I'm Still Alive!!!!!

Well it has been way too long since I updated my website and for that I am sorry and a lot has happened in that amount of time so ill try to make sense as I explain. To start I played in my first event of the year the Major at Savanna Lakes Resort in McCormick South Carolina. I am sure most of you have looked for my results but for those of you who didn't, holy crap was I nervous!!! It is very strange what a major event and a big crowd will do to the trusty nervous system. All I can say is it was a rough start to a not so disappointing performance and let me explain why... After the first day of golf due to a fog delay with the morning tee times, the afternoon times didn't start until very late and I didn't get to finish my round, in fact I was lucky to get half way done, and by that time the tournament was already well out of reach for me and let me tell you it was rough sleeping after what I did on my first 11 holes. For those of you who didn't look it up I was 14 over par after 11 holes... Yea it was that bad, but let me get to the good part, the tour has a rule that if a player in his first round shoots 86 or higher he is cut after only one round instead of two, I guess to put him out of his misery or something, but anyhow if you haven't already done the math after 11 holes if I was to par out I would shoot 86 and be unable to play the second round missing out on the valuable tournament experience. I went into the second half of the round un-fazed by what happened the first day knowing that I needed to fire 1 under for the last seven holes and wouldn't accept any less of myself! I started off with a couple of ho hum par's on 12 and 13, followed by a tremendous par at the 14th. I then birdied the par five 15th and everything was going as I planned all I needed was three pars on the way in and I was set, so hit a great tee shot and pared the 240 yard par three 16th only to make a foolish mistake that lead to a bogey on the fairly simple par four 17th... So there I was standing atop the tee of the 470 yard par four beast of an 18th hole knowing it was birdie, or go home... So I ripped a drive down the middle of the fairway, hit a great seven iron into the green to about five feet, and drained the birdie giving the biggest fist pump ever seen after a round of 85! Although it was a difficult tournament as far as my score was concerned, I gained so much from it especially the fact that I got to play the second round, it was as valuable to me as a victory!!

With that being said I am happy to say the in the two week break between SC and IL Joe and I drove to Chicago and had a great week with my aunts and cousin from the Chicago area, what a treat it has been to enjoy all of their company, hospitality and wonderful cooking! Also I was able to give myself a great birthday present and fly home for a week where I surprised my mom who was kept in the dark about my trip thanks to all of you who kept my secret, and I was so glad because I know she was so excited to see me as I was to see her! I just arrived back in Illinois this evening and am preparing for the tournament next week. Thanks to all of you who still frequently check my website and sorry again it has been so long, I will be posting after my first practice round and probably more often after that.