Northern Trust Open - Off Week

Many of you called, text, or emailed wanting to know what we were doing this week. So, it has come to my attention that half of my blog (Pebble Beach Pro-am) was deleted when I posted it on Sunday. I was sitting in the San Francisco airport, using my phone to post the blog (which I don't normally do) and I guess I messed up. Anyway, here is the "rest of the story".

After missing the cut, Kevin took the red eye home Saturday night and I flew home on Sunday. Kevin is not in the field for this week's Northern Trust Open. We have been on the road for five weeks, so Kevin decided not to "chase" the Monday qualifier in LA. We are taking the week off, getting some rest, refueling the body, and then it is off to Mexico next week.

The Mexico event is the final event before the "reshuffle". Each player in Kevin's category (Nationwide/Qschool) has a ranking number. With some of the more popular or smaller field events, this category is the last category to fill the field. Therefore, some of the players in this category will not have the opportunity to play (i.e. this week - Northern Trust Open). This category gets reshuffled throughout the year after every 5-7 events. The re-ranking is based on total money earned. The more money the player makes, the better their chances are to get into tournaments. With the Florida swing happening after Mexico, these events are popular with more European players coming over and filling the fields. We are hoping for a solid week in Mexico to move up the ranking.

Since I've been home this week, many of you have asked about Kevin. I can sum up the start of the year with a positive note. We have only made two cuts, finishing back in the pack, but we are not playing bad golf. The PGA Tour is tough! The players are great and the golf courses are difficult. Small mistakes are magnified out here but that does not equate to poor play. Kevin's ball striking is solid. He has the confidence in the things he is working on with Rickey. He continues to work hard on his short game and I still see big improvements with the variety of shots he is learning around the greens. I believe he is real close to doing something special and I know he does too.

See ya next week from Mexico.