Tate and Lyle Championship

Last week we had the LPGA Futures Tour Championship. Its our only major and its our only 4 day event. It was located in Decatur, Illinois right near a soybean factory. Let me tell you, the smell is definitely different than what I'm used to! Although everyone around there says "its the smell of money". Since this is our major, Travis came up to caddie. I was excited to see him and spend 4 days with him since I'm traveling all summer. His family is from Southern Illinois so they got to come watch too so it was fun to hang out with them all week.
I think the rain stayed with us from Ohio because before we even stepped foot on the golf course for a practice round on Tuesday, a storm blew through and we had yet another rain delay. Last year this happened and the course completely flooded. Fortunately, this year it wasn't that bad. It was still wet but playable. I played with a great group of ladies in the Pro-Am on Wednesday.

The tournament started on Thursday and I couldn't get much going. I had 2 boggies (both 3 putts on par 5's) and 2 birdies. Well, this carried throughout the week. I couldn't make any birdie putts! Most of my birdie putts I had hit to less than 6 feet. I think I over analyzed the first 2 rounds and then it was stuck in my head that I couldn't make putts. I skimmed the cup on almost all of my putts but none of them would fall. I hit roughly 12-14 greens a day and had over 30 putts each day. It was really frustrating because the scores were so low but I just kept staying patient. I knew if I got ahead of myself, I wouldn't have made the cut. I shot 72-73-74-74 and finished in 60th place. Not my best week but I took several positives away from the week. I'm hitting the ball great and if I keep that up the putts will drop. My putting stroke was fine I just was misreading the greens. Travis decided I over analyze my putts and that whatever I read the first time, go with that and put a good stroke on the ball. It was nice to have him there to help me with what I can improve. Playing week to week, you start loosing concentration on your mechanics and routines. It was great for him to be there with me and keep me positive. I made some money and that's the important part to the end of the year money list. I dropped down to 11th but just barely out of the top 10. That's my goal and we are almost half way through the season so there is plenty of golf left! I'm taking the positives out of this week (it could have quickly gone the other way) and hopefully the results will show through in these next few tournaments.

Of course Travis and I wore matching Loudmouth on the last day! We got so many comments :)

This is my traveling buddy Alex! There is an article written about her on the LPGA Futures Tour website playing as an amateur so check it out: http://lpgafuturestour.com/content_1.aspx?pid=28634&mid=2

Happy Father's Day

I wrote a Father's Day blog on the LPGA Futures Tour website. Check it out :)http://www.lpgafuturestour.com/content_1.aspx?pid=28582&mid=2

Teva Championship

What a week!! We had crazy weather here in Mason, Ohio (just outside of Cincinnati). On the first day of the tournament, we had 3 rain delays. It never rained but lightning threatened enough to pull us off. It took 8 hours to play 18 holes! I started out shaky with 2 boggies in 5 holes but bounced back with 4 more birdies and shot a 2 under 69 (the course was a par 71). The next day I shot 68 with 7 birdies! It was such an up and down day. It was definitely a round of what could have been with all of the birdies I had! There were so many delays that not everyone finished their round so the 2nd round was concluded early Sunday morning. After the results came in, I was in the final group on Sunday and 1 shot back. On my 2nd hole par 3, I pulled my tee shot into water and had to drop in a 40 yard drop zone. However, I got up and down for boggie and definitely had another shaky start. I bounced back with 2 birdies on 4 and 6 and took the lead. Didn't take long until horrible bunker play put me with a triple on the par 3 #8. The next hole was a reachable par 5 and I shook off my last hole and hit my 2nd shot to 20 feet. Just barely missed my eagle and bounced back to 2 over on the turn. The back 9 wasn't too exciting with many chances at birdie but only 1 fell in. Unfortunately on the last hole my tee shot went into a hazard and I boggied the last hole to finish with a 3 over 74 and a tied for 6th finish. I felt defeated with my play but considering the 2 penalties due to hazards and the triple on the par 3, I was proud of myself for hanging in there through the day. I could have easily given up and instead, I pulled it together and had another top 10 finish. I also moved from 11th to 7th on the important money list! The top 10 at the end of the year get their LPGA card so I'm definitely heading in the right direction!! This picture is taken at one of our practice rounds with my travel buddy, Alex and our friend Christina :)

Next week is our championship in Decatur, Illinois and it is a mandatory caddie event. Travis is flying in on Wednesday for a Thursday start to the tournament. I'm so excited because I play really well with him on the bag and I have great momentum after this week. His family is also going to come up because they live in Illinois so we should have a fun week!! I'll keep everyone updated on my facebook fan page and you can also follow on lpgafuturestour.com with live scoring. Thank you to everyone who has sent me messages, emails, and calls. I have such a great support system and I can't thank you all enough!

Ohio Charity

I got to visit Hospice of Cincinnati this week in Mason, Ohio. This is the charity benefiting from our tournament. Here is an article about this very enlightening experience:


http://www.lpgafuturestour.com/content_1.aspx?pid=28472&mid=1

Iowa

On Sunday, June 29th I made my way to Iowa from South Florida. I met my travel buddy, Alex in Jacksonville and stopped in Atlanta to stay with my good friend Katie who recently got married. On Monday, we drove around 14 hours to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was the two longest days of my life driving in a car!! But its worth it to have my own car and it helps save money.

Our housing was absolutely wonderful and took us under their wings like we were their own children. On Thursday, I played in the Pro-Am and it rained for the first 9 holes but we had a great and fun team! Played pretty well too! Here we are in front of a giant tire. Titan Tire was the sponsor for the week so there were tons of tires and tractors by the practice facilities. Unfortunately, the wind came on Friday afternoon when I teed off and could not control my ball. I kept it together on the front 9 shooting 38 but had a disappointing 44 on the back to shoot 82. I collected myself though and the next day came to the course with a positive attitude and shot 73. I still had some issues with my swing but managed to shoot a decent score and only miss the cut by 2. Its nice when you play bad and still just barely miss the cut. I fell out of the top 10 on the money list since the first tournament, however this gives me a lot of motivation going into this week in Ohio to get back up at the top!!