Almost, not quite

Played a good solid round of golf today. Hit the ball really good and hit 16 greens en route to a 3-under par 69 today. Unfortunately, 69's don't get it done in Nationwide monday qualifiers. However, it was an extremely positive day today, and another step in the right direction. The swing feels as good as it has in well over a year. I got off to an OK start, parring my first 4 holes. A bad bounce in the fairway led to a bogey on the 5th, as my ball bounced hard right, directly behind a tree. I almost chipped in on 6, the par 3, but put an awful stroke on a 3 footer and threw a shot away there. I was then +2 thru 6 and in trouble. But if there's one thing I never do, its give up. I almost flew my 2nd shot into the par 5 7th in the hole, and it went about 12 feet past. A perfect putt on the line I chose simply failed to break, caught a piece of the edge and lipped out. A tap in birdie, yet a momentum reverser. Good shots and better putts on the next two holes got me to 1-under after making a turkey. I turned at 35, but still needed to make some noise on the back.

The greens were fast today, rolling at about 11 or 12, along with being firm. I hit a great rescue shot on 10 and even had a decent birdie look. 11 saw me hit another perfect putt for birdie from 15 feet lip out. Then on 12 I hit an awesome 8-iron from in some trees after a poor club selection off the tee put me through the fairway. I hit the 115 yard shot to 4-feet and made birdie. A birdie on a par 5 coming in got me to 3-under, but I just couldn't get enough putts to fall from 20+ feet coming in and settled with a 69.

Although I missed out on the Kinderlou tournament, I'm really excited about the direction my game is headed. 2008 Mike Van Sickle is back and here to stay. A couple of good putting drill days will get me some more added confidence with the putter, and then LOOK OUT! I'm on my way to Hilton Head to spend the week practicing before next Monday's Nationwide qualifier. I also signed up for next week's eGolf event at High Point in North Carolina as a fall back option. I'm playing pretty good though, so expect to see me making it through next week! I'll be playing at Achaste in Georgia, where I played last year and shot a 68 with 8 birdies, 2 bogies and a double. I missed a playoff by a shot. Super excited for the upcoming events!

Results from today: Click here