Tuesday, February 25, 2014

2014 is Off and Running!

First Symetra Tour event of 2014 is in the books!

We began our season last week in Mesa, AZ.  I was so thankful that it was in my own backyard!  I was able to sleep in my own bed, cook in my own kitchen, and drive my own Jeep that week.  The simple things in life most people take for granted yet they are the things I crave the most while on the road.

I had played Longbow Golf Club many times so I was pretty comfortable heading into the tournament.  Billy was on the bag and I told him there was one new rule this year…don’t pull my clubs. I sometimes appear to be laid back but when it comes to me and my golf, I love to do my own numbers, read most of my own putts, and rely on my own judgments. I really do appreciate a good caddy to be my teammate but something I learned late in last year’s season was I prefer to pull my clubs from the bag. Golfers are weird and I’m not exempt from that category.
                                                                                                                     
I played pretty solid in my opening round and shot a disappointing two over par. I had work to do on Saturday afternoon and work I did!  Golf came very easy to me and I shot a simple 67, five under par.  It was a pretty easy 67 other than missing a two footer for my lone bogey on the day.  We have a weekend ritual of stuffing our faces with sushi so I celebrated the low round with a ton of fresh fish. I went to bed and woke up on Sunday and golf became more difficult to me on the final round. It was an uphill climb the entire day and thankfully birdied the final hole to get it back to even on the day, 3 under for the tournament.  I ended up placing T-14th.  With two out of three poor rounds I will take a 14th place finish.  I have a ton of room for improvement but I also had some moments of greatness in those three rounds. 

Immediately following the final round I drove over to La Quinta for the 15th Sooners in the Desert weekend.  It was my 5th year to participate and I was grateful that my schedule was able to fit it in.  It is a huge fundraiser for the University of Oklahoma’s home golf course, Jimmie Austin GC.  A ton of Sooner donors, former student-athletes, coaches, Athletic Directors, and celebrities participate.  It is a ton of fun and we raised a lot of money for the golf course.

I made my way over this morning to Industry Hills, CA for my first practice round on this week’s tournament course.  I have played many, many golf courses in my life but this one ranks high up on the list for being the hilliest course.  I am not sure how we are going to get the players around in a decent amount of time.  We are expected to receive around 4 inches of rain Friday and more on Saturday so it could make out for an interesting weekend.  I’m having Billy fly in to tote my bag thankfully. 


This is my 5th season on the Symetra Tour.  I love this game.  I love what I do.  I am so thankful for the support from my sponsors Charlie and Cassie. I could not do it without you.  I have many others who push and pull for me and I truly appreciate it.  I think this is going to be a great year!