What a week! I just finished up at the first tournament of the LPGA Futures Tour season with a 2nd place finish. I am so stoked! After finishing 2nd at the same course at Q-School in November, I had good vibes going in to the week but little did I know how great it was going to be!! The week started out great with a fun practice round with my friends Carrie Riordan and Nikki Hadd. Then I got to visit friends in Lakeland where I went to college. On Thursday, I played in my first Pro-Am. My dad and his company sponsored a team and we finished in a tie for 2nd! It was a fun day and I was happy to play with them for my first Pro-Am on the Futures Tour. Friday was the first round of the tournament and my boyfriend, Travis was on the bag caddying. I played great and had 5 birdies and was 5 under going into my 18th hole. It was a par 5 and after missing the green well short, I hit a horrible chip and preceded to 3 putt to settle for a 69. It was a disappointing ending to a great day but Travis reminded me, you can't win it on the first day. This sets you up to be in the leader groups. Sure enough I was tied for 4th and 2 shots back. On Saturday, I had another steady round and had 6 birdies to shoot a 68. On my first hole, I almost knocked it in from 110 yards!! It was great to start with a birdie. I finished 1 shot back from the leader and would be in the final group on Sunday.
Travis and I decided to match on Sundays whenever he caddies :)Sunday was the final day and what an exciting day it was!!! It was pretty windy and I had to stay patient to determine where the wind was blowing because it kept switching. I made 
8 solid pars with a good birdie on #3 to take a 2 shot lead going into the back 9. Then things got real exciting and intense!! We had a great gallery with my parents and a lot of people from Lakeland that I knew or were rooting for the "local" girl since I went to college 20 minutes away from the tournament site. On #10, I 3 putted and parred the short par 5 #11 to loose my lead and go into a tie with Tzu-Chi Lin. On #12 I knocked it to about 20 feet. After seeing Lin knock her putt I knew I had to make mine. Sure enough, I rolled it in to stay tied for the lead. #13 was another good par 5 and Lin had knocked her approach shot to 6 inches. I preceded to knock mine to 1 foot to solidify my birdie. The next hole, Lin birdied and I parred so I was 1 down. We both boggied the next which leads us to #16. #16 is a dog-leg left around trees. I hit what I thought was a perfect drive but it barely knicked a tree and kicked dead left into trees. My stance was up against a tree and I had to punch out to the fairway. As I was walking out of the trees frustrated, one of the gallery members said "don't give up, you got this, you can do this!" So after pacing off 83 yards, I knew a solid 54 degree wedge was a good shot to set up a par chance. It landed on the green and I sighed a relief when I saw it near the hole and thought, great I've got my par save! 2 seconds later, Travis yelled, "one time!" and sure enough I made it for birdie!!!!!!!!!!! What a birdie!!!! The gallery was cheering so loudly and the other 2 girls and caddies gave me high fives. That birdie 
put me back in the tie for the lead!!!! After calming down, I hit a great 5 iron to 20 feet on a par 3 and missed the putt for birdie. Tied for the lead with Lin going into the last hole. I decided to stick to my game plan, hit a 3 wood left (its a dog-leg right), hit to 100 yards and then hit a wedge up to set up a birdie try. Lin decided to go for it in 2 and it paid off. (It was a very small green guarded with water in front and a bunker in the back of the green) I just missed my 20 ft birdie putt and she 2 putted for the win. She deserved the win though with 5 birdies on the back side. I was happy I kept up with her! I'm so stoked about my finish and am so excited for the rest of the year. I cashed $11,000 and am 2nd on the money list. Top 10 get their LPGA card next year and so far, I'm looking good :) Thanks to everyone who sent me messages, calls, and texts. Thanks to those people who came out to watch, especially my parents who were there all 3 days and helped me celebrate my accomplishment. And of course to Travis, my caddie/boyfriend. He was such a great support system and helped me stay calm and stick to my game plan all week. Keep watching for the rest of the year because I know this won't be the last time I'm in contention on a Sunday! Tomorrow I'm heading off to Daytona for the 2nd tournament of the year at the LPGA Champions Course. On Thursday I have a Big Break Audition. Hopefully my 2nd place at Q-School and this past week will help me earn a spot on the show :
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8 solid pars with a good birdie on #3 to take a 2 shot lead going into the back 9. Then things got real exciting and intense!! We had a great gallery with my parents and a lot of people from Lakeland that I knew or were rooting for the "local" girl since I went to college 20 minutes away from the tournament site. On #10, I 3 putted and parred the short par 5 #11 to loose my lead and go into a tie with Tzu-Chi Lin. On #12 I knocked it to about 20 feet. After seeing Lin knock her putt I knew I had to make mine. Sure enough, I rolled it in to stay tied for the lead. #13 was another good par 5 and Lin had knocked her approach shot to 6 inches. I preceded to knock mine to 1 foot to solidify my birdie. The next hole, Lin birdied and I parred so I was 1 down. We both boggied the next which leads us to #16. #16 is a dog-leg left around trees. I hit what I thought was a perfect drive but it barely knicked a tree and kicked dead left into trees. My stance was up against a tree and I had to punch out to the fairway. As I was walking out of the trees frustrated, one of the gallery members said "don't give up, you got this, you can do this!" So after pacing off 83 yards, I knew a solid 54 degree wedge was a good shot to set up a par chance. It landed on the green and I sighed a relief when I saw it near the hole and thought, great I've got my par save! 2 seconds later, Travis yelled, "one time!" and sure enough I made it for birdie!!!!!!!!!!! What a birdie!!!! The gallery was cheering so loudly and the other 2 girls and caddies gave me high fives. That birdie 
put me back in the tie for the lead!!!! After calming down, I hit a great 5 iron to 20 feet on a par 3 and missed the putt for birdie. Tied for the lead with Lin going into the last hole. I decided to stick to my game plan, hit a 3 wood left (its a dog-leg right), hit to 100 yards and then hit a wedge up to set up a birdie try. Lin decided to go for it in 2 and it paid off. (It was a very small green guarded with water in front and a bunker in the back of the green) I just missed my 20 ft birdie putt and she 2 putted for the win. She deserved the win though with 5 birdies on the back side. I was happy I kept up with her! I'm so stoked about my finish and am so excited for the rest of the year. I cashed $11,000 and am 2nd on the money list. Top 10 get their LPGA card next year and so far, I'm looking good :) Thanks to everyone who sent me messages, calls, and texts. Thanks to those people who came out to watch, especially my parents who were there all 3 days and helped me celebrate my accomplishment. And of course to Travis, my caddie/boyfriend. He was such a great support system and helped me stay calm and stick to my game plan all week. Keep watching for the rest of the year because I know this won't be the last time I'm in contention on a Sunday! Tomorrow I'm heading off to Daytona for the 2nd tournament of the year at the LPGA Champions Course. On Thursday I have a Big Break Audition. Hopefully my 2nd place at Q-School and this past week will help me earn a spot on the show :
)(These last 3 photos were taken by The Ledger)
