I'm Exhausted!

It's been quite a exciting 32 hours.  Let me simply lay it all out in a timeline:


Sunday 1:25pm - Final round of tournament in Aberdeen, SD.
Sunday 5:45pm - Finished round and immediately get on road towards Omaha, NE (ate dinner in car)
Sunday 11:15pm - Reach hotel in Omaha, NE and go to bed after taking a shower

Monday 4:45am - Alarm wakes me up.
Monday 5:00am - Get back on road for final 3 hours of drive towards Lawrence, KS
Monday 8:10am - Arrive at golf course, quickly warm-up for 8:57 tee-time.
Monday 12:45pm - Battled the course for 16 holes (1-under par).
Monday 12:46pm - Headed to 17th tee when official finds me and gives me the good news.
Monday 12:46pm - Give official a celebratory bro-hug.
Monday 12:47pm - Sign scorecard and give it to the other player in my group with awkward hand shakes and goodbyes

Monday 2:00pm - Arrive at host golf course. Register, find locker, contact Caddie, contact parents.
Monday 2:30pm - Registration tells me that there is a host family that just opened up.  I jump all over it and secure some private housing for the week.
Monday 3:00pm - Head to the Titleist van and ask for a couple of new wedges with different bounces and different grinds.
Monday 4:00pm - Return to Titleist van to pick up newly assembled wedges.
Monday 4:01-6:00pm - Waiting to hear from Caddie and host family.  In the meantime, I practice a bit with new wedges and then take brief nap in locker room.
Monday 6:15pm - I finally realize that I haven't eaten anything all day.  Leave the course to get dinner.
Monday 7:00pm - Book Caddie's flight from Oregon to Kansas City for Tuesday morning.
Monday 7:30pm - Arrive at host families house and feel like it's time for bed.

32 hours
2 tournament rounds of golf (2nd one not completed though)
8 hours of driving (Aberdeen, SD to Lawrence, KS)
3 different golf courses (Aberdeen, Lawrence, Overland Park)
1 meal (dinner in the car on Sunday night)
5 hours of sleep
3 showers (to both wake up and clean up from long days out in the hot sun)
1 nap

--All adds up to just another web.com tournament.

Neil

Utah Championship

In my last post I talked about my plans to travel from Nova Scotia to Winnipeg to play a PGA Tour Canada event.  After talking to a couple of players, they convinced me that I had a better that 50% chance of getting into this week's event in Utah.  I changed all of my plans for Canada and made my way to Utah.  Sure enough, on Monday afternoon, I received the phone call saying I was in the field for Utah.  Good thing I was already en route.

The first round begins on Thursday and I tee off at 1pm local time (MST).  Golf Channel will have coverage all week so tune in at 6pm EST on Thursday night to see if I play my way onto TV.

I'm playing at 4400 feet of elevation and it's going to be a warm week, both of which mean the ball will go a long way.  Weird fact about this course, I will only hit 1 driver on a par-4.  Every other par-4 is a lay-up with a hybrid or a 3-wood because they all have bunkers or trees that pinch in at around 280 yards.

I'm sorry I haven't talked about last week in Nova Scotia.  It was an exhausting Sunday - 36 holes - and then a long travel day on Monday.  Hopefully I can get to it next week, recapping both Nova Scotia and Utah.

Here's a link to this week's leaderboard.


Neil

Schedule Set for 3 Weeks

For the first time this year, I have golf tournaments scheduled beyond 1 week!  All year I have been in an odd position - "on the bubble" for Web.com events or chasing Monday qualifiers.  Some of my trips to Monday qualifiers have been scheduled with a small mini-tour event, in case I'm unsuccessful with the qualifier.  Even those are somewhat unscheduled tournaments because it's tough to make flight/hotel/car reservations if I don't know where I'll be after Monday.

Luckily, I know I'm going to be in the field for next week's Web.com event in Nova Scotia.  From there, I have signed up for the PGA Tour Canada events in Winnipeg and Thunder Bay in subsequent weeks.  I will gladly change my plans to include the Web.com event in Utah and Idaho if I get into them, but I'm just excited to have 3 straight weeks of tournaments planned.

Neil

US Open Week

Today begins US Open week, which is one of my favorites tournaments to watch all year.  I love the Masters too, but something about watching the pros grind and battle for pars is entertaining.  Plus I enjoy watching the US Open travel to a different course each year.  Some courses have been boring and forgettable (Olympia Fields '03, Southern Hills '01), but others have been awesome (Olympic Golf Club '98 & '12, Winged Foot '06, Merion '13, Pinehurst '99).  Those awesome courses immediately went on my 'Courses to Play' list.  While I was in San Francisco last week, I got to cross off one of those courses - Olympic Club (Lake Course).

The first time I heard about Olympic Club was during the 1998 US Open.  I remember how cool the course looked with the giant cypress trees lining the fairways and small, sloped greens reeking havoc on the players.  It also helped that Payne Stewart, one of my favorites players at the time, was leading the tournament after 3 rounds.

I played my US Open Sectional Qualifier last Monday at Lake Merced GC and Olympic Club (Ocean Course).  I started at Lake Merced and got off to a great start with nearly perfect swings/shots on the first 6 holes, but I walked off with all pars.  I couldn't make any putts and that got me to start forcing some things and that lead to some bad swings and mistakes.  By the time I finished my morning round, I was +5 despite hitting it really well.  In the afternoon I needed to do something miraculous to qualify for the US Open.  I played well on the front side (3 under, 33), but I lost it all on the back and limped to a +1, 72 finish.

The next day, Tuesday, my caddie and I were able to play the Lake Course (US Open course) because he knows a couple of members and one of them could host us.  We tipped it out at a mere 7140 yards, but this is at sea level where a 9-iron has a slim chance of going more than 150 yards (especially once the fog rolls in).  The stretch of 2-6 are brutal holes which play very long and considering you never have a flat lie anywhere on the golf course, you better be ready to hit some long irons.  I'm proud to say that I made two 2s on the front side (#3, #8).  I hit a hybrid from 247 on #3 to about 5 feet.  Then I hit a 4-iron from 206 on #8 and rolled in a 25 foot putt.  

By the end of 17 holes I was 1-under par, with 6 birdies, but I needed one more to shot in the 60s.  The 18th hole is a short 347 yard par-4, but the fairway is in a low area and it slopes from left-to-right.  Any ball in the right rough is going to have to navigate a second shot over a cypress tree.  The picture below is from about 200 yards out (click on the picture to enlarge it).  I hit hybrid to the bottom of the hill and you're left with a blind approach to a green that is only 10 steps wide.  It doesn't show up very well on the photo, but there are 3 bunkers surrounding the 18th green and they are shaped like the letters I.O.U., as if to apologize for the tough test of golf you just played.  My approach shot was 117 yards out, nearly a perfect pitching wedge, since it played uphill and into the wind.  I hit the shot to 5 feet, right below the hole and rolled in the putt for a 69.  Making 7 birdies was a lot of fun, but sprinkling in 3 bogies and a double are a testament to how challenging the course plays.

There is only 1 fairway bunker on the entire golf course and not a single water hazard.  Out of bounds is only in play on 2 holes and you have to hit bad shots to hit it that far left.  Basically the golf course uses the terrain, trees, and greens to challenge you.  My favorite new term that I learned is "reverse-camber", which refers to a fairway sloping the opposite way that the hole doglegs.  There are about 6 or 7 holes that have reversed cambered fairways.  The 9th hole is one.  It's only 449 yards, but it doglegs hard left-to-right and the fairways kicks everything left.  The green also slopes left and balls like to run off the left side, down the shaved fairway.  Your best option for the approach is to hit a cut into the green, but that's not the easiest thing to do off of a hook lie.  Basically the whole golf course makes you feel uncomfortable and unbalanced.

I have a couple other pictures to share.  First is the tee shot on #16, which is a monster par-5 - 622.  They actually put in an extra tee for the 2012 US Open at about 670, but removed it because it is pretty much in #15 fairway.  This beast of a par-5 doglegs hard to the left, but you have to negotiate a chute on your drive.  Something that Jim Furyk didn't do very well on Sunday in 2012.  They moved the tees up to the white tees (560 yards) and he snapped hooked a hybrid into the left trees.

The next picture is of the approach from #14, a 417 yard par-4.  The reason I like this photo is because is shows off the awesome cypress trees (look at the naked one on the right side, which is a perfect aim point from the tee).  Also, I birdied this hole so it's deserves a picture.  I birdied 18 and 16, which are the other photos.  I notice a trend.  Perhaps if I had taken more pictures, I would've had more than 7 birdies.

Final picture is of Olympic Clubs famed 'Burger Dogs', which are cheeseburgers on hot dog buns.  I haven't eaten a hot dog in nearly 20 years and I doubt I'll ever eat one for the rest of my life.  I say this because a burger dog is the closest I'll get to a hot dog.

I lied.  I have a few more pictures.  No explanation needed, just posting them for you to see.

Enjoy watching the US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 (another course I've played).  I'm back in tournament action next week with the Web.com event in Wichita, KS.

Neil

T46th - BMW Charity Pro-AM

Two weeks ago I finished T-46th at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greenville, SC.  Overall it was a great week - making the cut and playing on Sunday - but a closer look at my play left me disappointed with my finish and anxious for my next Web.com event.

The story of each round is pretty similar, in that I played well, but did not get a lot out of any round.  I never had back to back bogies and only had 6 throughout the entire week.  On the other side, I only had 15 birdies for the week and never caught a really hot streak.  I was waiting/expecting that hot streak because of how well I was hitting the ball.

The most frustrating moments of the tournament were the back nines of round 3 & 4 at Thornblade Club.  I had 1 birdie and 2 bogies in those 18 holes and I had plenty of chances to get many more birdies.  More specifically, I played holes 15 and 16 even par, when I should have made birdies on those reachable par-5s.  In the final round, I was in the middle of the fairway with a hybrid into both 15 and 16.  I came up short on 15 and flopped a wedge to about 10 feet.  I made a good stroke, but over-read the putt and missed it on the high side.  My hybrid reached the green on 16, but left me a 60 foot eagle putt that had to navigate a big slope.  I left the eagle putt about 7 feet short and despite another good stroke, I under-read this putt and missed it on the low side.  That was my first 3-putt of the week (70 holes into the tournament).

Best thing about the week was how much fun it was to play well and how comfortable I felt playing inside the ropes.  My Web.com events in South America didn't have a lot of spectators, but Greenville was quite busy on Saturday and Sunday.  The 18th hole was surrounded by corporate tents and I really enjoyed interacting with the spectators - especially the kids.  Walking off of 18 green there were about 20 kids waiting there and asking for my hat or glove.  My caddy and I emptied all of the golf balls from my bag and handed them to the kids - even autographing as many of the balls as I could.  That was a lot of fun.

Now that I've made some money on the Web.com Tour, my current ranking will be moved up after the next reshuffle (after the event in Wichita, KS in 3 weeks).  That will give me a better chance to get into tournaments, but I'll still be a bubble boy.  Right now I've been about 30 spots out of most tournaments, but I think I'll be closer to 10 spots.  Hopefully I can Monday qualify for the event in Wichita and make a big check.  Then I'll be able to set my schedule for the rest of the summer.

Until then, I will be competing in the US Open Sectional qualifier in San Francisco.  Play begins early on Monday, June 2nd.  Here's a link to follow results.  36 holes on Monday played over 2 courses.  I tee off at 7:21am PST and then 12:51pm PST.  The qualifier is being played at Lake Merced GC and Olympic Club (Ocean Course).  Olympic Club has hosted the US Open 5 times, most recently in 2012, but we're not playing the US Open course (Lake Course).  I still love being on the grounds of Olympic Club.  No where else in the world are the golf courses framed so well with Cypress trees and dense with fog.

Heavy Fog

Hit it through the chute of Cypress trees, but be careful because balls love to stay in them.

Neil

BMW Charity Pro-Am - Greenville, SC

After a long and frustrating couple of months, I'm back.  Last time I was here, I was playing some bad golf in Chile and Brazil.  That bad golf continued throughout March and April and a lot of other problems started creeping in.  The biggest problem was not being able to set any schedule  In the past, I've liked to know that during the winter/spring I would be playing several Gateway events in Arizona.  This year, I wanted to stay focused on the Web.com events so I choose not to play locally in AZ.  Unfortunately, I didn't get into any Web.com events outside of South America so I had to scramble and add a few random tournaments at the last minute.  My game was rusty and my patience was being tested every week when I failed to get into the Web.com events.  During my struggles, I saw a lot of good things when I practiced, but the tournament results just seemed to be miles behind.

Now, I'd like to believe that I have slowly pulled myself out of that slump and am ready to go on a big run.  Quite a few things have happened in the last few weeks which points to an upward trend.  First was that I truly hit rock-bottom.  I had an awful tournament and was embarrassed by how poorly I played.  Everything that could have gone wrong did and even my good shots lead to double bogies.  Luckily I had my caddie with me and we were able to diagnose the issues and begin anew the next day.  Next, I started to see the results in a tournament instead of just practice rounds.  I came close to monday qualifying for the Web.com event in Valdosta, GA, but I needed a birdie on the 18th hole and messed it up.  The best thing about that round was after my awful start, I could've just packed it up and quit (especially after a 3-putt bogey on #7), but I had the feeling that a lot of birdies could be made.  I went on to make 7 birdies in a 9 hole stretch and that put me on #18 needing one more birdie.  Finally, I made a quick trip (3 days) back to Arizona to play in the local US Open Qualifier and advanced by finishing 4th.  Considering everything else I was trying to balance, it was great that my mind was focused and clear while playing so I could play well.  I will be playing the US Open Sectional qualifier in San Francisco on June 2nd.

I've saved the best news for last, which is that I snuck into this week's Web.com event in Greenville, SC.  A week ago I was 21 spots out and didn't feel very optimistic, but when I had moved up to 9 out by last weekend, I started to believe.  Once Monday rolled around, I was 3rd alternate, and I was very glad that I was already in the area so I could go right to the courses to practice.

This week's event is a Pro-Am where everybody plays 1 round at 3 different courses and then the top 65 players make the cut and play Sunday.  This is also the first event of the year that is televised on The Golf Channel - just a couple of hours of coverage a day.  Keep an eye out for me.

Until the tournament starts, check out my new website.  The blog will still be updated, but they'll be linked through the website.

Neil

Chile Classic in Santiago Begins Today

Greetings from Santiago, Chile.  This is my first trip to South America and I'll talk about it in much more detail later.  For now, I'm simply posting links to where you can follow my results.

Leaderboard

I tee of at 2:30pm local time (12:30pm EST) on Thursday and 9:40am (7:40am EST) on Friday.

The weather is perfect, very warm with lots of sun.  As for the golf course, it's all about hitting fairways.  Lots of sharp doglegs and trees block any shot that is in the rough.  Plus the greens are small and surrounded by bunkers so I'll need a clear shot to hit a lot of greens.

Enjoy watching online.  I've really enjoyed getting texts, emails, and tweets from friends who are wishing me well.

Neil

Exciting Times - New Equipment & Endorsement Deals

I've been in the need of new equipment for quite a long time.  My irons are 4 years old.  My Driver and 3-wood are 3 years old.  Here's a picture of my 7-iron, with a significant wear pattern on the clubface:

At least the wear pattern is in the sweet spot.

There are a few reasons why I haven't changed equipment, but the main 2 are money and fitting.  Money, because I've been loyal to Mizuno irons and Titleist for a while, but haven't had luck getting equipment from those companies.  They offer me equipment at a discount, but that's where the 2nd reason comes in.  Fitting - I can't just buy equipment off the rack.  My game is at a point where getting a shaft that fits my swing can make the game easier.  In the 4 years since I last ordered irons, technology has improved and a lot of new shaft options are out there.  Before putting new equipment in my bag, I want to test a variety of shafts (lighter, heavier, stiffer) to see what can help my game.  And that brings me back to the money issue where the equipment companies won't give me a fitting unless I pay for it.  It's like a vicious cycle where I won't buy equipment without a fitting, but won't pay for a fitting.  #firstworldproblems

All of these things changed when I earned my Web.com card.  Every club company is on site at each tournament and there is an equipment truck that will build, repair, and tweak whatever I have or need.

The really exciting aspect comes from the endorsement deals I've been offered.  Titleist/FootJoy offered me a ball/shoe/glove deal, which is great because I play the Pro-v1x ball (have since college).  I've been offered an equipment deal from Adams Golf and they flew me out to Dallas to their headquarters to get a tour quality fitting.  I spent 2 days in Dallas.  The first day was experimenting with different shafts and comparing the results.  Day 2 was an on the course test to see how the clubs react on the golf course.  It's exciting to see what I came out of Dallas with, but it will take some time to get comfortable with the new equipment.  The person who built my equipment and fitted me for the clubs is the Web.com Tour representative for Adams, which means he will be on-site for the tournaments.  It's great to know that I have a guy I can go to if I have a problem with my clubs.

In addition to the equipment deal with Adams is an additional endorsement from Southwest Airlines.  Adams and Southwest are partners and will be helping me out with some frequent flier miles, which will come in handy for this year:

Approx. 48,000 miles of travel this year with @WebDotComTour #frequentfliermiles pic.twitter.com/4NCWSuSqSX
— Neil Johnson (@neilpjohnson) February 1, 2014

Neil

What's Next?

The Web.com season begins in a week with an event in Bogota, Columbia.  Here is a link to the entire schedule.  After one event in Columbia we have two weeks off before 4 straight tournaments in Chile, Brasil, Panama, and Louisiana.  The first 4 events are international, which helps my chances of getting into the fields, but also makes the travel much more expensive.  My conditional status puts me on the bubble for each of the first 4 events.  As of Monday, Feb. 3rd here are my numbers vs the players in field:

1. Columbia - 159/144 (15 players out)
2. Chile - 153/144 (9 out)
3. Brasil - 151/144 (7 out)
4. Panama - 151/144 (7 out)

I've been checking these numbers everyday for a few weeks try to get a sense of which way I might be trending.  The best thing about the Chile event is that I have 20 PGA Tour members ahead of me and there are 2 PGA Tour events that week (WGC Cadillac and Puerto Rico).  That means most of those 20 members will get into one of the PGA Tour events and I'll move inside the field list.

Follow me on Twitter to see day-to-day updates if my number changes.

I have a few other exciting things to talk about so check back throughout the week for more updates on new equipment, endorsement deals, and perhaps a surprise that will be launching in the coming weeks.

Neil

Final Stage Web.com Tour Q-School Recap

Weather - nearly perfect all week.  Cold mornings during the practice round resulted in a couple of frost delays.  Once the tournament started, the temps had warmed up to mid-70s and did not get much lower than mid-40s overnight.  There wasn't much wind all week.  Even the gusts of wind rarely reached 10 mph.  Tons of sunshine all week - it was basically like playing golf in a "bubble", which I'm used to considering what the weather is like in Phoenix.

Course Conditions - both courses were in great shape.  They only overseeded the fairways/tees, leaving the rough dormant (turned brown during winter months).  Playing from the fairway was a lot like hitting off of a mat.  The only way to get a bad lie was to find a divot.

The greens were pretty consistent across both courses.  Sometimes you'll get one course with much quicker green, but both the Nicklaus and Stadium courses were running close to 11.  My only "complaint" with the condition of the golf courses was the speed of the greens.  I'd prefer the greens to be faster than 11.  During both 1st and 2nd stage, my courses had greens running near 13/14, which I loved.  Combine the smooth surfaces with the average speed of the greens, it allowed a lot of people to become comfortable with making putts.

Now let's dive in to each round and I'll explain the memorable shots and quickly gloss over the bad ones.  Follow along here.

ROUND 1 - Started on #10 of Nicklaus Tournament course and I struck the ball really solid throughout the first day.  I was picking out palm trees, signs, edges of home as aim points and I was hitting them precisely.  A nice stretch on #2, #3, and #4 gave me three straight birdies.  I made a 20 foot putt on #2, chipped in on #3, and made about an 18 foot putt on #4.  One more birdie on a the par-5 #7 and I finished with a solid 68 in the first round.

ROUND 2 - My solid ballstriking continued into the 2nd round.  Through 13 holes of nearly flawless swings, I was only 2-under par.  My birdie on #5 was a 2-putt (the picture above is of hole #5 from the green back).  That par-5 has water all up the right side from 200 yards in.  The pin was tucked back right and I hit a 3-wood from 250 right into the center of the green - right at the palm tree my caddie and I picked out as target.  My birdie on #11 was a little more fun.  I hit a bad drive into the thick left rough.  I could only advance it about 170 yards, leaving me about 175 to an elevated green and has water left and slopes away on the right.  I lasered a 7-iron to about 15 feet.  I practiced a putt very similar to that one in a practice round so I knew that it would break right to left more than it looked.  I trusted that read and it went in the center of the cup.

Things got really weird on #14 where my drive hit the railroad ties lining a fairway bunker and ricocheted straight right into the deep rough.  It took us at least 4 1/2 minutes to find the ball (just under the 5 minute limit) and I had no shot, except to hack it back to fairway.  I made bogey and tried my best to shrug off the bad bounce.  Two holes later, I three putted #16 for bogey and then struggled to par #17 and #18 to complete my round.  The last 90 minutes of that round were exhausting, stressful, and frustrating.

ROUND 3 - Right back out on the Stadium Course for round 3, I hoped to get some revenge for that tough finish to the second round.  I hit the ball fantastic, but once again struggled to rack up birdies.  However, finishing the third round with a birdie on #9 was a big boost to my confidence.  At that point, the tournament was only half finished and I had total belief that I still hadn't played my best golf.

ROUND 4 - Similar story in round 4 as compared to round 2 and 3.  I hit it great, but only made 2 birdies.  Only made 1 putt outside of 10 feet, but luckily I only made one bogey.

ROUND 5 - Now we're getting into the interesting part of the tournament.  My first 10 holes in the 5th round were a struggle.  No birdies and I finally ran into a bad streak, which included 3 bogies and a double bogey in a 5 hole stretch.  It happened very quick and in the span of about 90 minutes, I went from 5-under to even par with at least 100 golfers ahead of me.  I wasn't happy walking from #1 to #2, but it was a long walk so I was able to release the anger and restart the round.

The final 8 holes were a necessary hot streak that got me back into the golf tournament.  All week I was waiting for my game to heat up and for the birdies to start flowing.  Funny that it took until I played my worst stretch of golf to finally open up and get aggressive.

#2, I hit a 3-wood about 280 yards, and knocked a lob wedge to 3 feet - birdie.

#3, I flagged a 6-iron that landed a foot from the hole, but it released just through the green.  I chipped it up to a foot - par.

#4, right before I stepped into the shot I told myself to take dead-aim, and I did - hitting a 7-iron to 2 feet - birdie.

#5, I had 234 to the pin for my second shot (again, this is the hole in the picture above, but this time the pin is front right, hugging the water).  I planned to hit a 4-iron at the front left corner of the green.  That would leave me a hole-able chip.  Instead of playing to the front left corner, I pushed my 4-iron right at the pin.  It carried the water by a couple of feet, got a perfect hop and rolled right past the hole to 6 inches - tap in eagle!

#6, awful pulled tee shot, chip to 20 feet, but buried the par putt.

#7, lob wedge to about 8 feet and rolled the putt in - birdie

I had good looks for birdies on #8 and #9, but couldn't knock those in.  That was ok because my confidence was back.  I shot 32 on the back nine (with a bogey) and felt I would need 32-32 in the final round to earn a full card.

ROUND 6 - Finally I got off to a quick start in a round with a birdie on #10.  They moved the tees up on #15 to entice people to go for green in two (it's an island green, surrounded by water).  I hit a bad drive into the rough so I had to lay-up.  Turned out that I was lucky because both of my playing competitors hit their 2nd shots into the water.  I wedged my 3rd shot to 12 feet and made the putt.  My putter warmed up more on the next hole with an 18 footer for another birdie.  I made the turn with a 33 (just shy of my goal, 32).  On #1 I hit one of my worst drives of the week, blocking it way right.  My caddie talked me out of trying a miracle shot, instead punching a 6-iron to the front of the green.  I punched it just short of the green and easily got up and down to save par.  I owe my caddie one for that decision because the miracle shot would've lead to a bogey or double bogey pretty easily.  A few holes later I had to lay up on another reachable par-5, but my wedges bailed me out.  I hit a gap wedge to 10 inches from about 115 yards for my 4th birdie of the day.  My only bogey of the day came on #6 when I pulled my approach into the greenside bunker.  After that bogey, I had a sinking feeling that my chances of earning my card were very slime, but I knew every birdie would help me get better conditional status.

I finally hit a good drive on a par-5 and hit a 3-wood just through the green.  A chip to 3 feet gave me a birdie and made up for the bogey on the previous hole.  On #9, the final hole of the tournament I hit a perfect drive right in the middle.  I had 154 yards to a front left pin (water was short of green and left of green) - it was a perfect 9-iron.  It landed about 20 feet past the hole, in a slope, and spun back to about 15 feet.  I'll give my caddie the due credit for a great read on the birdie putt.  The entire slope of the green made me think it would slide left to right the whole way, but my caddie said it would only break for the first half of the putt.

"Half way to the hole, you want the ball to be inside the cup"

He was dead on because half way there, it straightened out and drop into the center of the cup.  It might seem like that was just another birdie, but that moved me from T67 to T56 place.  That will help me get into at least 1 more tournament.


WHAT IT ALL MEANS - They haven't released the schedule for 2014, but I can tell you that it begins in South America.  Columbia, Chile, and Brasil are the first 3 events, then Panama and Louisiana.  Since I have conditional status I will be on the bubble for all of those events.  Whatever events I get into, the more money I make, the more my status will improve with each reshuffle.  The reshuffle happens after every 4 events and you get ranked by the money list.

Whenever I do get in, I'll post an update.

Happy New Year,
Neil