Wow, what a great performance from Kevin. When I met Kevin in the morning, he was relaxed and focused. I could tell his back was feeling better because his rhythm was perfect right from the start of our warm up. He was swinging great and I knew he was ready for the challenge.
We got off to a hot start with birdies on 2, 4, 5, 7 and 9. He was hitting it so well, four of the five birdies came from inside 10 feet. We made the turn at 5 under par (31). His only "mediocre" swing came when I steered him away from the pin from 147 yards on the par 3 - 8th hole. Under the circumstances, it was one of the most impressive nine holes that I've seen.
The back nine was a little more conservative. We added one more birdie on 11th when he just missed an eagle putt from about 25 feet. That was offset by our only bogey on the tough 13th. Kevin closed it out with a great par putt on the 18th and we finished the day five under (67). Our 12 under total moved us into a tie for 11th. That means our 2012 PGA Tour "ranking number" will be almost exactly the same as last year when Kevin finished 11th on the Nationwide Tour money list.
2011 has been a wild ride. We had more then our share of lows. At times, lower then low. But I believe it made him into a better player. The thing that impress me the most about Kevin is his determination to continue to learn and improve. He has worked extremely hard with Rickey on his full swing and he continues to learn and understand the different shots in the short game. The old saying "what doesn't kill you, will make you stronger" fits us perfectly. I believe when we look back on his career many years down the road, 2011 will be the year that built him into a world class player.
I want to thank everyone for following us through out the year. All of the support has been amazing. It was great seeing most of you throughout the year at the different tournaments and I'm looking forward to seeing you all again next year.
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