PGA Tour Qualifying - Final Round (9 holes)

The weather this morning was perfect. Our scheduled tee time at 8:40 was met with bright sunshine and cool temperatures around 50 degrees. The rain that was in the forecast moved through over night and another round of rain was not predicted to start until early afternoon. Unfortunately, our final nine holes got started with another 3-putt. Brennan continued to give himself great opportunities for birdie but was only able to make one on the 3rd hole. A final "get me the hell out of here" double bogey on the last hole gave us a final round 2 under par (70).

Our one under total of 287 missed by 6 shots as the "cut" number fell at 7 under (281). The week can be summed up by poor putting. From tee to green, Brennan hit the ball as good or better then anyone. But throwing away 10 shots on the greens with eight 3-putts and one 4-putt made the difference. Brennan has worked extremely hard this year with his new swing coach, Sean Foley, after a poor year of ball striking in 2009. Unfortunately, this game is all about scoring and Brennan will not have PGA/Nationwide Tour status next year because of the putter.

After the round, we drove north to San Jose for the night. We are both flying home tomorrow morning. I looking forward to getting home around 10pm. If I do not get a phone call to work Finals, this will be my last blog for 2010. I want to thank everyone for following me this year. I had a great year and look forward to getting started in Hawaii with Kevin in January on the PGA Tour. I hope everyone has a great Holiday!!!

PGA Tour Qualifying - Round Three

Today we played with Matt Hendrix and Matthew Griffin. We teed off at 8:00am off of number 10. The PGA Tour has decided to continue play today and we had to play 27 holes. The weather was much like yesterday with the temperature hanging around 50 degrees all day. Brennan once again hit the ball extremely well. We were 4 under par through 16 holes when the putter problems started again. A 4-putt double bogey on number 8 (our 17th hole) and a bogey on the last killed all our momentum. It was a round that could have put us right back in the mix but ended leaving us behind the 8-ball. We shot 1 under par (71) and stand at 1 over for the Tournament. The "cut" number after 3 rounds stands at 6 under par.

We only had 15 minutes until we teed off for our fourth round, so we both had a cup of chili "to go" and went to the 10th tee. Still fuming from the finish, I tried to get Brennan focused on the task at hand. We will need to put it all together in round four with no room for error. Brennan continued to hit it great. A birdie on the 10th, holed out a wedge for eagle on 15, and another birdie on the 18th, gave us a 32 (4 under) on the first nine. We are now 3 under for the Tournament and still have a chance. Who knows?? With bad weather in the forecast for tomorrow, if we can somehow find another 32 it might be good enough. We will give it our best tomorrow as we are scheduled to tee off at 8:40 (weather permitting).

PGA Tour Qualifying - Second Round

We teed off today at 10:20. It was much colder today with the temperature not getting over 50 degrees. Brennan got off to a tough start, 3-putting three of the first 4 holes. He fought back with birdies on 8, 9, and 10. But two more 3-putts on the back nine gave us a 2 over par 74. For the first two rounds, Brennan has hit it extremely well but he has seven 3-putt greens through 36 holes. The top 19 plus ties will advance to Finals and that number stands at 4 under par. We will need to continue hitting it well but eliminate the three putts. Due to the forecast for Saturday, the PGA Tour has notified the players to be ready to play 27 holes tomorrow. They will let us know before we start our third round in the morning if we will have to play 27 holes.

PGA Tour Qualifying School - Round One

Teed off this morning on number 10 at 9:20 with Greg Huxman and Jeff Rangel. The weather was sunny but cool. Brennan got off to a nice start with birdies on 10 and 12. A missed short par putt on 13 was our only bogey on the front but a birdie on the par five 18th put us at 2 under through 9 holes. The momentum slowed on the back as we three putted twice and missed an up and down from a greenside bunker. But a great birdie on one of the toughest holes (476 yd par 4 9th hole) got us back to even par for the day. Brennan's ball striking was very good today but three 3-putts kept us from scoring. After the round, we worked on putting. His speed was good, so we worked on the short putts.

PGA Tour Qualifying School - Seaside, CA

I am in Monterey, CA caddying for a good friend of mine, Brennan Webb. I met Brennan when I played on the Canadian Tour about 10 years ago. We have played a lot of golf together and I caddied for him in 2008 at the PGA Tour Qualifying School Finals in Palm Springs, CA. Brennan earned his Nationwide Tour Card for 2009 at that Tour School finals. Unfortunately, Brennan did not keep his card for 2010 and has been playing the Hooters Tour and other mini tours this year.

I flew into San Jose, CA on Saturday and met Brennan at the airport. We rented a car and drove about 90 minutes south to Pebble Beach. We stayed with a friend of Brennan's (Harry Robinson) who lives on the Monterey peninsula Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. Harry is a member at Monterey Country Club so he took us out to play on Sunday. Monterey CC is one of the courses that host the ATT Pebble Beach Pro-am so I will be back here when Kevin plays that Tournament on the PGA Tour. The course was awesome and the views were unbelievable.

Monday started our official practice rounds for Q-School. We are playing the Bayonet Club in Seaside, CA. It is an extremely difficult course. It is very tight off the tee and it has very undulated greens. To make things worse, the greens are in poor condition and the golf course has a lot of elevation changes from tee to green. It will be a week of patience where pars will be a good score. Brennan is playing well so it is just a matter of staying calm and relaxed. It is a very stressful week so I'm hoping I can help him get him through the week. Part of the routine this week was moving out of his friends house and into a hotel. We moved into a hotel this afternoon so we are closer to the golf course and he can do his own thing. This week is about him and everything needs to revolve around his schedule.   

Tour Championship - Final Round

Kevin came out to the course early on Sunday to get more treatment on his back. We took a little extra time during the warm up to hit balls. He said it felt better then yesterday but it still was not great. We teed off at 11:45 with JJ Killeen. It was very windy again which made it difficult to get the ball close. Kevin hit the ball well today but we struggled on the greens. He putted so well the first three days but we could not make a putt today. Our only birdie finally came on the 18th when he rolled in a nice 15 foot putt to finish the year. The birdie moved us to -4 for the tournament which was good enough for t-11th.

After the round, the party started. Kevin Sarlo took me up to the STA sky box behind the 18th green to watch the end of the tournament. It took four extra holes to determine the Champion. When play was finished, the top 25 came out to the 18th green for the award ceremony and pictures. When they finished up on the 18th, we all went inside the Clubhouse for the Top 25 PGA Tour Card Ceremony. (I was told this will be aired on the Golf Channel on Wednesday [Nov. 10] at 7pm) Kevin maintained his position finishing 11th on the money list. Following the Card Ceremony, the party continued at the club as a band played outside at the 19th hole. We all had a great time celebrating Kevin's achievements for the year. I'm sorry to say that this 41 year old could not hang with the young guns. As they took the party to downtown Daniel Island, Kevin Sarlo took me home.

I want to thank everyone for their support this year. It was great to finally put faces to the names as many of you came out to watch us this week. I am truly blessed to have worked for Kevin this year and I hope we can continue our run through the PGA Tour. Having played myself, I understand how important it is to have a strong team behind you. I am very excited to see the love and support he has and want you to know that this support is just as important as making a putt. Without either one, he would not be where he is today.

As I move into the "off season", I will be caddying for a good friend, Brennan Webb, at the second stage of Tour School. We will be playing at the Bayonet Club in Seaside, CA during the week of November 15th. I will be continuing to blog my way through Tour School. Check it out.

Here are a few pics from my phone. Not great quality but you thought you might like to see them. If anyone has some pictures of the week that you would like to share, please forward them to duanebock@hotmail.com. Thanks