PGA Q-School Final Day

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I left the course right away to return the rental car and once I got to the airport I had some problems. I got there around 3:30 with a scheduled flight at 8:00, but that flight got cancelled. Luckily I got put on an earlier flight and got home much earlier. I had planned on updating at the airport, but with the earlier flight I had no time.

The final round was a frustrating one and I'm sure if you looked at my hole-by-hole scores you know why. I started on 10 and got off to a great start. I then had a nice run on 16-1 where I made 4 straight birdies. I was just hitting the greens and giving myself birdie chances, but on my 12th hole I hit some horrible shots and made a 9. Don't ask me how I got a nine because I'll just tell you that I tapped in. Just kidding. The hole has some overhanging branches up the right side of the fairway. I hit one and my ball dropped down into the fairway, but 230 yards from the green. I then proceeded to shank two balls into the woods on the right. It was a disastrous hole and really took all the momentum I had built up throughout the day. I tried to finish well, but it's tough to stay focused after making a quintuple bogey.

Since I didn't advance to 2nd Stage I will spend next summer on the Hooters Tour. My next tournament will be the Ranking School for Hooters Tour. I'm already a member of the tour, but this tournament will give me a ranking number to determine when I begin playing. If I finish high I will begin early in the season, but the worse that I finish means the later I start. No matter what happens I will be playing the Hooters Tour by next June. That tournament begins November 15 (once again in Houston). Until then I'll just spend my time practicing and correcting what went wrong this past week.

Thanks again for all the support and messages all week. I wish I had hit the ball better to give myself a chance, but that's the struggle of golf. Have a great weekend and keep checking for updates.

Neil

PGA Q-School Day 3

Another 74, but this one was far worse than the one on day two. I played very poorly today and got very lucky to not shoot worse than this. Despite finishing well the second day and feeling good about starting out today I could not find a golf swing today. I was hitting it everywhere and struggling with my short game. Somehow I hit the ball decent on the last 6 holes and had good birdie chances on all of those holes. Does that mean I'm set for tomorrow? Who knows. I hope I'll show up to the golf course with a swing that I can trust, but that hasn't been the case the last few days. It may be another rough start that leaves me correcting things on the course. I certainly hope not because I would like to finish with a good round. Either way, I'll grind out something and enjoy the experience.

One good thing about today is that my playing partners were great. One was from Kiwi and the other was from Chile. I found myself struggling with their accents all day, but it was fun to talk about three different parts of the world. They didn't know much about Wisconsin, just like I didn't know much about Kiwi or Chile. Hugo (from Chile) had his Dad carrying the bag and they were constantly talking to each other in Spanish. He had a very quick temper and I'm pretty sure they had a few arguments about what club to hit and how much the putt would break. A few times after missing a putt, Hugo's dad mumbled under his breath. I have no idea what he was saying, but I don't think it was anything encouraging.

Thanks for all the support this week. I hope to finish strong and then safely return to Phoenix. I've had enough of Houston and all their talk about what they needed to win the World Series. That's all I've heard on the radio.

One more time, here's the link to follow the results:

www.qualifyingtournament.com

Neil

PGA Q-School Day 2

74: A better day, but still a lot of shots left out there and a lot of improvement needed. I finished the day pretty well, hitting the ball much better the last 10 holes. Unfortunately I had a very rough start to my second round. On the very first hole, I hit my drive in the middle of the fairway, but there is a tree there and my ball came to rest directly behind the tree. I had to take an unplayable lie and drop. Only a few holes later, the fairway had trees in the middle again and once again I hit the tree. This time it hit the tree and bounced back 60 yards. Instead of having an 8-iron in, I had a 2-iron. Tough start. I jokingly said to the guys I was playing with that I wasn't aiming for the trees, but rather the fairway. I didn't get mad because I hit the shots in the fairway, it was just bad luck that the course was designed with trees in the middle of the fairway.

I was proud that I didn't give up after that frustrating start. I'll admit that I was on the brink of getting really upset, especially considering the unfortunate ruling the first day. I just did my best to shake it off and by the time I got to the back nine I was focused on my game and the shots ahead, not the bad breaks that had already happened.

Looking at the scores, I'm well back of the top 20 and without putting up a couple of low rounds I will not advance to 2nd stage. There are plenty of things left to play for and I will do my best to improve each of the next two days. Keep following the results at www.qualifyingtournament.com

I will update again tomorrow.

Neil

PGA Q-School Day 1

Unfortunately my first day at q-school was a rough one, and not just on the golf course. The day started with me locking myself out of my hotel room while eating breakfast. Somehow the door's latch swung into the locked position after I shut my door. The hotel workers had a trick on how to get it open when that happens, but for a while I was worried we'd have to call the fire department. My golf clubs, car keys, wallet, and cell phone were all in the room so I would've been in big trouble if not for Shirley and her pop bottle trick. I guess I now know how to open the hotel room if that ever happens again.

Once I got to the course, there were no range balls. Nobody was willing to share them because they didn't have too many themselves so I found myself walking along the far side of the range picking up balls so I could warm up.

Once I got onto the golf course, nothing got better. I hit it very poorly today, especially off the tee. I wasn't sure if I was going to hit it right or left and I ended up trying to steer most of the shots into the fairway and that is never effective. I also struggled with my irons, hitting nothing close and missing a lot of greens with not difficult shots.

The worse thing about today was a ruling that did not go my way. On the 15th hole I found myself near a cartpath and on a barren sand-filled area. It wasn't marked as ground under repair, but the sand was clearly brought in as an attempt to level the ground out. I played two balls, one from the area and one with relief. I made a par 5 with the relief ball and made a double bogey 7 with the other ball. This happened on my 6th hole and for the rest of the round I thought for sure I would get relief because there were other areas similar to the one I found that had been marked. After finishing my round, but before signing my card I talked to a rules official. We drove out to the hole and he informed me that the area was simply part of the conditions of the course. I told him about the other marked areas and we drove to investigate those, but he did not change his mind. I very politely pleaded my case as to how the area I found was not a normal condition for a golf course, but it was to no avail. Just another unfortunate break at the end of a tough day. I guess shooting 76 wouldn't have been too much better, but it would've made dinner taste better.

I tee of on Wednesday at 9:20 am. The round on Tuesday took 5:20 so I'll be done just in time to catch an early dinner. I'll post again tomorrow night, but you can check the scores at:

www.qualifyingtournament.com

Very humbled,
Neil

Travelling to Houston

Hello Family and Friends,

I made it to Houston safely and have had two days to practice and get ready for q-school. I've played the course twice and spent plenty of time on the putting green and range. Overall, I like the course. It's not very long and since the fairways are firm, it will play even shorter. However, the greens are very fast and have a lot of slippery slopes in them. Putting will definately be the deciding factor because if you're not careful, every putt can get away from you and leave you with a long comeback. The weather has been perfect so far so I hope that trend continues. It was pretty windy today and I would love to feel that wind each day.

I begin Tuesday morning at 10:20 am (central time). I will update this again tomorrow night with my first day results. You can also check them at the PGA website:

www.qualifyingtournament.com

Please feel free to send me a good luck note or simply send me good vibes all week. Take care,

Neil Johnson
mrneiljohnson@hotmail.com

USGA State Team Championships

It was a wonderful final week of my amateur career. I got a chance to play in one final USGA event, almost everything was paid for, and the course we played at was one of the finest facilities I've been to. Our team didn't do that well, we finished in a tie for 17th, but I felt good about the way I grinded my way around the course. The course was long and it played very tough. All the fairways were a firm as concrete and the rough was very long. This meant that the balls easily bounced through the fairways and into the thick rough. From there the greens were just as firm as the fairways, meaning a shot from the rough needed a miracle to stop on the green. Once on the green, you had to take into consideration which way the grain was going and then read the break accordingly. It made for a very difficult and frustrating round of golf. Sometimes you would hit a great drive, and fabulous second shot, only to two putt from 5 feet because you completely miss read the grain.

Despite all of the grinding I had to do, I enjoyed all three rounds and finished tied for 16th in the individual standings. I learned a lot about the bermuda greens and gained a lot of confidence about my ability to play in the southern part of the US. I was the low man from Wisconsin, but not because of my great play. The other two guys struggled. For the tournament, I shot 72-72-73, 1-over par. The best part of the whole tournament was ending it with a birdie. I rolled in a 25 foot putt on my final hole. That's a nice way to end my amateur career.

Once I got back to Wisconsin I received some wonderful news. I found out I was named the 2005 Wisconsin Amateur Player of the Year. My consistent play throughout the summer paid off. I'll write more about this when I know more. Next week I will be traveling down to Arizona to get settled before the 1st stage of Q-school. That begins October 23rd in Texas. I will be updating everyday for that, but you can also follow it at:

www.pgatour.com/qschool

Feel free to leave a comment. I think people are reading this, but I'm not sure who or how many.

Neil