and 4

It was another solid weekend after making the cut on the number. The overall game improved each day and solid putting kept us fighting when things weren't going well. With rounds of 70-68, we moved up 40 spots and finished the tournament t-21st. A nice way to start the new season.

After the round, we packed up and headed to San Fransico for the night. We are all flying over to Vegas this morning and will take the rest of the day off when we get there. Kevin's instructor is coming in tomorrow and we'll have a couple of full practice days in before Thursday.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

New 2014-15 Season (Frys.Com Open - Napa, CA)

After a short six week break, the new season has begun. Finishing last season 104th on the FedEx list, we begin our first "fully" exempt season in Napa, CA for the Frys.Com Open at a new venue - Silverado Resort. Kevin flew out a few days early and was able to play the golf course on Sunday before playing in an off site proam on Monday. I arrived Sunday night and spent the day on Monday doing my course work. We finally met up on Tuesday and had two good full days of preparation before starting on Thursday.

The first two days had a little bit of everything. Kevin fought his ball striking a little on Thursday but made some nice saving putts and managed a one under par (71) during the first round. Today's round was much better tee to green but we left a lot of opportunities out on the greens. Hitting 14 greens, we were only able to convert two into birdies. Two birdies and two bogeys left us with an even par round (72). His one under total left us right on the cut number heading into the weekend.

Sitting on the cut number, we have an early tee time tomorrow at 7:51 with Russell Knox but two solid rounds over the weekend will put us right back into the tournament.