Frys.Com Open

Once again we failed to get anything out of our rounds this week. With rounds of 72 - 74, we missed the cut. Kevin drove the ball great, hit a lot of quality iron shots (14 birdie opportunities inside 15feet) but the putter is not cooperating. Not being able to convert putts is putting too much stress on the rest of his game and it has been difficult to maintain a strong attitude.

With two events left on the schedule, we are leaving the west coast today and will meet in St. Simons Island on Monday. Next weeks event is at Sea Island where Kevin spent some time when he first turned professional. I am hoping getting back to a place he feels comfortable will turn the mojo around.

Frys.Com Open - Morgan Hill, CA (Practice)

The preparation for this week started last Saturday in Las Vegas. After missing the cut at the Justin Timberlake, I met Kevin Saturday morning and we went out to the TPC Las Vegas for some practice. On Sunday, we flew over to San Jose early, drove down to the club and had another practice session before spending the afternoon watching some football. Kevin is making a small adjustment with his ball position and also fiddling around with his putting grip so the two days were spent trying to work on those few adjustments.

Monday morning we played a nine hole practice round with Garrett Willis before the afternoon pro-am and then spent the afternoon practicing. Tuesday we played with Boo Weekley, Scott Brown and Steven Bowditch. Kevin's ball striking is solid but he's still not satisfied with the putter. After putting most of the year with a cross-handed grip, Kevin seems to be hitting his lines better with a conventional (right hand low) grip. We continued to work on it after lunch and he will decide today what we will go with on Thursday. After the putting session, we finished the day with some range work and then short game. We had a solid eight hour day and then Kevin capped it off with a late day workout when we finished.

Today (Wednesday), Kevin decided to have an afternoon practice session. We will meet up after lunch and go through our normal Wednesday practice routine. We tee off on Thursday at 1:20 with Erik Compton and Matt Marshall.

Justin Timberlake Shriners Open - Second Round

After the long practice session last night, Kevin played very well Friday. Starting the round on number 10, Kevin hit 8 of the first 9 greens all inside 20 feet. We were able to make four birdies and made the turn at 3 under par (even for the tournament). Another great shot to 3 feet on the 2nd hole (our 11th) got us within shouting distance of the cut. Knowing we needed to get three more birdies coming in, we miss clubbed, being too aggressive, and hit it over the green on the 3rd hole. That mistake put us in poor position and we could not get it up and down from that spot. We kept grinding and had some good looks coming in but we were just too far behind and ran out of holes. A late bogey on our 16th hole was forced by trying to chip in from the back fringe and we finished the day with a two under round (69).

This morning I met Kevin at 8:00am and we headed over to the TPC Las Vegas for some practice. We spent the morning hitting ball, chipping and putting. We finished up around noon and now we're getting ready to watch UGA play South Carolina this afternoon. We also decided this morning to fly over to California tomorrow morning and get a head start preparing for next weeks event.

Time for some football...Go Dawgs

Justin Timberlake Shriners Open - First Round

Obviously we didn't get off to the start we were looking for. Our three over par (74) puts us way behind and we will need a super low round tomorrow.

The round today got off to a decent start. Kevin hit it well early in the round, we had some good looks at birdie, and only a three putt bogey on the third hole was the cause of us being over par through seven holes. Trying to stay patient, letting the round come to us, and knowing we would have a lot more opportunities, all was good as we had a two group wait on the long par three 8th.

But that all changed when a poor swing sent the tee shot right into a hazard and we finished the 8th with a double bogey five. The poor swing unsettled Kevin. He hates the feeling he gets when he misses shots to the right and he would fight that feeling for the rest of the day. But as bad as he was feeling, he still hit a lot of quality shots and we had plenty of opportunities to get the round in at par or better. His speed was a little off with the putter and a few putts that looked good refused to fall in. 

After the round, we had a long practice session. He is putting the time in and will not be out worked. He has kept a great attitude and welcomes the challenge. We will go out and give it hell tomorrow and if it doesn't work out, we will be better prepared for next week. 

Out tee time is 1:10 tomorrow afternoon.

Justin Timberlake Shriners Open (Las Vegas) - Practice

Welcome back. I hope everyone is doing well. We've had four weeks off from competition and I am looking forward to getting back at it. After spending a month working on my own golf game and seeing minimal results, I'm ready to get on the other side of the bag, back where I belong, and let my pro take over. Kevin said that he took about four days off until he started working to get ready for the final run in the Fall Finish. He spent quality time with Rickey, worked hard on his short game and putting, played in some Pro-am events and has come to Las Vegas ready.

I flew in Sunday and met Kevin Monday morning to start the week. We played a nine hole practice round with Scott Brown before the Monday pro-am and then spent the afternoon going through our normal routine. We had another great practice round on Tuesday with Harris English, Brian Harman and Scott Brown and then spent today going through our Wednesday practice routine. Kevin is looking great and we are ready for the week.

We tee off tomorrow at 8:35 with Steve Wheatcroft and Patrick Reed.

Mylan Classic - Third Round

Not much to say tonight. Kevin once again hit it great. He is leading the field in greens hit in regulation as we only missed one green today. Kevin shot a 5 under par round of 66 and is in a tie for 5th only 2 shots out of the lead. He was able to get his putter reshafted yesterday and we putted OK today. Like any round, we could have made a few more putts but I feel he is putting well and stroking it fine.

Tee times have been pushed up tomorrow because of the weather forecast. We are teeing off at 9:36 in the second to last group with Brad Fritsch and Jason Allred. Oh, its fun to be in the mix!!

Mylan Classic (Pittsburgh, PA) - Round 1 and 2

I met Kevin Wednesday morning for the pro-am. We had a good pro-am/practice round as we got acquainted with the golf course once again. With softer fairways this year, the course is playing a little longer but seems to be in better condition then years past. After the round, we spent some time practicing and getting back into the routine after a few days off.

We had an afternoon tee time on Thursday and Kevin got off to a great start. Starting the day on the tenth, Kevin birdied 11, 12, 14, and 17. He added one more birdie on the par 3, 5th and we finished the day with a 5 under par - 66. It was a solid, no bogey, stress free day. We finished the afternoon hitting a few balls on the range before calling it a day.

Friday's 7:30 tee time welcomed us with some cool temperatures. We haven't seen temps this cool in a long time but it didn't take long for it to warm up. Kevin had another great day ball striking. After barely missing the green on number one, he hit 16 of the next 17 greens. Unfortunately, the putter would not cooperate. We could only manage one birdie through 10 holes before we found some trouble on the par 5, 11th. After a drive down the left side of the fairway, the balls kicks left, hits a cart path and then bounced through the rough into a water hazard. After a drop, lay up shot and then a wedge to 25 feet, we ended up three putting for a double bogey. Running a little hot, Kevin let the putter go at the bag and the bag won. I decided not to tell Kevin until he hit his tee shot on the par 3, 12th. After hitting a 7 iron to about 15 feet, I let him know that the putter was bent and we would not be able to use it for the rest of the day. He decided to putt with his three wood and he did pretty damn good with it. He made two birdies and one bogey to finish the round at even par (71). His five under total leaves us in 13th place heading into the weekend.

We tee off tomorrow 11:27 with Marc Turnesa and Aaron Goldberg.