After shooting 71 on Tuesday I knew I needed to make up some ground. My second round could have been a good one, but turned out the be a roller coaster ride instead. I made 6 birdies all day and shot +1 over par. This was a very frustrating round. On those two rounds alone I had made 11 birdies and saw myself at Even par for the tournament. This made the cut on the number and I was first to go off the next day.

Thursday was a roller coaster without all the highs. More like a free fall into a black hole. I shot 78. After an evaluation I had played mostly the same game and got all the bad breaks from the first two rounds. I just did not putt as well. Several lip outs, several plugged bunkers, a couple out of play. Real sloppy to be honest.

I spent a few days in Miami and have been hard at work on my swing to tighten it up for the upcoming events. Things feel good.

After all that I made a little cash and am on my way to my next event. I will be playing at Huntington Hills Golf Course in my home town, Lakeland, FL. This is being conducted by the Moonlight Golf Tour. From there I will go to Orlando for an event and then to the Tallahassee for the Wildwood Open.

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Right now I am in West Palm Beach staying with a good friend Ken Loar. He has been around the block of life a few times and is a real treat to be around. He lives right on the Intercoastal just off Southern Blvd. in West Palm Beach FL. I stayed here in 2005 when I played on the Gateway Tour. From his balcony you can see both the Intercoastal and the Atlantic Ocean. The view is spectacular.

I came down this time to play a Minor League Golf Tour event and the PGA National Resort on the Estate course. The course is nice and the greens are in good shape. With big fairways, short holes and good greens the conditions were perfect for scoring. I had it going well until half way through the back side. I made the turn in 33 (-3) and then birdied 11 to get to 4 under par. Unfortunately a fried egg lie in a bunker and a bad bounce on a cart path cost me three shots. I made 5 birdies and shot 71. My short game was very tidey and my putting was good.

This event is 3 days and can be followed on Minorleaguegolf.com 

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From GPGA Website: 

Round 1 was suspended for the day at 6:08 PM due to inclement weather. Play will resume at 8:00 AM Friday, August 1, 2008 to complete Round 1. Round 2 tee times will begin at 10:30 AM. All tee times will be delayed 3:00 hours from the printed time on the website.

Results

So I have started to tweet. If you dont know what that means then watch this video. Some would call it overkill in regards to there current social network. I call it somewhat amusing and a boredom cure. If you think your getting into it then ask to follow me using my Twitter badge on the right coloumn of this page. The more of you that are on it the more fun it becomes.

 Barnsley Gardens hosted one of 6 qualifying sites for the 2008 Georgia Open. The Open will be contested at Barnsley Gardens Resort on the same course as the qualifier. Only Georgia residents are allowed to play in this event (by definition this would not be an “open” event, but thats a debate for another post) and there are only a few ways to get into this event. One of which is playing in a qualifier and finishing high enough to take one of the alloted spots for the event. The other ways have to do with PGA points and past success in previous opens. I was able to get one of the spots by shooting a (-1)71. I played my way to five under through twelve holes. I was really putting well. Even though I stumbled a little coming in I was able to lock up a spot to play in this years event. 

RESULTS 

This tournament did not go as well as I had liked (side thought = when is golf ever what you would like?). I fired a smooth 79 my first day. When someone asked me how it happened I used a quip from my boss and told them “I lipped out for 78.” It was a disaster and put making the cut seem way out of reach. I have really been playing good as of late and to shoot a high number like that did not sit well.

As the second day started I told myself that if I could somehow get back to even par I could make the cut. To do that I needed a 65. The only way to play great golf is to be patient and just let it happen. So I went out there to give it my best and to play within myself. After I lipped out a 4 footer on the first hole I could have spiraled the wrong direction. Instead I reminded myself that there is a ton of golf left and I am capable of giving myself more opportunities. I hit the ball really well the rest of the day and shot a bogey free 68. I missed only one fairway and one green with the green I missed only being by about an inch. Unfortunately it was not low enough to make the cut. The number turned out to be 145.

Even though I missed the cut my bounce back round gave me good motivation for my next event in Iowa.

About 12 hours from Atlanta is a little town outside Ann Arbor, MI (another little town) called Jackson. This is where my mini tour has brought me in July. The 2008 GJMC will be a 54-hole tournament with a cut after 36 holes. It will be played at Arbor Hills Golf Club Thursday through Saturday, July 10, 11, and 12th. After this tournament I will be heading to Waterloo, IA for the Waterloo Open Golf Classic, put on by the Waterloo Jaycees. This event will be conducted Thursday through Sunday, July 17, 18, 19, and 20th. The Waterloo consists of a 2 day Pro Am and a 2 day shootout for a 1st place check of $40,000.

For this short stretch I will be traveling with Dalton Melnyk (www.daltonmelnyk.com). His roommate has tagged Dalton to be a cross between “Buddy the Elf and a golden retriever.” Needless to say it has and will continue to be an entertaining trip.

Here are some links for more information…

GJMC

Arbor Hills

Waterloo Open

This site lets you customize your own ping bag. If anyone likes what they sees maybe I could hook it up…. maybe I can’t. Either way my golf readers will get a slight kick out of this….. colormysack.com