Thinking Positive About Canadians on the PGA Tour for 2010

Yeah. One reader pointed out that one more Canadian player will probably make it to the PGA at the third stage. Agree.

There's some strong talent in the group of 8. Thinking positive that another will get through.

Moving in the Right Direction: More Canadians Heading Toward the PGA

Looks like we’ve done well this year with eight Canadians making it through to the final stage of PGA Q-School: Graham DeLaet, Kevin-Fortin-Simard, Barrett Jarosch, Ted Brown, Julien Trudeau, David McKenzie, Jon Mills and David Hearn. We should be good to go for at least four or five on the PGA Tour in total.

Maybe more of us can edge up using Chris Baryla’s example. Get in through Nationwide Monday qualifiers.

It would be great to add even more Canadians on the PGA for 2011. There’s a lot of talent. I think we can do it.

The Wild Q-School Journey

Strange things happen at PGA Q-school. Score cards go wild out of the blue. Mostly stress. The cut at 22 or 23 plus ties can vary widely. Aside from the usual like weather, a lot depends on the mix of players who chose a certain location.

At first stage this year, I missed the cut by one shot at minus 4, T-23. Me and the rest of the guys at that spot sure wished that one player above us had messed up on just one shot. Or, that that one bogey for us had never happened. There’s a lot of “if onlys”. That’s golf.

We were in the first wave which had an average cut level of almost 5. In one of the locations, the cut was minus 11. Unbelieveable!

So far in the second wave the average cut’s looking slightly higher at about minus 1 or 2. Might go lower or higher. Depends on the nerves of the different groups the last day.

I’m hoping that we’ll have some Canadian players make it through this year. It’d be nice to have at least one guy join Chris Baryla and a few more at Nationwide. This might be the year where we do it.

Back on Track

Whew! Got my exempt status Can Tour card, finally. It’s been a tough couple of years sidelined by an injury last year and under the gun with a time-limited medical exemption status this year. It’s good to get back on track.

The last four days were more stressful than PGA Q-School. Not being able to compete regularly in the Can Tour puts a major hole in opportunities to play at the developmental level.

We were all stressed out. One guy completely missed his early tee time for the second round. He made the mistake of clicking into the tee times from last year—he was in the 2008 Q-school. He had to wait till the end of the day to play. His score went wild.

On the final day, one of our threesome just made it to the first hole after two of us were already walking down the fairway. A ball whizzed by us. OK he made it. But, he tripled and doubled before settling down. Cost him exempt status (made non-exempt).

Handling the mental side sure is tough. While we were having trouble keeping a lid on our emotions, Tiger got in the zone and shot a 62 in the third round of the BMW Championship. He’s a great role model.

Thinking Too Much? Do the Oppostie

I sometimes look back to my amateur years as a time when I did not think too much. I just hit the ball and got the job done. Kinda an innocent time. Just a part-time “job”. There was a lot I really didn’t know or think about.

Now as a pro, “thinking too much” seems to be creeping in. Too much left-brain analyzing. Not enough right brain. The imaging and “feel” part of the game. My coaches are working with me on building up---maybe re-building--- the imaging side.

Interesting thing I have learned. The brain doesn’t know how to stop something, like thinking too much. But it can start or build more of a habit. That will cause the “bad habit” to shrivel---lack of use.

Simple idea. Hard to put into practice.

The Tiger Effect

Tiger just keeps raising the bar. With his 68th PGA Tour title at the Buick Open on August 3, 2009, he’s having an effect. For us young pros, we keep learning from him. How he handles himself and how hard he works. But, if you are playing in the same tournament with him and he’s on a streak, it’s tough.

My family told me about some research last year on what it’s like for other pros when Tiger hits the gas. Their scores go higher. But when Tiger’s in a slump, the pros are OK.

It would be interesting to know what the pros have to say.

Memories of Hole-in-One Past

The record four aces at the RBC Canadian Open reminds me of another July seven years ago. In the same week two days apart at the same golf course at the 3rd par 3 hole I dropped an ace and so did my mother. What are the chances of that?