In Greenwood, SC

I got down to Greenwood, SC yesterday after an 11-hour drive. But I got in at 5:30 thanks to an early 6:30 start to the day. So when I showed up at Star Fort GC and it was basically empty, I was able to play 2 balls around the course in under 3 hours. I'm hitting it really well, and the putter feels fantastic as well. I really feel like this is going to be a good solid week. Star Fort is the course last year where I came to 18 thinking that I needed to make a birdie to make the cut. I poured a 20-footer into the center of the cup, only to find out the cut was even lower than I thought it would be and got the scissors. So there's a positive going into this week: I played poorly here last year and almost made the cut. Now that I'm playing good, we'll see how well I can do.

I spent some of Saturday

playing miniature golf while competing on the NHMGT (North Hills Mini-Golf Tour). It was started this year by high school friend Pat Colony (pictured with some bumper car trouble to the left) and his brother Chris. 9 Mini-golf courses in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh have been selected, and you have to play them all with other people competing on the Tour by an August 8 cut-off date. The top 8 players will then play in the Tour Championship on August 13. I played with fellow Treesdale phenoms Brett Bergman and Joseph Zinsky (video of some of his cave troubles below). I find that mini-golf is a good way to free yourself up and stop worrying about your stroke. In fact, one of my best putting tournaments ever, The US Bank Championship in Milwaukee, was prepared for by playing mini-golf the Sunday prior to the tournament. And I stroked it superbly for the first round there.

I hit it absolutely fantastically today at Grand Harbor for my practice round. Shot a 68, and made both my playing partners open their wallets after the round. Tomorrow I tee off at 8am. Playing Grand Harbor first... CAN'T WAIT!