Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

At the end of 2012, a few days after Christmas, I held a casual happy hour fundraiser in my home town of River Falls, WI.  I was 2 weeks away from heading to Thailand and I hoped to raise some money that would support my golf career and allow me to start focusing solely on golf.  No longer would I be balancing a part time job at a golf course - I wanted to dive head first into playing and eliminate my excuse of having to work 2 days a week.

The turnout was fantastic, with family, friends, teachers,  classmates, former bosses, and former co-workers.  Some people weren't able to make it due to the busy holiday season, but they still contacted me and wanted to express their support and help out in whatever way they could.  I opened a PayPay account with hopes that people who no longer lived near River Falls would have a way to donate and reach me.  I've received donations from former neighbors, godparents, college roommates, and friends from the golf course.

I can only try to say how thankful I am for those that have donated and those who have clearly wanted to help me succeed.  Even if I say thank you in every sentence, it still is short of what is necessary.  Below is a list of those who showed up and donated.  From the bottom of my heart, I say thank you.

Paul & Deb Meyer
The Wiersmas
Peg Steinmetz
Grandma Conroy
The Ornelas Family
The Conroy Family (Pat, Lora, Brendan, Keely, & Matthew)
The Kjosas
The Rasmussens
Diane Brady
Matt Piper
Jonah Evenson
Phil Kluss
Sue Moen
The Ericksons
The Loomis Family
The Heiman Family
The Loney Family
Jack Cullen
Mike Miller
The Babler Family
The Wells Family
The Deal Family
The Nelson Family
Tom Carroll
Todd Schultz
Matt Danielson
Kevin Pechacek & The West Wind Supper Club
The Mielke Family
The Dawsons
The Schultz Family
The Betzel Family
...and of course my Mom and Dad!

Since the fundraiser,  I have seen results that are directly related to the extra time and energy that are devoted to golf instead of work.  My trip to Thailand was a success.  I advanced to final stage of Q-school and even though I did not earn my card, I realized that traveling around the world to play golf is an option and I have begun planning a trip to Europe this fall for European Tour Q-School.

Once back in Arizona, I started playing All-American Gateway Tour events.  I played a handful of these in the fall of 2012, but without great success.  The first 6 events of 2013 on the All-American Gateway Tour, I have recorded 4 top-10s.  Prior to this year, I have only 3 top-10s, while playing over 40 Gateway Tour events.  That is a pretty obvious improvement and exactly what I knew I was capable of.

My new schedule involves a lot more time to practice, but also a lot more time to relax.  The day after a tournament used to be a work day - from 6:30 am until about 7:30 pm, but now I have turned it into a mental/physical health day.  I'm able to work out with my trainer, and regardless of how I finished in the tournament that week I tell him to "punish" me because I have the weekend to recover.  Those of you on Facebook have probably seen some of the pictures of me working hard.

Taken Feb. 7th, the day after finishing t-4th.  At the very end of a workout when the body is  in fatigue.

My hard work has not gone unnoticed and my trainer recruited me to be a model in a couple of his golf fitness videos.  Here's another one.

Besides working out, I have the time and guts to start going to yoga classes.  Just one more way to improve my flexibility, but more importantly, even out the imbalances in my body and discover how difficult it is to truly control your breathing.

The rest of the year will be a new and exciting one with tournaments in new states and new countries.  I have posted my schedule in the sidebar and you can follow results there as well.

Many more thank you's for everybody who has donated.  I still have the PayPal account open and will continue to accept donations throughout the year.  Any amount will help with entry fees and caddie fees while I play PGA Tour Canada events.  Your continued support and help will allow me to play the tournament schedule I want to.

Thank you, and keep following my results, reading the blog, and cheering for my success.

Neil Johnson

Catching up with Last 3 Tournaments

The last 3 weeks I've played tournaments and made the cut in each event.  In the past, I have always missed the cut at these golf courses, so it's nice to see some good scores where I have struggled before.

The first tournament was at Anthem G&CC - Ironwood, and here are links to my past results there:  2010 - 2012

This year, I got off to a blistering start, but wasn't able to continue the birdie fest and finished T25th.

Week 2 was at Trilogy at Power Ranch, and here are links to my past results there: 2009 - 2010 - 2012

This year, I got off to another great start, and I continued that good play throughout the final round.  The second round was a difficult one because the weather played a major factor.  The players in the other wave had it much worse.  They had to play through some cold rain, up until standing water started collecting on the greens.  By the time I teed off, most of the rain had passed, but we battled wind, cold, and then the setting sun.  We had to finish our second round the next morning and then quickly regroup for the final round.

The event at Power Ranch was the final event on the All-American Tour schedule before their match play Tour Championship.  The top 25 players on the money list will be exempt into the match play and there will be a qualifier to determine the other 7 players.  I knew I needed a good finish to move into the top-25 and I managed to do it.  If you look at the money list online, you will see me at #36.  That is the overall money list and the events in January do not count towards the official money list, which obviously helped me.

The Tour Championship is next week and you can see the bracket here.

Finally, this past week I was at Vista Verde and here are my past results: 2009 - 2009 - 2012

There is a familiar theme, with yet another fast start.  Unfortunately I played the last 24 holes of the tournament awful and finished T39.  I was 6-under after 30 holes and finished +2.  My second round ended with back to back 3-putts on #8 and #9, and then the final round was a big struggle.  There isn't much to read into the bad finish.  I'm lucky not to be working anymore because I was able to take Friday off - it turned into a mental and physical health day.  The rest of the weekend I'll be able to practice and get prepared for next week's match play tournament.

Neil

I'm Not There Yet, But I'm Closer Than I Was Yesterday

After several days of getting over jet lag, I got back into my playing schedule with an All-American Tour event.  It was played last Monday-Wednesday at Sundance GC, which is way out west from downtown Phoenix.

My game was a little rusty (physically), but mentally I was sharp and excited to be back out there.  My short game showed the most rust.  I failed to get up and down on a handful of easy shots throughout the tournament.  On the other hand, my strong focus kept me from letting those mistakes sabotage the rest of the round/tournament.

One example is during the final round.  I was just short of the green in 2 on the par-5 9th hole.  I chipped it up to about 4 feet, but missed the putt.  This could've been the start of a downward spin, which would've resulted in a disappointing finish.  Instead I shrugged it off and eagled the next hole, the par-5 10th.

The other example happened early in the first round.  I hit my approach to 1 foot on the 1st hole of the tournament.  I came up just short on the 3rd hole and hit an awful chip to about 15 feet.  It was a straight forward bump-and-run, but I banged it way past.  I didn't make the putt and tapped in for bogey.  After the nice birdie on 1, the bogey could've put me in a funk for the rest of the round, but I shrugged off that mistake and went to the next hole.  I birdie the next - #4, and also birdied 7, 8, and 9 for a front side 32.

By the week's end I found myself tied for 4th.

The weirdest stat of the week - -

* First round - 7 birdies, 1 bogey, 1 double bogey
* Second round - 7 birdies, 3 bogies
* Third round - 1 eagle, 1 birdie, 1 bogey

Odd how some rounds you can only make a bunch of pars, whereas other rounds you make a load of birdies, but throw in a few bogies.

A few pictures to share.  First one is from Thailand, during the final stage practice rounds.  Follow this link, scroll to the bottom, and find my name.  Click on it and you see a picture of me teeing off.

The other picture is from this past week in Arizona.  During the final round, a photographer snapped this picture:

Am I smirking?  or grimacing?  You tell me what you think.

I've got another tournament this week - Tuesday through Thursday.

Neil

Safe Return from Thailand

Traveling back from Thailand was just a exhausting as it was going there, but it feels good to be home, with some time to relax.  I don't need to retell the story of traveling halfway across the world.  Instead I've got a bunch of pictures I need to post.

After the pictures, I'll explain what tournaments I will be playing for the rest of the year.  Even though I didn't earn my Asian Tour card, I've still got a fun scheduled plan and enough tournaments to keep me busy all year.

These pictures are from the entrance to our hotel.  It was an open aired hotel/lobby and they changed these floral arrangements every couple of days.

These pictures are taken from the same spot in Beijing airport.  We had an 8 hour layover on the way to Thailand and a 7 hour layover on the way back home.  Both times we landed early in the morning.  Beijing was cold - about 20 degrees - and the airport wasn't much warmer.  It's a huge airport that has ceilings reaching about 50 feet high, so there are a lot of cold draft blowing throughout the terminal.  The picture with the sun was taken on the way over to Thailand and that was the first time we saw the sun in about 24 hours.  On the way back, it was extra foggy, but it might have been a mix of fog and smog.

J.J. Grill was the place to eat.  A short walk from our hotel was our "hang out" spot.  We ate a lot of meals here, played a lot of cards, and always got ice cream for dessert and our walk home.  We rented motorbikes from here and got our laundry done.  Jane's family owns the place and it has been open for 15 years.  Her sister does massages all day.  The picture of the food is chicken stir-fry with young chili, which isn't too hot (it's got a little kick), but it's got a great flavor.

Lambo was the family dog at J.J. Grill.  He became more comfortable with us as we came there everyday.  It's found it amusing that Lambo learned to understand Thai and would obey his owners when they asked him to sit or come.  I struggled learning the numbers so I could tell my caddie what club I wanted to hit.

"Monkey Island" - the first day we rented motorbikes we drove South and ended up at this location, which was atop a step hill, right on the ocean.  It has a large temple (no pictures allowed) and it's surrounded by monkeys.

We rented motorbikes a couple times during our trip.  It's a cheap way to get around, but I had never ridden a motorbike so I was a little nervous at first.  Especially considering that we immediately got onto the highway and went 70 or 80 km/h.  No major accidents, just one small crash as we arrived at "Monkey Island".  My bike crashed into Jeff's - my shin was scraped and the front fender broke off (small fine when we returned the bikes).

This is one of my favorite photos from my trip.  The old fashioned sewing machine (operated by a foot pedal!) with a seasoned woman working hard, but maybe not too hard judging by the coconut drink nearby.

Our last day in Thailand we rented motorbikes, but we had to return them to a place about 7 kilometers away from our hotel and J.J. Grill.  Jane actually drove us up there to pick up the bikes and when we dropped them off we could've hailed a taxi, but we decided to walk.  How many miles is 7 kilometers? It's over 4 miles.  We ended up walking about 3 of those miles on the beach, alongside the ocean.  This picture is of a full moon with the moonlight reflecting off the ocean.  If you look closely at the horizon, you'll see a bright "dot" of light.  That's a green light from a fishing boat that is out to sea.

The trip to Thailand was a great experience and really proved that traveling across the world isn't out of my comfort zone for a golf tournament.  I wouldn't have been able to do this trip a few years ago because it was difficult to travel outside of the midwest.  Since then, my game has evolved far beyond Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas.  It's even matured past Arizona and North Carolina.  I'm excited to make any trip where the golf tournaments are good enough.  This summer I'll have the PGA Tour Canada and I'm already eying the European Tour Q-School which is in the fall.

Besides PGA Tour Canada, I'll most likely spend the month of May out east playing eGolf Tour.  Until May I'll be in Arizona playing All-American Tour.

Neil

Final stage - 2nd Round

That was over quick. It doesn't even seem like final stage has started and its over for me. A second round 73 will leave me way outside of the top 100 cut.

I had chances today, but failed to make the putts, which is similar to yesterday where my 75 could've been a 71 with decent putting. But no excuses, I didn't play well these past two days.

Again I'm stuck waiting for a shuttle, but this week it isn't after a 69. I'm starving and very sweaty so this afternoon will be spent relaxing.

I might post more later, but for now I'm too disappointed to elaborate. Check Twitter for some new pictures that I got in the last few days.

Neil

Final Stage - 1st Round

Bad first round, almost identical to last week. Didn't score well. Made no putts and had no momentum.

1st round score - 75

I've got a quick turn around before an early second round so this will be short. I'll post more tomorrow after the second round.

www.asiantour.com

Neil

Final Stage Practice Rounds

The past 2 days have been practice rounds for the final stage of Asian Tour Q-School.  The tournament has about 250 players.  Everybody will play one round on Imperial Lakeview Course (which I played last week) and one round on Springfield Royal GC, then the field will be cut to low 100 and ties.  The final 2 rounds will be played at Springfield.

I've spent the practice rounds at Springfield getting accustomed to the new course.  It has much better greens, with way less grain, but still quite a bit.  Overall, it's in better shape that the course I played last week, but it is a little bit tougher layout.  It has several elevated greens and is a little bit longer.

I'm going to keep this post short because I'm going to spend the afternoon resting.  The past 3 days have been the hottest since we got here.  Sunday we relaxed and spent time at the beach.  Jumping in the ocean helped cool things down, but Monday and Tuesday were spent on the course practicing and the heat/humidity wore me out.

My first round tee time is Wednesday at 11:35 am local time - 10:35 pm Wisconsin, 9:35 Arizona.

Neil