Kp, I wonder if Nate is having second thoughts about his decision to turn pro? No question he has a lot of talent, but I think his turnaround decision to go pro was a mistake. He could have enjoyed two more years in college and then made his decision. I really do feel for him and hope that his decision to turn pro early does not ruin a lifetime dream.
I don't know Don, I'm sure he (Nick not Nate) thought all of those exemptions into PGA tournaments was too hard to pass up. But then, while he has had tremendous success as an amateur, he may have underestimated the effects of competing day in and day out, practicing, traveling and the publicity that came after his PGA win. I guess the measure will be how the rest of this season goes. If his play improves, and he makes cuts and moves up in rankings then maybe it will be considered a good move. If he continues to miss cuts and shoot high numbers maybe he should have spent another year in Tuscaloosa.
Whenever I wonder about talented golfers turning pro too early I think of Justin Rose who after a great showing in the Open finishing 4th as a teenager spent the next year missing cut after cut (21 consecutive). We know his story, major champion, Olympic Champion, Fed Ex Cup Champion and World number one ranking. He followed his dream and found it.
Charlie Woods is trying to qualify for the tournament formerly known as the Honda Classic. There is a pre-qualifying at a club in Krebs neighborhood in Hobe Sound, Lost Lake Golf Club. From there he would still have to Monday qualify to get in the Tournament
I'm trying to follow the Tour Stop in Mexico but the leaderboard again is a bunch of guys I thought were playing on the Korn Ferry Tour.
The S. African Van Rooyen has been upcoming last season.. Andrew Novak graduated from the Korn Ferry and has been shooting well...Doug Ghim (UT Alum) earned his card and has been playing well. All 3 are 27 to 28 years old...wouldn't surprise me if they win one this year and finish well in majors after the Masters.
Re: Charlie C'mon Tiger...let the kid have fun and play against his peers...just like Earl did with you. Builds better confidence IMHO
Tour rookie (at 29) Jake Knapp wins in Mexico and gets the Masters invite! He hit only 2 fairways! Not that long ago he lost his Korn Ferry Tour Card and was working as a bouncer in a bar. Quite the turnaround. Last time I can remember a story like that was when the Beemer went from selling cell phones in the mall to winning the PGA Championship at Hazeltine
Tour moves to Florida, first stop is in Palm Beach Gardens at the PGA National Resort and Spa a place I stayed at Christmas time 2000 with a family trip, we grew up not far away n the 50's before a move to Texas. My older sister still lives there and we worked in golf and family visit. This used to be called the Honda Classic, it's now the Cognizant Classic and it's not a designated event so the field again is likely to be weak, although Rory will be in the field. Cognizant is an IT/Technology company. Top Players in the field Rory McIlroy +600 Cameron Young +2200 Russell Henley +2500 Matt Fitzpatrick +2800 Min Woo Lee +3000 J.T. Poston +3000 Tom Kim +3000 Shane Lowry +3300 Sungjae Im +3500 Byeong Hun An +3500 Eric Cole +3500 Rasmus Højgaard +4000 Keith Mitchell +4000 Matthieu Pavon +4500 Corey Conners +4500 Sepp Straka +4500 Chris Kirk +4500 Daniel Berger +4500
He's clearly a talented kid, but not a big surprise that he's not just taken the tour by storm. There are a lot of really good players on the Tour and there was bound to be some adjustment period. It's a cold dreary day here in Houston so I've been watching the Cognizant. I've seen 2 guys have to take off some shoes and attempt ot hit a ball in the water. The first guy had both shoes off and took 2 swings and didn't move the ball, finally picked it up and went back to take a drop and then almost hit it in the water again. Made a putt to get an 8. The other guy was Ricky Fowler, who only took 1 shoe off and just stepped up and hit on the green, hardly got any water/mud on him and he put his shoe back on and looked like he just stepped out of the pages of GQ. He hit to about 20 feet and missed the putt for bogey.