1/1/2008 - Thank You
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To all of you who followed my career and have been in touch through this website, I just want to say thanks. I have appreciated all your emails and encouragement. It's likely that I am going to head in a new direction with my career now, but your support over the last six years has been excellent. Thanks!
Eli
12/5-6 - Asian Tour Q-School
77-74 - MC
The first round turned sour with a quintuple bogey on the 13th hole. In the second round, my foot was really bothering me, as we played and waited all afternoon between storm. We did not finish until the next day, and I did not survive the cut. I am definitely ready for some time off at this point.
10/25-28 - PGA Tour Q-School 1st Stage
76-74-70-70 - MC
The first two rounds were a real struggle. For the third straight week, I could not hit the shots I wanted to, nor did I have a safe "go to" shot that was working. After two rounds, I was pretty much out of the hunt, but had to play through weather delay after weather delay, and stay an extra day to finish. I shot even par in each of my last two rounds, but was only left wondering at the end of the tournament why my game had totally disappeared. After this tournament, I was ready to move on from golf...in fact, I had turned my first business school application in before it started, but I was very disappointed in having such a poor Q-School showing.
10/18-19 - Tarheel Tour
75-76 - MC
Another bad week. After getting some decent practice in after missing a cut the week before, I felt lost on the golf course. For the first time all year, I just did not feel capable of hitting the right shots...very disconcerting.
10/10-11 - Tarheel Tour
72-74 - MC
In my first event in three weeks, I was rusty. Despite hitting the ball well for much of the tournament, I scored poorly both rounds en route to a disappointing missed cut.
9/19-21 - NAPGT Event # 9
72-73-77 - T24/52 ($425)
Exhausted from being in contention the last two weeks, a lot of travel, and a heartbreaking Monday qualifier, I did not have much in the tank for this tournament. It showed in my swing, as I hit the ball all over the map and was really quite lucky to make the cut. By the end of this tournament I was much in need of a break. And fortunately, I have one coming up with a two-week trip home to refresh and gear up for Q-School.
9/17 - PGA Tour Turning Stone Monday Q
72 - T3/42 DNQ
This was a disappointing and weird day. I birdied the first hole, but then bogeyed three of the next four. I fought back with a few more birdies and had it to two under with two holes to play. Kaluhyat is a very difficult course, but being one of the first groups out, I figured I would probably need to get it to three under, as only two spots were up for grabs. I played the final two holes a bit carelessly, and bogeyed both of them. When 71 got through without a playoff, it was really hard not to dwell on this one a little.
9/13-15 - New England Open
66-68-72 - T2/132 ($15,100)
For the second week in a row, and the second year in a row at Lake Winnipesaukee, I was in serious contention. And of course, I had to battle it out with Geoff Sisk again. My first round 66 on a windy day put me alone in the lead. I backed it up with a 68 in the second round, but Sisk had gone out in the morning and fired a 63, tying his course record. So entering the third round I trailed by two strokes and was alone in second. In the final round I birdied the first and fourth holes to take a one stroke lead. On holes 6 through 13, however, Sisk went birdie-birdie-birdie-par-birdie-birdie-par-eagle. I played the same stretch two over par, and was pretty much just battling for second place. Michael Harris had moved in front of me too though, but I made a fifteen-foot birdie putt on the final hole to move from a three-way tie for third into a tie for second with Harris. That putt was worth $8,000 and earned me the biggest check of my career.
9/5-7 - NAPGT Event # 8
68-67-76 - T9/72 ($1,991)
Well, a disappointing finish but I'm taking the many positives away from this one. I played and scored very well in the first two rounds and entered the final round in a three way tie for the lead. My nemesis Geoff Sisk was lurking one stroke back as well. It was very windy in the third round and after an early birdie to get it to ten under and briefly take sole possession of the lead, I went five over on the final five holes of the front nine. That really hurt. I played a decent back nine, but the damage was done and I was out of contention. I did however make a ten foot birdie putt on the last hole to move back inside the top ten. As disappointing as it was to be close to a win and let it get away, I played well, I am playing well, and with the New England Open next week, I am not going to get down on myself. It is always good to get in the hunt and I'm playing well enough to make it happen again soon.
8/28-30 - NAPGT Event # 7
71-73-71 - T18/72 ($1,104)
I did not score all that well in this tournament, but I struck the ball and played pretty solidly on the whole. The second round was a struggle, and I had to make a great sand save on the seventeenth hole, then birdie the difficult eighteenth to make the cut. My 71 in the final round moved me up about ten spots and into some slightly better money.
8/20 - Nationwide Pete Dye Classic Mon Q
73 - DNQ
For the first time in a while, I was just plain tired during this tournament. It was a long drive down to West Virginia after just moving out of my summer house at Colgate. I have also been battling a cold for about ten days and I just felt drained. Despite birdies on the first two holes and a great par save on three, I just did not feel strong enough to make good swings. It was disappointing because I had a good tee time, and 68 was more like even par on that very short golf course, and 68 got through. Oh well, I am in need of some rest and some practice. September is a big month and I want to play solid all the way through it.
8/16-17 - Nationwide Tour Xerox Classic
78-70 - MC ($200)
Obviously a disappointing first round. I was one under after three holes, then hit a great six-iron on the par-three fourth to about 20 feet. I proceeded to four putt for double bogey, and made a very tough day of it after that. Conditions were brutal that afternoon with the greens totally cooked, the wind blowing, and a long weather delay. We finished in the dark. It was disappointing, however, that I let one mistake alter my entire round thereafter. That typically does not happen with me. I played well in the second round. Had I not played holes 4 through 7 eleven over par for two days, I would have been in the hunt in this tournament. I am still confident in the way I'm playing.
8/13 - Nationwide Xerox Classic Mon Q
68 - 4/168 (Qualified)
This was a hot, windy tough round of golf. After bogeying my second hole, I played very well the rest of the way with five birdies and no bogeys. I birdied the final hole for 68, which turned out to be the low round in the afternoon. My second successful Monday qualifier in the last three attempts.
8/6 - Nationwide Tour NE PA Mon Q
72 - DNQ
I have had success at Pocono Farms before and I was playing well heading into this qualifier. I got a late afternoon tee time though. After two delays, we didn't tee it until 3:30. It was a long day, and we played our last three holes in the dark. I shot even par, but could have done better. Missed qualifying by two strokes.
7/26-27 - PGA Tour Canadian Open
74-69 - MC ($1,600)
I entered the week with high hopes for my third crack in a PGA Tour event. I got off to a good start in the event, eagling my second hole. At that point, I was on the first page of the leaderboard, tied with Vijay Singh, whose locker was right next to mine by the way. Needless to say, it was early. After a couple pars, I made an undisciplined swing with a nine iron on the par three fourteenth that left my ball with an ugly lie in the rough and lead to a double bogey. From that point on, I was uncomfortable and really struggled. I had a hard time going through my routines, selecting shots, and making confident swings. I half stumbled in, half held it together for a first round 74, that left me displeased and with some real work to do in order to make the cut. The second round did not start much better, I was tight and hesitant during a weak start that had me two over on the day and five over for the tournament through eight holes. That was when I finally relaxed. It's weird how that works. So with ten holes to play, and needing to play those ten holes six under to make the cut, I nearly did just that. I played flawless golf and went four under on my last ten, while giving myself a good birdie opportunity on every hole. So I was very proud of my finish, and I am eager to get back out there because this was a very good experience for me. All I need is more time out there. I have no doubt that I belong on the PGA Tour, and I believe I'll be out there again soon.
7/23 - PGA Tour Canadian Open Q
67 - T2/156 (Qualified)
Royal Ashburn was a great course. Long, tight, and trouble lurking on almost every hole. Starting on ten, I birdied my first two holes, which had the effect of making every shot matter that much more since I was kind of playing in front right from the get go. After a fifteen minute wait on the twelfth tee, also the most difficult hole on the course, I ripped a perfect drive. That settled me down quite a bit, and I knew I was going to be fine. I played a great round of golf, and I'd love to take you through it shot by shot, because I was feeling the pressure all day long and really had to do a great job playing the golf course intelligently, but aggressively as I got further and further under par. At the end of the day, after a long wait, there was one 66 and three 67s, and the four of us took all four spots into the tournament without a playoff. Now it is time to build on my performance at the B.C. Open last year.
7/17-19 - NAPGT Event # 3
68-74-72 - 7/63 ($2,394)
Crumpin-Fox Club is a very good course. It is tree lined, about 7000 yards and has tough, sectioned, and well protected greens that roll true. Right away it reminded me of golf in the northwest, particularly of a course that I won the Pacific Northwest Junior Championship at in 1996. So I had a good feeling going into the event, on top of being pretty much on top of my game. I played an excellent first round, and made a run of four birdies in five holes on the back nine en route to a four under par 68. I was in a two way tie for 2nd, one stroke back, and I gave a great post-round interview, thank you very much. The second round proved more difficult for me. We began in the rain, and I just did not handle it very well, as I bogeyed every other hole and was three over after six. Once the rain stopped, I settled down, and played my final twelve holes without a bogey. But I only managed one birdie over the same twelve holes and shot 74. I was cruising along in the third round, but went through a shaky stretch at the end of the front nine. I hit my tee shot on the par three ninth into the parking lot and out of bounds, and suffered a triple bogey to turn at two over. I played a solid back nine though, bogey free, and by birdying two of the last four holes I moved back into 7th place, which increased my check significantly. Nothing disappointing about a third straight top ten finish.
7/9-10 - NAPGT Event # 2
71-69-67 - T6/67 ($2,424)
Things are definitely getting better. For the first time all year, I went into a tournament confident and truly feeling like I was playing well. This tournament was a 54 hole event, but played over only two days. So we played 36 holes on the first day. I failed to get anything going in the morning round, but played pretty solidly en route to a one under par round. In the afternoon, I hit a lot of great shots, and made 8 birdies as a result. Unfortunately, I offset most of them with five bogeys. On the 8th hole, I got a terrible break that cost me at least one and probably two strokes when my drive ended up in an area of the course where I had to take mandatory free relief using a drop area. My ball was one inch into the ground under repair and I had a playable lie and a short, clear shot to reach the par five green in two. My nearest point of relief would have been three feet to the left, leaving me essentially the same shot. However, the rules officials decided the only option for mandatory relief was to use a number of drop areas. The one that was closest to my ball without being closer to the hole was 25 yards back, not clear of the dogleg corner, and left me a very difficult shot just to get near the 150 yard marker. A birdie turned into a bogey, just like that. I fought back though, made a string of birdies on the back nine and birdied the final hole to shoot 69. My final round 67 was very solid, the fourth best round of the day, and vaulted me from 13th into a tie for 6th and my second straight top ten. More importantly, I finally know that my game is nearly back in top shape.
6/18-20 - Massachusetts Open
69-71-71 - T8/156 ($2,325)
A huge step back towards normalcy for me. Kernwood CC was playing a tough par 70, mainly because the rough was U.S. Open deep in spots and the greens are severely sloped. In the first round I was two over after four holes. In the second round I was three over after five holes. So considering those starts, I was pretty happy to be within the top ten after the cut. My 71 during a rainy third round moved me into a tie for 8th place. In a year where nothing has gone right up until this point, it is now important that I build off of a good result like this.
6/11-13 - Vermont Open
69-74-70 - T44/190
The Vermont Open is weird in that 60 players make the cut, but only 30 get paid. 30 out of 190 players make a check. Those are bad numbers. I was last off in the afternoon in the first round, and last off in the morning in the second round, so both days were long. I chipped in for birdie on the final hole of the first round to shoot one under, which felt okay. The second round was just plain ugly, and after a bad ruling that took a long time, I bogeyed two of my last four holes to shoot 74. I made the cut on the number. I played pretty solidly in the third round, and should have managed to shoot under par, but never got enough going and bogeyed both par threes coming in. Despite not making a check, just making the cut was another step in the right direction for me at this point. I am starting to play better again.
6/10 - VT Open One Day Low Gross
68 - T/14/90 ($46.40)
Well, it certainly wasn't much, but it was my first check of the year, which is definitely a step in the right direction. 68 is only two under at Lake Morey, but I played well enough to shoot five or six under. For the first time, I played a tournament round with a pair of prescription glasses that I picked up a few weeks ago. Putting and chipping were both pretty uncomfortable with the glasses on so I went back and forth during the round, and on the greens is where I lost most of my strokes. My second straight tournament round under par though, so things are moving the right way finally.
6/6-7 - NAPGT Event # 1
77-71 - MC
The first round of this tournament kind of epitomizes my year. I got paired with one of my best friends and college teammate, Jesse Smith. Our third player no-showed so it was just us two, which made it feel eerily like a recreational round. I birdied the first hole, and was playing well early. Before long, however, we were looking for Jesse's ball in the woods a little too often, which got me out of my rhythm too. I three-putted two holes in a row to fall back to one over. Then on the 7th green, after another disaster of a hole, Jesse approached me and told me he thought he might be disqualified. He started the round with an 'old' Titleist Pro-V1 and had just completed two holes with a 'new' Titleist Pro-V1, a violation of the one ball rule, without realizing it. The penalty for breach of this rule is disqualification. So for the next four holes, this stressed us both out. Finally on the tenth hole, after a 10 minute conference with the rules officials in the fairway, while I waited and waited, he was disqualified. I played the next three holes by myself with an official marker, then joined the group in front of me for the final four holes. When all was said and done, I had four signatures on my scorecard, which added up to 77. A frustrating day full of distractions. I played very well in the second round, and even though I bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes to miss the cut by one stroke. It felt good to have played well. The mistake I made on 16 was a bad decision, as I thought I might need another birdie and made an overly aggressive play. All in all, this round actually has me feeling that I have begun to turn the corner. In fact, it was my first round under par in my last 11 tournament rounds. Yikes!
5/30-31 - The Ultimate Game
Lost 1 Up, Lost 5 & 4 - Eliminated
With a $50,000 entry fee and a $2,000,000 first place check (the richest in the history of golf), and combining stroke and match play, The Ultimate Game was bound to be one of the most interesting tournaments I'll ever play. In a field of 40 players, 10 would earn $100K, two would get there $50K back, and one of those 12 would go on to make $2,000,000. I was one of the other 28, unfortunately. The tournament began with two rounds of match play, and I got a great draw. My first round opponent, determined by pulling ping pong balls a la the NBA Draft Lottery, was to be former quarterback Billy Jo Toliver. In all honesty, he should never beat me, but he did, by the slimmest of margins, 1 up. I really beat myself, playing erratically and like a nervous wreck all day long. I was three down after eight awful holes, before I finally started to claw back into the match. I won nine and ten to get back to one down, but then gave him the 12th hole, and failed to execute an easy up and down on the 15th hole to pull back within one. I won 17, to give myself a chance to square the match on the last hole. I played the par five, 18th very well, chipping to five feet for birdie. He missed a longer birdie putt, and I had a chance to send the match to extra holes. I took plenty of time to calm down, and made what felt like a good stroke, but the ball hung on the outside of the left lip and never broke in. This was one of the lowest moments of my professional career, but I was somewhat proud of the way I played the last four or five holes at least. And I didn't have time to get discouraged, because the next days match was now a must win. I could not have drawn a worse opponent in the second round. Chris Moody played fourteen holes in six shots fewer than par, without a bogey, en route to beating me 5 and 4. I only made one bogey, there was nothing I could have done, he played absolutely great. So after having lost twice, I was eliminated, and feeling pretty dejected. It hurts to get so up for a tournament, put a ton of money on the line, and not perform anywhere near my capabilities. In the end I realize that I threw this together at the last minute, and probably wasn't as prepared as many of the players in the field. I hadn't played enough tournaments yet this year and wasn't playing at anywhere near the top of my game going into this event. For those reasons, it does feel a little careless to have put $50K of my sponsors' money at stake and I have to apologize for that and the way The Ultimate Game turned out. However, the bottom line is that if on my game I am one of the 5 or 6 best players in that field. This tournament had the potential toturn my year around, jumpstart a prosperous career, and even make me wealthy. I was not about to pass up that opportunity and I am proud of myself for putting it together and giving it a shot. I would do it again every time.
5/24 - Massachussetts Open Q
77 - T13/90 - Qualified
Another single day qualifier on another great course. Salem CC hosted the U.S. Senior Open a few years ago and was a treat to play. I had to move this qualifier up from the 31st since getting into a tournament called the Ultimate Game in Las Vegas. That meant a drive up from D.C. to Boston the night before, and no practice round. I should be able to qualify for the MA Open in my sleep, however, as 76 is usually good enough almost anywhere. For fifteen holes, I was managing my game, but hadn't done much, amassing 12 pars and 3 bogeys. I finally made a birdie putt on the 16th hole and finally felt like I could coast in. Then I hooked my drive on 17 and never found it. Then my sandwedge 4th shot spun off the green and I did not get up and down. So after a triple bogey I jumped to five over par, staring a 77 right in the face. I felt like I might need to birdie the last hole. It just seemed like 76 would be good enough for at least a playoff, but 77 might not do it. I hit a perfect drive, then a solid gap wedge that released 20 feet past the hole, leaving me with a slick dowhnhill birdie putt. Both my playing partners missed the green, which gave me time to run up and check the leaderboard. I saw that 77 was better than I thought, and would be in a playoff with good numbers - about 11 people for at least 8 or 9 spots. So I went from needing to make the putt to trying to make it, but leaving it next to the hole. I struck a pretty good putt, and watched it trickle four feet by the hole. This was not the position I wanted to be in, faced with a four-footer to qualify for the MA Open. I hit a good putt and made it though, and the playoff the playoff turned out to be 12 people for 10 spots. When only nine of the twelve showed up, I was in. The last time I had to qualify for the MA Open was 2004 and I sneaked in with a birdie on the last hole. I went on to finish second in the tournament. A similar finish, or one better, would be nice this year.
5/17 - U.S. Open Local Q
75 - T4/30 - 2nd Alternate
Huntsville CC is a hidden gem near Scranton, PA. It's ranked as the 4th best course in PA, and I know some very nice members there, so I jumped at the opportunity to begin qualifying for the U.S. Open there. I was still struggling with my game, however, and did pretty well even to scramble to a 75. It was playing tough, and nobody shot under par, but there were only two spots available and my 75 put me in a three way tioe for fourth place. The three of us played off for the second alternate position, which is guarranteed to get you nowhere. I birdied the second playoff hole with a gorgeous sand save to win it.
4/30 - PGA Wachovia Monday Q
78 - DNQ
On the same golf course, in perfect conditions, I was excited for the chance to qualify for a top-tier PGA Tour event. The top 8 players in the world were slated to play at the Wachovia. I was also excited about being in the first group off of number ten. The tenth hole is a very tough hole at 430 yards with a tee shot with a forced carry to a plateaud fairway guarded by a large fairway bunker on the left, thick forest left of that, and a cliff to the right. At 7:30 AM, when it is still cold and the course is still wet, it's even tougher. I hit a good drive, at the bunker, that nestled right up against the lip leaving me no chance to make par. I hit a decent shot on the next hole too, but it hung up on a hill that always kicks back down to a sloping fairway, and again I had very little chance at making par. So I was two over after two, and my birdie putt on the third seemed to roll over the front lip, stop in the air, then revolve slightly backward, stopping on the lip. After a string of pars, a decent drive on the easy par five 17th hole kicked left and ended up in a nearly unplayable position between two tree trunks less than a foot apart. I made bogey there, and followed with a bogey on my ninth hole as another drive ended up right under the lip of a bunker and my par putt horseshoed out. After two straight birdies on my back nine, while I was just trying to slavage a respectable round, my drive on the 6th got two huge bounces on the cart path, the second of which also shot the ball way right and over a rock wall out of bounds. That was the point at which I mentally checked out.
This string of Monday Qualifiers may not have been the best way to start my year, but then again, had I been playing better and caught a few breaks, I could have made my year. The tough thing about just playing Mondays is that a lot of it is in the luck of the draw, and playing only one day of tournament golf per week makes it tough to build from one week to the next. My game definitely needs some work at this point. I have two weeks off now, which will be refreshing, and I am looking into finding a coach to work with for the next five months. The summer, where I can make some money, is just around the corner, and I am definitely looking forward to a fresh start for the year.
4/26 - PGA Wachovia Thursday Pre-Q
75 - Advanced to Monday Q
Good or bad tee time, I should be able to finish in the top 50 out of about 100, in order to advance from a "Thursday pre-qualifier" to play in a PGA Tour Monday Qualifier, as has been required of non PGA Tour members since last year. On a tough golf course, in a tough wind, I went around the front nine three under par. That felt pretty good. My 42 on the back nine felt pretty bad. Actually, really bad. But I still successfully prequalified by four strokes.
4/23 - Nationwide Henrico County Monday Q
74 - DNQ
Finally a decent tee time! Or so I thought. Tee times went from 7:30 to 12:20 and I didn't think 10:40 would put me at too much of a disadvantage. However, the wind picked up to 15-25 at about noon and the course dried out fast. Nonetheless, I played pretty lousy to shoot 74. All but one of the seven qualifiers, however, teed off before 9:30.
4/16 - Nationwide Athens Monday Q
NC - DNF
For the second straight week, I was given the second to last tee time in the afternoon off number ten. This meant that once again I would have the pleasure of putting on greens that had already been trampled by 150 players and their caddies, in addition to playing a miserably slow round of golf in the windiest part of the day (which on the tail end of a nor'easter equates to 30-40 mph winds). We did not tee off until 2:10, we did not finish the our first nine until 5:15, and I did not play the back nine, electing instead to get a head start on a long drive up to Washington D.C.
4/9 - Nationwide Southern GA Monday Q
75 - DNQ
My 2:33 tee time for this tournament was a real beauty. I had the pleasure of playing the front nine mixing and matching rain gear/umbrella combinations, then finishing in full on darkness. I also knew when I teed off that I had to better than 67 to have a chance. As soon as I missed birdie opportunities on 2, 3, and 4, three-putted 5 for a bogey, then lipped out birdie putts on 6 and 7, my chances were pretty much gone. When we were on the 15th hole, officials came out to our group to find out if any of us were six under or better, so they could start the playoff before it got dark.
