Advancing Through 1st Stage

My week in Dayton, NV was a success in that I advanced through 1st stage and onto 2nd stage.  I'll recap each round and discuss some of the major moments of each day.  You can follow along with my scorecard here.

FIRST ROUND -
Tuesday's round began on #10, but only after a 20 minutes frost delay.  The overnight lows dipped into the 20s and I put on several layers of clothing to prepare.  The sun was going to be out, but the wind was forecasted to blow all day and it did, keeping the temperature very cool.  My first 5 holes were down wind and I missed an opportunity to get off to a really fast start.  Being 1-under through 5 was just average and the final 4 holes on the back side would be right back into the wind.  I played 15-18 well, with a lone bogey at the long and difficult 17th.

On the front side I 3-putted 2, but bounced back right away with a birdie on 3.  I only had 8 feet for eagle on 3 thanks to a big drive and only a gap-wedge left in.  The final 3 holes on the front nine were back into the wind so finishing with 3 pars was a good way to finish the difficult 1st day.

Take a look at the statistics and you'll see that day 1 was the toughest day, by far!  The cool temps, high winds, rock hard greens, and tough pins really had the course showing it's teeth.

SECOND ROUND -
Another cold morning and another frost delay.  This round began on #1 and I got off to a bad start.  I failed to birdie the down-wind 3rd hole and then 3-putted 4.  Bad approach shots on 5 and 7 led to 2 more bogies and I was quickly +3.  On the 8th hole I hit a good drive, leaving myself only 220 yards to the green, but I decided to lay up instead of flirting with the water that surrounds the green.  My strategy paid off when I made a 15 footer for birdie.  Once I made the turn, my game had turned the corner and I started making a lot of good swings.  I birdied both 10 and 11 and found myself hitting every green and having a lot of chances for birdies.  The last hole of the day was another example of following a game plan and having that strategy pay off.  After driving the ball in the fairway, I had 240 to the pin, but only 215 to the front of the green.  Again, I laid up, to give myself a full wedge in and eliminate the chance of hitting it into the water.  I hit my 3rd shot to 12 inches and tapped-in for birdie.

THIRD ROUND -
Thursday was the warmest day of the week and the winds were quite calm.  That still didn't make the course easy because of the rock hard surfaces and fast speeds.  I guessed that the greens were rolling close to 13 on the stimpmeter, but close to 16 if you had a downhill putt.  Definitely some of the fastest greens I've putted on.  My first birdie in the 3rd round came on #4 after I hit a 9-iron to 2 feet.  It curled around the hole and just slipped by the cup.  My bogey on #6 was a 3-putt blamed on an awful approach from the tee.  On #8, I again wanted to lay up, but I had 200 to front edge (and over water) and 229 to the back pin.  I decided to get aggressive and hit a 5-iron, which was plenty of club to carry all the water.  I hit a great shot and had 12 feet for eagle, which I left about a millimeter short.  One birdie and one bogey on the back side left me with a second straight 71.

FINAL ROUND -
Not a good day, but the best stretch came in the middle of the back nine.  I inexplicably hit two tee balls into the water on 7 and 11, leading to bogies.  Mixed in with those water balls were 3-putts on 9 and 13, so I found myself at +2 for the tournament on the 14th tee.  Knowing that I was now close to the cut line, I dug deep and rattled off 3 straight birdies, hitting great drives on 14 and 15 followed by wedge shots that left me makeable putts.  On 16, the hole was playing 207 (199 front edge),  and everything short of the green is water.  I hit 6-iron that landed on the front fringe and trickled back into the rough.  I chipped-in for a 3 straight birdie and assuring myself a trip to 2nd Stage.

I don't know where I'll be sent for 2nd stage yet, but I'll find out Oct. 29th.  Most likely I'll be in Murrieta, CA or Dallas, TX.  Thanks for all of the kind messages after I finished.  It's good to hear from friends after a long week of battling the elements.

Neil

Web.com Tour Q-School 1st Stage

1st Stage of Q-School begins this week and for the second straight year, I'm in Dayton, NV.  This course was my first choice because I really like the greens and enjoyed playing the course last year.  The tournament begins on Tuesday and goes through Friday.

Here's the info page, but on Tuesday you'll be able to click on the 'Results' tab and see the leaderboard.  Despite my disappointing summer, I'm confident going into this week.  My ballstriking has improved, thanks to a slight adjustment to my swing.  My coach and I worked on this adjustment the day I got back from Canada.

I might be back later in the week, but most likely it won't be until after the event.  It's tough for me to talk about each round as opposed to just dealing with the tourney as a week long marathon.

Neil

Calgary Revisited

I'm back in Canada for 6 days and I'm hoping that we're able to play our tournament in Calgary this time.  I was here about 6 weeks ago and a ton of rain flooded downtown Calgary and we weren't able to play our tournament.  They rescheduled it for this week, Tuesday through Friday, and we have completed at least one round.  I play round 2 on Wednesday morning, but the forecast is for rain all day, which shouldn't be a surprise because it's been raining on me all summer.

Follow along at home or work as I tee of at 9am CST.

Neil

Back into the USA for 2 weeks

After playing in Winnipeg I've had 2 weeks back in the US and I "spent my vacation" playing golf tournaments.  First off, I went to Marshall, MN to play a Dakotas Tour event there.  Then I snuck in a CVGA on the weekend at Whispering Pines GC in Cadott, WI.  Finally I went to Yankton, SD to defend my title at the Hillcrest Pro-Am.

Marshalls event was one that I really wanted to play.  I have always enjoyed playing Marshall GC and I have a great family to stay with when I'm in town.  It's a tournament that I've won before so it's fun to go back and try to win again.

I didn't win, but I was happy with the consistency of my game.  71-71-66 put me in a tie for 6th and earned $1485 for the week.  The difference between the first two rounds and the final round were making putts.  I didn't make much during the first two days, but it wasn't because of bad strokes/putts.  During the second round I had a handful of putts curl around the edge of the cup and end up 6 inches past the hole, directly behind it.  All of the putts looked like they were going to go in and rolled beautifully, but they just failed to catch the cup.  All of those putts went in during the final round - especially on the front nine where I shot a 5-under 31.  The putter cooled down on the back.  An unfortunate 3-putt on 10 was my only bogey of the day, but I finished the day with a birdie on the final hole.

A few days later, I played a CVGA event, something I haven't done since 2008.  The weather was very fall like.  Temps didn't even approach 70 degrees, the wind was blowing all day, and we even got some rain on the back nine.  I played well through the difficult conditions and won with a 3-under 69.  My putting was really solid throughout the day, but especially early when my ball striking was trying to figure out the wind.

My last tournament before returning to Calgary was the Hillcrest Pro-Am in Yankton, SD, which was the site of my big win last summer.  Just like Marshall, I was really glad that I could return to this tournament because it's always been a favorite for me.  The course is a great test - you can't just bomb the ball like some other courses and it's a long 4 round tournament that turns into a week long marathon.  I also have a great host family that puts up with me for the week.  Every year I kick one of the kids out of their bedroom and they don't seem to resent me for it.

The tournament started out on Tuesday with the Ladies day Pro-Am.  This wasn't part of the actual tournament, but just another chance to get a practice round and a chance to win some money.  I finished  T-2 and won $550.  The ladies I played with became fans and they recruited their husbands to cheer for me so I was winning over the crowd one marriage at a time.

Thursday was the first round and I got off to a slow start, but finished with a 31 on the back nine, which included a hole out from 88 yards on #4.

Day 2 was a stormy day and I didn't tee off until about 7pm, but I got really lucky.  The players who teed of in the morning had to play through a lot of rain and it was perfect by the time I teed off.  I only played 7 holes on Friday night, but I took advantage of the scoring conditions with birdies on the first 3 holes.  I resumed played on Saturday morning at 7am with 11 holes to finish in round 2 and 18 to play in round 3.  I battled for the rest of the 2nd round and stole a couple of late birdies (#16 and #17) to shoot 68.  I had to time between the 2nd and 3rd round - in fact, I was teeing off on #18 when they announced my 7 minute call to the 10th tee.  The quick turn around didn't bother me and I had a great 3rd round.  I was really hot in the middle of the round playing holes 17-3 6-under par!  One more birdie on #7 after I knocked a wedge to 5 feet and I had a 3rd round 64 and a one shot lead heading into the final round.

I was extremely confident going into the final round, but I knew I had some good players close enough to catch me.  I didn't play as freely as I did in the first 3 rounds and that resulted in a bulky putter.  I didn't make anything and left a lot of putts short.  That opened the door for a bunch of players and Brady Schnell came from behind and caught me by the 10th hole.  I watched Brady make a lot of putts or at least barely miss and that added to my pressure.  I hung close and had a chance with 4 holes to go, but a missed 5 footer for birdie on 15, followed by a lip out on #16 and #17 left me 3 back on the 72nd tee.  I drove it hole high, got up and down for birdie, but had to settle for a T-2nd place finish.

I've been traveling with Brady all summer up in Canada and I knew how well he has been playing.  In the back of my mind I figured he would be the one guy outside of the last group who could catch me.

No break for me.  I'm flying to Calgary on Monday morning to play a PGA Tour Canada event that is Tuesday through Friday.

Neil

Syncrude Oil Sands - Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada

Three weeks ago I traveled to Fort McMurray, Alberta for a golf tournament and was able to take a tour of the oil sands.  My host family took me, as he has worked there since the mid-80s.  Prior to the tour, my knowledge of the oil sands and the process of getting oil from the ground and into our cars was at a 1st grade level.  After the tour, I had only advanced to junior high, but it was a lot of fun to learn the process and see some of the heavy machinery.

Proof that I was there.  My tour guide, "host dad", worked on the fire crew for years and now he trains the volunteer firemen.  He gave me a tour of the firehall and showed me all of the trucks.  The beast in the picture is their emergency response vehicle that has 8-wheel drive and can navigate the mines with speed.

In my hand is a chunk of oil that is mixed with sand.  Didn't feel much different than a chunk of dried mud, but up close it looks quite different and gets your hands very dirty.  The process of separating the oil and begins by adding hot water and moving the sludge into big spinning tubs and eventually the sand falls to the bottom.  After the separation, some very complicated chemical processes are used to refine the oil into Syncrude Sweet Blend.  Simple enough.

One of the many byproducts of the chemical process is sulfur.  They build pyramids of sulfur and plan to turn it into fertilizer.

When mining is completed on a section, Syncrude has to reclaim the land to the way it was before they started.  Some areas are reclaimed as a forrest and pine trees are planted.  Look at the first sulfur picture and you can see a thick green forrest on the horizon.  Those pine trees are all about 10 feet tall.  Another option for reclamation is turning the land into a buffalo ranch.

Dirty

Huge hauling trucks - costs about 5 million dollars

Another huge hauler

'67 Dodge Hemi Charger - how we got to oil sands.

I really had a fun time in Fort McMurray.  That is as far north as I had ever been, but it's a very pretty part of North America.  The town is all about the oil sands.  Nothing else is up there, but the town has a a huge recreation facility - with ice rinks, curling lanes, badminton, floor hockey, fitness center, lap pools, swimming pools, and a water park.

MacDonald Island Park

Pools!

Neil

Players Cup - Winnipeg, MB - Getting Closer and Closer to Minnesota!

I was up early today watching some of the Open coverage, but this afternoon I get to play golf in yet another PGA Tour Canada event.  I've continued my travels east and find myself in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The tournament is being played at Pine Ridge Golf Club which is a wonderful Donald Ross designed course.  Donald Ross designed Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina and he also designed White Bear Yacht Club in Minnesota.  He loved to make greens look like upside down saucers - a big challenge to any players short game.

Storylines

Expert Picks  *spoiler alert, no expert picked me

Leaderboard

Looks like they've started hole-by-hole scoring.

Neil

Syncrude Boreal Open Recap

Final Results - T-19th - 70, 70, 74, 69 - 5-under par.  $1768.75

It was a good week in Fort McMurray, AB.  The end of my third round was a bad 7 hole stretch, but I'm really happy with how I played the other 65 holes.  I stuck to my game plan and had enough confidence in my putting that if my tee shot found the rough, my only goal was to get the ball into the green.

Before the tournament started, I didn't think this golf course would be a great fit for my game.  Fort McMurray golf club is very narrow and they let the rough grow up to nearly 5 or 6 inches in some spots.  You're forced to hit a lot of irons/hybrids/3-woods off of tees and everybody ends up hitting into the green from the same yardage.  I prefer a course that gives you the option to be aggressive with driver, a club that has usually been one of my strengths.

During the practice rounds, my swing didn't feel good, and I honestly hit it very bad on the range and on the course.  The only bright spot was my putting.  Late in the practice round I found that a more aggressive putting stroke produced a more consistent roll for the putts.  The greens were heavy on the poa annua which always makes the greens bumpier as the day moves on, but the aggressive stroke seemed to help keep the ball rolling, instead of hopping.

The shapes and contours of the greens were fairly benign so that gave me more confidence when I reached the greens.  I lived in the rough all week, but from there I just tried to get the ball to the middle of the green and I knew I could 2-putt.  That worked all week and took pressure off of my short game or even my iron play.

Trust me when I say that I lived in the rough.  The most fairways I hit in any round was seven (1st round), but then I only hit three in round 2 and six in the final 2 rounds.  Sticking with my gameplan - to aim at middle of green from rough - I hit 14, 15, 12, and 16 greens in each of the 4 rounds.  That gave me a lot of chances at birdies and resulted in a bunch of tap-ins for pars.

The most positive thing about the week was how my ball striking improved and my confidence grew each day.  That's no doubt a result of the confidence in my putting carrying over to the rest of the game.  It was a lot easy to make confident swings when I knew all I had to do was get the ball onto the green surface.

Glad to have my first top-20 on the PGA Tour Canada especially after the week started off with apprehensive thoughts.

Next tournament is in Winnipeg, MB and then I'm back in the USA for 2 weeks.

** 2013 Schedule & Results have been UPDATED **

Neil

Syncrude Boreal Open - a.k.a. "Oil Sands Open"

It's Thursday, which means the start of another golf tournament.  I tee off later this afternoon, but I'm posting a few links before I get started.  There will be live scoring every 3 holes this week.

Fort McMurray, AB is the furthest north I have been, but the weather has been beautiful and the golf course is cut straight out of a pine tree forest.

I'm hoping to get a tour of the oil sands at some point this week.  If so, I'll have a bunch of pictures.

Neil

Recap Dakota Dunes Open

All done in Saskatoon and I battled all weekend to finish T46, which earned me $651.  That wasn't a great pay day, but keep in mind that I only paid $450 to enter this event (as opposed to normally $1000).  I briefly talked about the first two rounds after Friday's round, but now I'll get into a deeper recap.

FIRST ROUND - 

1st tee time out, 7:30, with perfect conditions and a group that all played well.  I made three birdies and shot 33 on the front, but was beaten by both of my playing partners (30 & 32).  The back nine finished as a disappointing 36 because I had putts inside of 12 feet for birdie on 10, 12, 13, and 18 - and I failed to make any of them.  My lone bogey came on #16 with a bad 3-putt from 25 feet.  Basically my 3-under 69 was 2 or 3 shots higher than what it looked like and felt like.

SECOND ROUND - 

More perfect conditions in the morning helped that wave of golfers reach double digit under par and I teed off at 12:30 wondering if the cut would move to 7 or 8 under par.  I don't really concern myself with what the cut might fall at because I know if I play well, I'll be on the good side, but most of the afternoon golfers were mentioning that the cut could be a record low number.  Once I started playing golf I got off to a slow start and was +1 through 8 holes.  The ninth hole was a down-wind par-5 and I took advantage with a simple 2-putt from 15 feet (eagle try just burned the edge).  Two holes later I had another 2-putt birdie, this time from 40 feet.  The very next hole (3) I hit a 5-iron to about 3 feet and made my second straight birdie - 3rd in 4 holes.  I kept the momentum going with a 3rd straight birdie on #4 after making a nice 10 foot putt.  That stretch of 4 birdies in 5 holes, right around the turn, helped me make the cut on the number.

THIRD ROUND - 

Awful conditions after a 4 hole weather delay made the round very difficult.  It rained for 15 holes and it was just windy enough to annoy you.  I made 2 bogies and a double bogey on the front nine, which included a 3-putt for par on #2.  I birdied #10 and told my caddie that it's about getting those shots back one at a time.  I battled for the rest of the back nine and when the rain stopped with a few holes to go, I managed to make one more birdie on #17.

FOURTH ROUND -

Sunny conditions, but for the first time all week the wind started to blow.  I missed a short putt for birdie on 1, then lipped out for birdie on 2 and 3.  I bogied 2 of the next three holes, but quickly rebounded with a birdie on 16.  My third shot on #16 was 82 yards from the thick left rough.  I hoisted a lob-wedge high in the air and it landed 10 feet short and released right up to the pin - tap-in.  That shot turned my final round back into the good side.  I played pretty solid after that hole and made 3 more birdies without a bogey.

Overall, it's a positive that I made the cut and kept battling throughout the entire weekend.  My putting held me back all week, but that didn't stop me from stepping up on the next tee and hitting the drive right down the middle.

Now that the week is done, I'm off the the next tournament - Fort McMurray, AB.  It's way up north and I'm flying up there tonight.  Tuesday will be a light day for me, just a little bit of practice, before a practice round on Wednesday.  So far, these travels in Canada have been a great experience.  Every week is a new town, new course, new housing, and a new schedule so the biggest challenge has been getting accustomed to everything new as quickly as possible.  I play my best golf when all I'm focusing on is the shot at hand, instead of worrying about my flight to Calgary or trying to find housing in Winnipeg.

Goodbye from Saskatoon,

Neil

Dakota Dunes Open is a Shootout!

Two rounds are complete and the leaderboard is a sea of red.  The cut fell at 6-under par, which is probably the lowest cut I've seen as a pro.  I battled for 2 days and got to 6-under.  My ballstriking has been solid, with a bunch of birdie chances and a few eagle tries each day.  My putting has able been good, but I hope to start rolling in some putts from 15+ feet.  I'd like to believe that I have played better than what my score has been, but that's why it's fun to still have 1/2 of the tournament to play.

My third round starts at 8:30am and we get to play in twosomes, which should keep play moving.

Neil