My debut into the world of weekly pre-qualifying for Champions Tour events has begun! The results thus far are mixed. I am 0-for-two in my two starts, but was competitive and had my chances coming down the stretch.

As my legion of loyal fans are well aware, the end game of this 3 year adventure is q-school this fall. Everything I have worked on since 2005 points to those 2 weeks. I want to play well and have as much success as possible in everything I do, and every time I play golf I want to set the course record. There have been so many "firsts" over the past 3 years, these qualifiers are just one more in the long line of firsts.

My first week out there was on Long Island and we played at Rockaway Hunt Club. The actual tournament I was qualifying for was the Commerce Bank Classic at Eisenhour Park. I loved the course and had Stephen out with me for a few weeks and he was great. The course was short but played tough because the wind was blowing off the sound and we were right in the landing pattern of JFK. I shot 73 to miss by 3. I was in good shape after 11 holes as I stood 1 under, and then made 2 terrible bogeys on 12 and 13, and hit one out of bounds on 16 (a par 3) where the road was only 25 feet or so from the edge of the green. My nerves were actually pretty good and I felt OK about things even thought he results were poor.

The next week we went up to Binghampton, NY for the Dicks Sporting Goods pre-qualifier. We played at Links at Hiawatha Landing which also was a good track. I had a similar result to last week where I missed a playoff by 3 by shooting 76. The golf course was tough, and I faded by bogeying the last 3 holes and was obviously very disappointed. I shot 1 over on the front with a 3 putt and no birdies. Pretty solid. I was still 1 over in the middle of 16 fairway with a 9 iron in my hand and pulled it ( to the short side no less) and then missed a 10 footer for par after a tough chip. At the time I felt like I needed to make something happen and just hit it left. On 17 I(a 210-yd par 3) I hit a good shot just in the rough and had another tough chip and missed about an 8 footer coming back for my par. I made a meaningless bogey at 18 for my 76, and I knew I was out of it on the tee.

Does anyone see a pattern here?!? I need to do a much better job of finishing off my rounds. I was in position to advance in both events and got a little ahead of myself and did not play as strong as I needed to coming down the stretch. I am trying to stay in the present and play one shot at a time, but for some reason I have not been able to get it done. I will learn from these situations, and get better. I have gone through some periods where I have closed strong to finish off good rounds, but have gone the other way as well. It is frustrating, but I remain encouraged that my efforts will be rewarded. I will not do another qualifier until September, and will pick back up on the mini-tour circuit in July.