Mini Tour play. - Page 35

I'm back at it. After the broken collarbone on Sept 2nd. I was fully cleared to play December 3rd. Didn't really jump back into the game though. Instead I focused on caddying for my buddy Sam. Did PGA Tour QSchool late Sept. and we just got back from Thailand for Asian Tour QSchool last Sunday. What. A. Time!! As you could probably imagine. Sam didn't fair as well as we had though. But he's got two more shots at some big time golf. OneAsia Tour QSchool is next week and has a local SoCal site, and then Northern Trust Qualifying is Feb 5th. As much fun as it is to play, carrying the bag for this kid around the world would not be the worst time...

That being said, I played my first tournament round today, and about my eight round since being OK'ed by my surgeon? As far as practice goes, I haven't. I'd say I've spent 1.5 hours hitting balls, and 30 minutes putting. Maybe that was a good thing? I was in total control today. Lacing drives, hitting my numbers with approach shots, and dropping putts. not just making them, but it seemed like the ones I did make were all center cup and at perfect speed. I was on! Except, hole 17, where I triple bogeyed, hahaha. That knocked my to +1 for the round. I did manage to pull myself together on the challenging finishing hole. Pounded another driver, hit a 5 iron that didn't quite draw and would up in a greenside bunker, hit that bunker shot to 4' and like I'd mentioned, right in the heart with the putt. -2 would have put me in a Tie for 3rd, +1 dropped me back to a Tie for 9th. That got me a little loot. Plus I took two of the eight skins on the day! One tournament played, and in the plus in the money!

Maybe it was being around all that high-level golf in Thailand? I don't know, but something certainly rubbed off on my game. If today went bad I was seriously going to rethink what I was doing with professional golf. Now I know that I can still play this game, and enjoy it as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beachcomber 

Congrats on getting your health back.  Great to hear that you are back at it.  When is your next tournament?

Thanks! Northern Trust Qualifying in Feb 6th.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bpollino89 

Hey Ben! Saw your results at the qualifier. Looked like it was tough out there, lot of guys struggled. Keep it up.

Hey, thanks. Not so much a tough day as that I took a spill the day before running (for excersize of all things) and ended up getting a huge piece of skin tear off in my right palm, bigger then a quarter. And also! re-sprained my left wrist. That being the case, I actually did okay, sorta. hahaha.

One of the kids I know made it past that day, Sejun (21yo), but couldn't get passed Monday. There was actually a 17 year old that I've known for a while that made it to Monday, but as well, not passed. Another youngster, Todd Baek (21) has played three web.coms and a PGA Tour event in the last five weeks. And made each cut! We'll see what he does tomorrow. So far he's looking as solid as his previous tries. Lastly, another 21yo, John Kim, is getting his feet wet on the One Asia Tour. He shot -17 in the Thailand Open to tie for 20th. Kids are crazy these days!!