Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Hola amigos!

Hola amigos!

After spending a week in Puerto Vallarta, I’d like to think that I’m fluent in Es-pan-yo. I should be able to speak it since I took Spanish from 4th grade all the way through 13 hours in college. My Spanish accent sounds a little different from the true Mexicans down south.

I’ll be honest, I was going to update while I was in Mexico but I got a little burnt out by typing and I was worn out by the end of each day so I put it off until now. I’m currently on a plane filled with Duramed Futures Tour players as we are heading up north to Houston and then I’m making It further north to OK City for a week to get rested and ready for Daytona Beach, FL next week. I’m very thankful for this week off so I can go home and see my dog Penny, who has probably forgotten about me. It’s going to be a busy week but I’m excited to sleep in my own bed, drive my Jeep (hopefully with the top off since we are expecting 80+ degree temps!) and seeing friends and family. Being on the road for two weeks straight, golfing every single day is tough and not a vacation like some people think it is. I was in bed by 9 o’clock every night and up by 6 every morning which is a shocker to people who know me. I’m hoping I can keep it up once I get home. I like having a normal human being’s sleep schedule!

So for people who are interested in how my last week spent in Mexico went, I’ll give you all some details…

I flew from Orlando to meet Mama Dye in Houston on Monday morning and we went from there down with a bunch of other Duramed Futures Tour players to Puerto Vallarta. The only time I’ve been out of the country is to Cancun for my senior trip so I knew I would be in for a culture shock. Once we landed my hair went POOF! I knew I would be sporting the braid the entire time I was there. We took an itty-bitty car to our resort and thank goodness my clubs took up the entire front seat because I think I would have screamed if I saw how the driver was driving. I don’t think they have to take a driver’s test in Mexico because it’s like Nascar. We had a simple check in to the resort and within a matter of minutes we were in our bathing suits soaking up the sun by the pool. We later met my good friend Lucy Nunn and her dad for an early dinner and watched the sunset over the ocean. Monday was a good day because it was the only day of my 14-day stint that I didn’t have a golf club in my hands. That makes it sound like I hate golf but everybody needs time off from something they do all the time.


Mama Dye and I at dinner the first night we were in Mexico

I woke up at the crack of dawn Tuesday and teed off with a group of fun friends at 7:30 Tuesday morning and saw the course, El Tigre, for the first time. It was in great shape compared to the prior week’s tournament course. I had a feeling that this was the week I would be able to fall in love with my new bag of clubs. I left the course pretty quickly once we were finished and met my mom down at the pool once again. This was the day that I got fried, but my skin loved it. Tuesday night was the Welcome Cocktail Party at the resort. The people down there do it up big! We had an open bar, tons of food, deserts, and a mariachi band to top it off. It was a lot of fun and everyone showed up looking nice.



Wednesday was a short day of practice because the pro am took up the course for the day. I got up early, practiced for a good 2 hours and called it a day. I’m not one to spend all hours of the day beating balls and killing myself before a tournament. I’ve always been quality over quantity but some people aren’t wired that way. I feel that if you don’t prepare before getting to a tournament site, you’re already behind. I grabbed the shuttle back to the resort and found my mom baking in the sun. My dad was due to get in a little after lunch and we made it easy for him by meeting us at the pool. I think he was happy to be there.



I had heard you could take a boat to downtown Puerto Vallarta so I made the decision to go ahead and made a reservation for the three of us, as well as Lucy Nunn and her dad Ron. We left out of a marina at our resort on a water taxi boat and made the 30-minute ride in the ocean downtown. It was later in the afternoon so the waves were pretty big and the “captain” told us that if we sat on the right side of the boat we would get wet. I was at the front ride part of the boat so I was excited! Little did I know that we would catch a huge wave and I flew in the air and landed into a strange man’s lap! I told the guy “well, it’s nice to meet you!” I gave everyone on the boat a show because they could not stop laughing. It would have been really funny if I would’ve flown to my right and out of the boat! There were dolphins jumping around the water taxi so that was pretty neat. Going downtown was crazy! They had cobblestone streets, action everywhere, and people desperately wanting your money. I didn’t buy anything but took quite a bit of pictures. We took a “normal taxi” back to the resort later that night and my gosh was it an experience! Those guys cut in between traffic like it’s no big deal! Going 90mph and then coming to a complete halt! We were talking crap about his driving and I can promise you he knew English. You’ll never believe this but the same taxi driver showed to take us the airport today! I think he recognized us as well.


Water taxi! Lucy and I getting ready to go!

Thursday was another early morning with my final practice round with my friends Kendra Hanson, Lucy Nunn, and Tara Goedeken. We had a great time and of course I headed to the pool afterwards. My parents and I escaped for a dinner by ourselves and made it an early night so I could get some sleep for my first round.


My dad and I at dinner

I teed off at 9:05am Friday and played with Garrett Phillips of Georgia and Kelly Lagedrost of Florida. It was good to play with some country girls but unfortunately my putter didn’t want to be my friend that day. I think I had a career high round with putts but hit the ball pretty well. I shot three over and the putting is what caused that score. I overread every putt and continued to do so throughout the entire tournament. At least I was missing it on the pro side I guess…


Warming up

Saturday I played with my friend Selanee Henderson, who has a famous UFC brother Dan Henderson, and a 13 year old girl from Mexico…pure talent! I had a better day score wise but still had an ice-cold putter in 85 degree temps! I shot one over and made the cut for the second straight week so that’s always good news. I went to dinner with my parents that night but as soon as we sat down I had to leave to go back to my room because sickness hit me like a freight train. I don’t want to get into details but I was up all night being sick. I was thinking that I would have to withdraw for the final round because there was no way I could play. Thankfully I kept it together and played a full round on a complete empty stomach and shot even par. I played with Alison Walshe who is a great player that I had never played with before. We had a good time Sunday and had trouble understanding each other’s accents ha! I ended up getting T46th and am currently 38th on the money list after two events.

I had Lucy and her dad come out and watch my final round as well as my friend Kendra’s dad. It was awesome to see them out there supporting them with my parents. A big group of us went to this neat outdoor restaurant called Fajita Republic. They would pour tequila over the fajitas and a huge flame would fly in the air. I pretty much watched everyone chow down but had the best time because my friend Kendra entertained the whole table with her craziness. She should have her own show! I keep her around so I can laugh and laugh and laugh.


Dinner with friends

I’m happy to be heading home for a week before returning to the east coast, Daytona Beach, FL. I’ve played that course for Final Stage of LPGA Q School so I should be good to go if I can figure out how to read those dang Bermuda greens!

On a side note, I’m trying to make my Facebook account a little more private but have added a Kendall Dye Golf fan page so please join that if you haven’t already and if you have a Twitter account, you can follow me at kendall_dye. Thanks so much!

What I’m Reading: The Help by Kathleen Stockett

Monday, March 22, 2010

Florida's Natural Charity Classic in the Books!

Boy I sure am glad that I decided to wait until today to write on my blog instead of late last night. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare this morning. People warned me to get to the airport earlier than normal since I’m flying out of the country. I think checking in and going through security went faster than a normal flight because I’ve been chilling in Orlando’s terminal for quite some time now. I was able to watch Tiger’s interviews from yesterday and I must say that I liked Kelly Tilghman’s much better. Check out the interviews if you haven’t seen them. Tiger looked a little paler than normal…

Welp, let me do a quick update for everyone and then I’ll be on my way to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for the next week.

Friday’s first round began with a shaky start that I couldn’t seem to get rid of. The atmosphere was pretty awesome, stands, flags, tents, and people everywhere! It was a zoo! I wasn’t really expecting it and waiting around until 2:30pm to tee off was another factor that I wasn’t used to for a tournament round. I tried to relax all morning by watching ESPN and catching up on all the March Madness but I just kept thinking about golf shots and I was tired of waiting around. The weather was absolutely perfect and we finished just before dark. I was 6 over on par 5s, had 4 penalty strokes and shot 7 over. Not what I wanted to start out the Duramed Futures Tour season with. I knew that I needed to get back to my normal self and do some work on Saturday morning. The second round was another day of beautiful weather and I was able to change it around by going 2 under on the par 5s and ended up shooting 3 under overall. 79-69. In less than 15 hours in between rounds. Funny how golf is huh? People thought it was pretty funny so they got a few interviews from me and I went on my merry way back to my host housing and relaxed for the rest of the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiCYMC_XUwk

Yesterday (Sunday) we had an early teetime in hopes of getting finished before the storm hit. I had a nice chip in on my 3rd hole but found some trouble again on some holes that just don’t set up nicely to my eye. I came back on the final 9 by making some long birdie putts and just tried to get it back to even for a not so stellar round. I was standing on my last hole, 66 yards out, when they blew the siren for all of us to come in. The skies were crackling above us and it was getting a little dangerous. Thankfully we were right in front of the clubhouse so we didn’t get poured on like the rest of the field who made the cut. We watched as it poured and poured and after a few hours of waiting, they called the entire final round off. It’s really disappointing for a lot of girls because it was moving day for ones who were playing good in the poor weather. I really felt bad for the girls around the lead because people were dropping and people were moving up so they had to go back to who was leading before the final round in order for a sudden death playoff. I ended up getting a decent paycheck on top of a closest to the pin check from Friday’s round. It was a cheap trip so hopefully I made a little money overall! Phil did a wonderful job caddying for me and is now headed to play in the Monday qualifier for the Nationwide Tour event down in Lafayette, LA this morning on 0 sleep. Crazy guy but I'm thankful for him!

I headed up to Orlando with my friend and her family for some dinner at Downtown Disney and then retreated to a nearby hotel to get some sleep in a nice, big bed! I woke up early this morning and am getting excited to meet my mom in Houston’s airport as we make our way down to Puerto Vallarta. My dad gets in on Wednesday and so I’ll have both parents there this week. We play Friday-Sunday once again, making the cut to play on Sunday. Live scoring will be found on futurestour.com I don’t know how I’m going to make it without my phone for a week but I’m praying that the resort will show March Madness games! I’ll do my best to update and get a tan for everyone. My only means of contact will be email so holler at me whenever! I hope everyone is getting warmer weather wherever you are and thanks for much for staying up-to-date with me!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

It's Finally Game Time!

Let me first warn everyone I'm bloggin it up tonight on my iPhone so I apologize if I cut it short. Not sure how long my right thumb is going to last. So here we go!

I'm in Winter Haven, FL with my friends Kendra Hanson (Iowa State alum) and Jessi Gebhardt (Oregon State alum.) We are staying in private housing with this nice couple from the upper northeast. The Bronx I believe? I'm having an extremely hard time understanding what they say or ask me because I can't get the quick accent down. I probably pause for 5 seconds before I respond because half of the time I've got no clue what they just said. I think they're from Boston, not tha Bronx or else I'd be able to handle that!

I got in Tuesday afternoon and had a nice leisurely practice. We did a little grocery shopping and went back to hang with our host family. I bonded by watching and critiquing American Idol with them on their 50" HD tv. It's a beauty.

Yesterday morning was terrible waking up so early, considering Kendra and I are sharing a room and we can't go to bed without laughing and talking about off the wall topics for at least an hour. We had to be at the clubhouse at 815am for a 4 hour Rookie Orientation that lasted until 1:00pm. We had a quick bite to eat then warmed up for our practice round that was delayed because of a morning pro am that ran over. The three of us played with my good friend Lucy Nunn (Arkansas alum) and she was my chauffeur. I probably didn't allow her to focus like she needed to because I tell a lot of random but worthy stories out there on the course. I realized that today, I was probably an awful teammate in college and in high school because I bring up the most random things and probably crude topics during times that we should be focused. I just enjoy a good laugh and think everyone else should join in to my "mind in the gutter" thoughts. Rooming with Kendra this week is not helping the cause. We actually got in 18 holes and had to go to a "Meet the Pros" party back in the clubhouse. I looked great for it because no hats are allowed in the clubhouse. My hair looked stellar! We scarfed down some food and came on back to the house like walking zombies. Great news...we had to be back at the course at 7 this morning for a 7:30am practice round shotgun.

Shoot me! People who know me know how much I love my sleep. I played with the same girls again but this time my caddy was there! Phillip Bryan! He caddied for me in January when we got 2nd in Orlando and I was playing irons that were 2 1/2 degrees off from
what I needed them to be. Terrible ball striking that week I must say...

Phil drove down to Houston on Tuesday night, had a 4 hour nap and played 18 holes with a friend. At 2pm yesterday he hopped in the car and drove until 6:30am today. He caddied for me the 14 holes we played and never complained once! He's going to be here with me through Sunday and drive back to Louisiana for a Nationwide Monday quailifier. I think he enjoys making himself miserable. I'm going to play hard for him this week so I can give him some good $ for being such an awesome guy. Anyone who wants to donate to the fund, I'll let you all know how it can get to him :)

Us girls came back to practice for a few more hours once today's pro am went off and by that time, I was ready to get out of there. We came home and I immediately went to the couch to watch some good basketball. My bracket is holding up for me and I feel good about things.

Phil, Kendra, Kendra's dad, Kirby Dreher (Kent State alum), and myself went to a sports bar to watch more basketball and I found myself chowing down on some wings. I needed some meat! They were fulfilling and the only other exciting news of the night was I squirted a huge amount of nasty lotion up my nose when I tested them out at cvs. I am kind of clumsy at times...

Tomorrow is kind of a big day...it's the first round of the first event of my first year as a Duramed Futures Tour player. I'm
proud to be a member of this Tour because everywhere I look I see my college friends who were standout collegiate golfers and talent I really respect. I feel with every bone in my body that I belong here and that it's a wonderful stepping stone in preparing me on what's to come. Mentally, I know that I'm able to contend with anyone out here, it's just a matter of maintaining that mindset and staying patient. I'm so grateful to be doing what I'm doing and blessed may be a word that's overused but I find it fitting in my situation. I've got some priceless relationships in my life who make me love life and love giving it my all everyday.

Quick shoutout to my mama because it's her birthday today as well as my parents 32nd wedding anniversary. They were married as babies and there's no way I'm wired to do such a crazy thing at such a young age. :) Love them to death and really wish they could be here this week but someone has to use our March Madness tickets so I guess it was them. Just kidding!

You can stay up to date with live scoring on futurestour.com. I'll be teeing off at 2:25pm eastern time. Me and my right thumb are going to bed now. Take care everyone!