My Journal
| New Zealand |
| 2/16/2008, Round Highlights |
| Rain, rain, rain. Hasn’t rained in Christchurch in weeks and we are getting pounded this week! Friday and Saturday rounds were washed out so the event will be only 36 holes! Cold as well so lots of time spent in the hotel getting caught up on my taxes (fun fun!). Play tomorrow (Sun.) afternoon and fly to Melbourne Monday Morning...6:15am! |
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| New Zealand Round 1 |
| 2/14/2008, Round Highlights |
| Shot even par 72 today. Hung in there as I had to rely on my short game and putting. Hit 2 balls in the water. It’s an ok score to start...a good one in the 60’s tomorrow will put me where I want to be! Very confident in my play, need to relax and let good things happen! |
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| New Zealand |
| 2/11/2008, Other |
| Just landed in New Zealand yesterday. 28 hour trip from West Palm Beach! Stops in Atlanta, L.A., Auckland and finally Christchurch for the Nationwide Tour event here. Finished 6th here last year so I’m looking forward to this event. Jet-lag is wearing off, but it was tough to stay awake yesterday. We arrived about noon and by 7pm I was asleep. Caught the bus at 7am this morning to head to the course for my practice round.
Here’s an equipment “what’s in the bag”: trying out both my Titleist 905R driver and Nickent’s 4DX driver (both 10.5 degree), still using the Taylor-Made V-steel 15 degree 3-wood, Nickent 2 & 3 hybrids, Nickent 4DX 4-9 irons, Vokey 48 PW, Vokey 55 and 59 spin-mill wedges, and Scotty Cameron putter. Still using Titleist Pro-V ball. |
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| Nationwide tournament in Maryland |
| 5/27/2007, Round Highlights |
| Shot 8 under par this week and finished 25th...played well Thurs and Fri (-7) but couldn’t get any putts to fall on the weekend. Hired a new caddy (David) and we seemed to get along well. He’s from Ohio and was caddying at a local club in Florida. Think we will make a good team in weeks to come. Decided to fly home for Memorial Day to see friends and family. Don’t get home much this time of year so any time I can sleep in my own bed, I’ll take it!
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| RTJ Pro-am |
| 5/21/2007, Round Highlights |
| Played one of the nation's best courses today...Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Manassas, VA. It's where the President's Cup is played...the USA vs. the International team....located about 45 minutes outside DC. Very affluent club. Played with one member - Ken Johnson, his brother-in-law - Peter, a hotel entrepreneur - John Russell and another friend - Bob Donovan. All great guys. Maybe the fastest greens I've ever putted! Shot 71. Had a fantastic dinner with auction last night which benefitted the USO. Had several injured members of the armed forces present...very sobering...I was so proud of them! Over $300,000 was raised to help injured vets!! Want to thank Tom Tracey and Ron Rosner...both organized the event and are true gentlemen! |
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| Dinner with Jay and Anna Hewitt |
| 5/19/2007, Other |
| Had dinner tonight with a good friend of mine and his wife in Greenville, SC. Jay and I met in a pro-am 4 years ago and hit it off immediately. He's on the US Triathalon Team....which is amazing considering he's a Type 1 diabetic! Anna was a recent Miss SC and they just had their first child 10 days ago!! Janna Hewitt is a beautiful girl! Feel so blessed to have great friends throughout the country! |
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| Super-model Joanna Krupa |
| 5/18/2007, Other |
| This weeks event is a pro-am format and some of the amateurs are celebrities...Gretzky, Kevin Costner, Catherine Bell, John Elway...to name a few. But none sparked the interest in the lockerroom like the super-model playing this week...Joanna Krupa. (Go to joannakrupa.com) She is paired with another pro I'm rooming with this week, so after my round, I met up with them. After chatting with her mom and meeting Joanna, I was invited to join them at their hotel for a celebrity party that night. I appreciated how down-to-earth she was. Joanna certainly looked the way you hope a super-model looks...elegant and beautiful! As did Janet Jones-Gretzky! |
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| 1st Round with Tom Dreesen |
| 5/17/2007, Round Highlights |
| Playing the first 3 rounds this week in a group with Tom Dreesen, the comedian. He open for Sinatra for years...or as he would put it, Sinatra closed for him. Great guy with a solid golf game. I shot 72 today and hit it sidways...struggling to hit it solid! |
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| Playing with Wayne Grtzky |
| 5/16/2007, Round Highlights |
| Played a practice round today at the BMW event in Greenville, SC at the Cliff's Valley course with Wayne Gretzky, his wife Janet Jones, his agent Darren Blake and owner of the large real estate develop firm IMI, Mike Collins.
I could not have been more impressed at how friendly and engaging both Wayne and Janet were. Janet is a wonderful player and bragged that she is actually the best athlete in the family...think Wayne agrees. When I asked if she played other sports, she said she was a dancer...then quickly said, "But not on a pole!" A photographer came out to take some pictures of me for my main sponsor, Nickent, and took one of the three of us. I will post it in my photos section! |
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| Lesson with Bob Toski |
| 5/12/2007, Golf Tips |
| After qualifying yesterday, I was unhappy with the way I was hitting the ball so I called Bob Toski and he agreed to meet me the next morning. Even though I had a lesson with Brian Moog a couple days earlier, I wanted another set of eyes to give me an opinion. Bob and I worked today for about 2 hours at his facility in Ft. Lauderdale. He’s over 70 and still sharp as a tack! He’s had wonderful success with Ken Duke this year. He understands the swing as well as how most the other teachers teach it. He admired Ben Hogan and a lot of what we worked on was based on that. He wants me to swing the club and let the body follow. Only the hands hold onto the club, so if you swing those, the body will support....I tend to swing the club using my body movement far too much. |
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| US Open Local Qualifying |
| 5/11/2007, Round Highlights |
| Made it through the local qualifying for the US Open today at Hunter’s Run in Boynton Beach, FL. Shot 68 to finish 3rd...they took 6 spots out of about 100 trying. Now will play Sectional qualifying in Rockville, MD on June 4. If make it through that one, I’ll play the US Open at Oakmont in PA.
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| Lesson with Brian Moog |
| 5/9/2007, Golf Tips |
| Met with Brian today in Orlando. Not only is he a great teacher, he’s also a great Christian! Never had a lesson like this and he said he’s never given one like it. Had me switched to a ten-finger grip with the emphasis on picking the club up as quickly as possible and then getting it down as quickly. Felt like my body did do anything g, just swung my arms and cocked my wrists as fast as possible. Hit is fairly well on the range but cautious to make that drastic a change...grip especially. |
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| Children's Flight of Hope Pro-am |
| 5/7/2007, Other |
| Played today in a wonderful charity pro-am in Raleigh, NC. Flew in from West Palm late last night and back out tonight. Bobby Clampett asked me to play a few weeks ago and Jennifer Newcom runs the event. I was paired with her husband Doug. Now Doug is not the best golfer, but loves his ancient 4-wood....yes, made out of wood. Didn't know people still used those! He hit it any time he could! Anyways, it was a fun day and always glad to get back near my alma mater...UNC-Chapel Hill! |
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| Hootie & the Blowfish Pro-am |
| 4/9/2007, Other |
| The highlight of my year is always the Monday After the Masters Pro-am presented by Hootie & the Blowfish in Myrtle Beach, SC. It starts on Sat. night with a party, practice rounds on Sunday with a auction party that night, the pro-am on Monday features pros with a celebrity and 3 amateurs and finally an incredible concert that night. The concert usually includes Hootie, Sistar Hazel (have become friends with bassist Jett Bares who lives near me), Edwin McCain and even Jon Daly with join for a song. Golf seems to be an after-thought...empahsis on having fun, socializing and raising money for SC junior golf. Can't wait 'til next year! |
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| At the Masters |
| 4/7/2007, Other |
| Drove up from West Palm last night to join some friends to go watch the Masters today in Augusta. Was very windy and cold, but as usual, the course was beautiful! Can never see that place enough. Didn’t follow anyone in particular, but watched Tiger practice and said hello to a couple people I know playing (JJ Henry, Brett Quigley). Left that evening to head to Myrtle Beach for the Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Pro-am...one of the highlights of the year! |
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| NCCAA Pro-am |
| 3/19/2007, Other |
| Played in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) pro-am today in Howie-in-the-Hills, FL. Was a wonderfully uplifting day with a welcome party last night that featured the music from 4 Him. Was unsure whether I wanted to drive 5 hours from home to play, but now am so glad I did...incredible people!! |
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| Monday Qualified for PGA Tour event in Tampa |
| 3/5/2007, Round Highlights |
| Was successful in the Monday 4 spot qualifier today!! Shot 3 under par 68 in some winds and cool weather. This means that I'm playing in the PODS classic in Tampa! Called Berhardt Langer to see about playing a practice round tomorrow but he's driving in later in the day and I have to go back to Jupiter...only brought enough clothes for 2 days! Playing well so looking forward to the week. |
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| Round 4 New Zealand |
| 2/25/2007, Round Highlights |
| Well...not the way I wanted this week to end. Finished 6th. Shot 73 today...drove it absolutely horrible!! If I could have hit my driver in the fairway, I would have won easily! Was so confident with my iron approach shots and putting, that I know I would have won. Missed 9 fairways today...and got some of the worse lies in the rough. Really stayed in it as best I could considering...proud of that. Made 4 birdies, 5 bogeys. Birdied 4,6,10,14. At one point on the front had a 2 shot lead and tied for the lead after 14. But bogeys on 7,8,13 after bad drives, 3-putt 16 and another bogey on 17 after a bad drive. Managed a great up-and-down on 18 from 40 yards to save my round somewhat...big morale boost anyways! In the end...it was a great week. Love being in front of the camera, being in contention and seeing some putts fall. Lot of great things to build upon...good start to the year! |
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| Round 3 New Zealand |
| 2/24/2007, Round Highlights |
| What a good round I played this afternoon in very strong winds...30 -35 mph! Shot 70 to retake the lead by 1 shot at 6 under! My swing keys worked very well...played with 2 very good players who both shot 78. Again...what a high to know every shot you hit is on TV! Big incentive for me to practice at home that much harder so I can do this more often!! ƒº 5 birdies, 3 bogeys. Birdied 3,4, almost a hole-in-one on 11, 14,17. Bogeyed 5 (3 putt), 7 (poor drive), and 18 (very hard par 4). Best iron play I¡¦ve had in quite some time. Asked me in the interview room if I¡¦d have trouble sleeping on the lead...since I¡¦ve only averaged about 4 hours of sleep a night due to no A/C in my room, told them that I would have no problem...exhausted after playing 26 holes today in very difficult conditions. |
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| Continuation Round 2 New Zealand |
| 2/24/2007, Round Highlights |
| Poor start to the day! Had to finish my 2nd round and ended by making bogey on 7, double bogey on 8 for a 75. My caddy, Andrew, taped the coverage from yesterday and noticed that I was hanging back through the shot...so we went immediately to the range after we finished round 2. Was hitting it much better with the thought of coiling without using my hands and getting through the shot at impact. Also...I made my first cut of the year...glad to get that burden lifted!! Am 3 shots back now...but 36 holes to make that up! |
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| Round 2 New Zealand |
| 2/23/2007, Round Highlights |
| We had a 1 ½ hour rain delay today which meant we couldn’t finish the second round...have to come back at 8 am and play the last 8 holes on Sat. Not playing as well today, but hanging in there...still have the lead at -7. Actually glad to be able to regroup for tomorrow...give me a chance to work on my ball striking...pretty lousy today...played the day level par so far. A lot of fun being in front of the cameras for most every shot! Haven’t done that in a few years and realize how much I LOVE it!! Makes me concentrate much better! |
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| Round 1 New Zealand |
| 2/22/2007, Round Highlights |
| Played great today!! Shot 65 and leading the tournament! 8 birdies, 1 bogey. The bogey came on a reachable par 5 when I hit a good drive and got a really bad bounce into deep rough...could only advance it 10 yards! Last night I decided to try my old Ping Anser putter even though I hadn’t practiced with it all week. I took it and my Scotty Cameron to the practice green and the Ping felt better...as much as I love the Cameron’s, I seem to putt my best with the Ping. No wind made the course defenseless, but I had my irons dialed in and had short putts on 2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12,16,17...made 7 of them as well as a bomb on 15! Great to have the cameras following me most of the day as I was leading from the start! |
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