Brian Quackenbush Golf

There is a direct link to the PGA Tour’s coverage of Q-School: www.qualifyingtournament.com. Stage 1 for me starts on the 25th, but other sites have already started. The website has (relatively) real-time scoring and articles.

I just checked out the site and noticed something interesting about the field sizes. They all look significantly smaller than normal. In previous years, each site has had almost 80 players. This year, each site has around 70 players (my site in Lakeland only has 66). It looks like a larger percentage of players advance from each site as well. The three sites playing this week are advancing around 29\% of the players - this is up from 25\% in previous years.

My guess is that total entries for first stage are down due to economic reasons (since the entry fee alone is a whopping $4,500!). However, they still have a “quota” of players to advance from first stage so the percentages look better. This is a nice little surprise for first stage.

So, yesterday I finished up the Tarheel Tour event at Cowans Ford. I hit the ball great for the first two rounds and was tied for 11th going into yesterday. I started off very hot and was 4 under through 6 holes. I turned at 3 under and was excited about my chances. However, I lost a ball in the greenside rough on 11 and made double bogey. The rough wasn’t very long, but I know from Wednesday’s round that if you hit it there it can burrow down to the ground and you have to just about step on it to find it. It was a bad break, but I still had a few chances at birdies coming down the stretch…just didn’t convert. So, I finished at 16th place.

I was disappointed because my playing partner was also 4 under through 6, and when he kept it going to get to 7 under he got into a playoff. It was a great opportunity if I had been able to keep it going.

I found that the swing changes broke down very slightly yesterday. I’m very encouraged because they stayed together into deeper pressure this week than what I’ve been under since I made them. I’m going to do a little work to dial them in again and make a little tweak in my putting stroke this week.

I had a…challenging…drive home last night from just north of Charlotte. I went up the back way - I77 to I81. I hit I81 and for some braindead reason turned south. It took me 62 miles to realize that I was going the wrong way. So, I’m gleefully heading south on 81 and think to myself “Strange that the sun is in my eyes. It sets in the west and I’m heading northeast”. A little while longer I notice another strange thing…all these Tennessee license plates. Finally, I notice the exit signs… I’m down around number 22. I think “Shouldn’t they be getting higher in number as I drive north?”. When I hit exit 19 I realize the enormity of my stupidity and finally turn around.

But, it gets worse! As I’m driving north, I see a sign that there’s an accident on 81 and the road is closed. So, I take a back-woods detour around Staunton over to I64 and through Charlottesville. I make all the right turns and head north on route 29. That’s probably another 1/2 hour delay. Everything is going fine until I get to I66 where they have decided to close the road! Another detour that takes me way north and then back towards Manassass to get back on I66.

In all, it took me 9 1/2 hours to drive 530 miles. The trip normally is just under 400 miles and takes me 6 hours. This one falls into a tie for worst road trip alongside the trip with a 4-hour delay behind an accident on I81. That one was a longer delay, but at least I got to sleep while I waited.