Brian Quackenbush Golf

Today was a challenge. I hit it well and made solid putts, but in the end the course got the best of me. I shot 6 over 78 and fell back to 50th place.

Two holes accounted for most of the damage, and I really didn’t play them that poorly. On 7, I hit my tee shot exactly where I planned it in the practice round leaving an 89 yard lob wedge to the left hole location. This hole location is on a shelf with a huge slope in front, deep rough behind and about 10 yards of green on top to work with. I was first to play and flew a lob wedge about 3 yards past the hole. It was concrete on the shelf and watched it take an 8 yard bounce into the deep rough behind the green. If I had seen another approach shot into that hole before my shot I definitely would have played it differently - perhaps just chipping it onto the front shelf 40 feet from the hole. From there I had absolutely no shot…not even a safe bailout. I had to hit a miraculous flop shot out of deep rough or nothing. When all was finished, I made triple.

The fifteenth was a double bogey where I really didn’t hit any bad shots. I got a horrendous bounce on my drive into the primary rough. From there I hit a 9-iron that landed on the front edge of the green and took a 30 yard bounce into the back bunker. My bunker shot looked pretty good but rolled back through the green and I took three more to hole out.

Aside from those two holes, I hit a lot of really good shots and putts but didn’t get much to go on the greens. My stats look very similar to the first two days and considering that the wind blew more and the greens were rocks, I think the stats confirm that my game is in good shape.

I go off early tomorrow which is good for my trip to Detroit for the British Open qualifier on Monday where the field is shrinking by the minute. As of today, the field is down to 95 players…still playing for 12 spots. So, my odds seem to be getting better all the time.

I got some good news when I finished. My girlfriend Shawna Harding won all three of her classes at her horse show today including an incredible 80% with her primary competition horse, Come On III. To put it in perspective, 80% in dressage is like a golfer shooting 59!

I shot a one-under 71 today in the Nationwide Tour event at Peek’n Peak. So far this holds me steady at 6th place. Look for golf channel coverage this afternoon - I think it’s from 6:30 to 8:30 eastern. After a few interviews with the local media, I had a brief interview with Brandi Seymour after the round. Don’t blink or you might miss it…it was that brief. But, it was fun.

The round was ok. I felt like there were some more opportunities on the back nine (my first). The wind kicked up on the front nine which made it play harder than normal. Overall I’m not dissatisfied with the round although I feel like the last two days could have been a little better. It’s another weekend opportunity for me and that’s what matters.

I’m definitely in the British Open International Final Qualifier on Monday at Oakland Hills. It’s a 36 hole event in one day, so I have a busy few days ahead of me.

Four under 68 today at Peek’n Peak puts me in 6th place, two behind the lead. It was a good round in the windy afternoon conditions. I made 6 birdies and 2 bogies. One was on the 9th where I was hitting my third from just off the green on the par 5. From an awful lie I hit a big flop shot that went all of a foot. So, a slightly better lie and I am probably putting for birdie instead.

I left a few birdies out there but made my fair share. Given the afternoon poa annua greens, I’m not going to complain about anything.

I moved up to first alternate for the British Open qualifier on Monday. It’s looking likely that I will get a spot in the 36-hole one-day event at Oakland Hills CC. It’s a tremendous opportunity that I hope to capitalize upon. With a few good rounds in the next couple days, I could have an incredibly busy schedule through the end of July.

The Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) were released on June 24th, and I moved up. My ranking is now 927. In the USA subcategory of the rankings, I am 296.

The OWGRs were used to determine the players who got into the British Open International Final Qualifying. They used the OWGR as of May 31st, so my recent improvement didn’t improve my position. However, I have moved up from 13th alternate to 6th. Although I have moved a lot closer to getting into the field, there are only a few days left before the qualifier on July 2. I still need a bunch of movement in the field to get an opportunity to play.

I worked with the Titleist Tour reps today to replace my 3-wood with something a little softer. After working through several shafts on the launch monitor, I ended up with a 906F2 that has enormously better ball flight characteristics than my old 3-wood. It luances about 2 degrees higher and spins about 800 rpm more. My old 3-wood was really more like a driver than fairway wood and wasn’t very useful if I had to land on and hold the green. The new 3-wood gives me a lot more versatility and will give me a more even gap between my driver and utility club.

Titleist also replaced my Vokey 48 degree pitching wedge since the grooves had all but worn out.

I have had some time to rest and reflect on the day and can now post a more complete wrap-up of the day’s events. First, I want to thank the West’s for an incredibly hospitable time this week. I’m sure they’re as worn out as I am because they walked about every hole with me in addition to their normal work week. Their company this week made it easy for me to go out and do my job as well as I could.

Today’s round could have been a lot better. Then again, it could have been worse. It was one of those rollercoasters where you walk off the course not really knowing if you got the most out of it or left some out there. I got off to a hot start with three birdies on my first five holes. One of them was an incredible hole-out from the greenside bunker on number 3. I also birdied 1 and 5, both par fives and made a great par save on 4. I made great par saves on 6 and 7, the first a 30-yard bunker save and the second a really good flop shot. On 8 I rolled my 15 foot birdie putt over the edge and made a routine par on 9. I felt pretty good making the turn because I got a lot out of my game for hitting it not so well.

On 10 I got a really bad break when my second into the par five took a monster bounce and finished in the cart tunnel. Another 5 feet and it would have been out of bounds, so maybe it was a good break. I actually got a drop in the pine straw above the tunnel because it was my nearest relief. I made a good 30-yard pitch from the pine straw and two-putted for par.

I narrowly missed birdie from 25 feet on 11 and then hit a perfect 6-foot birdie putt on 12 that dove away from the hole. I could have sworn that one would go in. On 13 I hit my tee shot in the water and then made a great up-and-down for bogey. After a routine par on 14 I hit two good shots to about 15 feet on 15 and lipped out another birdie. I hit it 6 feet for birdie on 16 and again hit a great putt that barely missed on the left side. Like the one on 12 I really felt like I made that one.

Unfortunately I hit it in the fairway bunker on 17 and made bogey. This put me in a sticky situation going into 18. The flag was cut in the front right, tight against the water. I had 60 yards left for my approach shot and knew that I had a one-shot cushion on the top-25 (which I needed to get into the Erie event next week). I wasn’t sure if it would be a two-shot cushion, so I had to make sure my approach cleared the hazard. So, I really had no option other than to play safe and try to hit it about 10 yards past the hole. I nipped it pretty good, but it took a big bounce and ended up about 45 feet past the hole. So, now I’ve taken the big number out of play but have a difficult two-putt for par. I missed my par and ended up even for the day in a tie for 14th.

So, top-25 mission accomplished for the week. I wish I could have saved those last two bogeys and possibly gotten one or two of the close birdie misses to drop. That would have easily move me into the top five and improved my position on the money list. But, I really can’t be that upset about it because I had a very poor ball striking day. I feel like it could have been 68 or better today but it would have been ridiculous luck. I guess in the end the score reflected how I played.

I’m taking away a lot of positives from the week. First, I’ve secured another chance to play next week in Erie. The more opportunities I give myself the better the chances of moving up to the next levels on a more permanent basis. Second, my earnings from the event may be enough to get me into the Columbus event in 3 weeks…another valuable opportunity. Finally, I definitely did not have my best stuff on Friday and Sunday yet I still was near the top of the leaderboard. This is encouraging and validates that I’m on the right track.

My reward for the week is to get in the car tomorrow morning and drive almost 10 hours to the next event in Erie, NY. I simply could not find a better, economical way to setup my travel for the next event, especially since I may be up in that area for the next 3 weeks. So, tomorrow will be my off-day driving to New York and listening to the comedy and pga tour channels on XM Radio.

Thanks again to everyone for their emails, comments, phone calls and text messages. Your support is invaluable.

I’m exhausted and need some dinner and rest, so here’s the important info. I finished tied for 14th at 8 under par. Could have been better…could have been worse. The important thing is that I finished top-25 which gets me into the next event in Erie, PA next week. I’ll write more later when I have a chance and am not so brain-dead tired. Thanks for everyone’s support!

A solid 6-under round today moved me quite a bit up the leaderboard. The last time I looked I was sitting at ninth place. It was a pretty solid round that included five birdies and an eagle. The highlights of the round came late. On 14 I holed my second shot on the par 4, an 89 yard lob wedge. I didn’t get to see it go in, but I knew I hit a good shot and it was obvious from the crowd reaction that it went in. It’s hard to say I deserved it, but on Thursday I hit the flag on 9 and lipped out a sand wedge on 14. So, maybe I was due. A close second on the highlight reel was my birdie on the 16th. I hit a 4-iron to about 20 feet and made the putt. Birdie on this hole started the 30 minute “half-price clock” at the concession stand next to the green, so I was a popular guy for a few minutes. My playing partner, Jeff Wood, also made birdie on the hole, but unfortunately for the fans, they did not start giving away drinks or extend the half price deal for an hour.

I had a great surprise after the round. A Tour official notified me that my position on the money list has an outside shot at getting me into the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational in Columbus, OH on July 12. It was very nice of them to notify me because the commit date for the event is coming up soon. It would be great to get an extra shot at a tournament without having to monday qualify, especially one associated with such a worthy charity and chaired by Jack Nicklaus. I’m taking the approach that they will tell me if and when I qualify and I’m not worrying about it for now. It was just a nice surprise.

My “host family”, the West’s have logged some miles this week in the gallery. They have walked along a combined total of 72 holes in 3 days.

This has been a good media week, not only for me but also for my girlfriend Shawna Harding. Two Aiken-Augusta TV news channels ran a story on her last night and today she had this story in the Aiken Standard. Todd Wright and John Maginnes also asked about her in my XM Radio interview on the PGA Tour Network on Thursday.

Normally I would stick mostly to golf and my experiences on my website, but I think her story is at least as interesting as mine. In this case, I am truly a fan and get to see her journey - one very similar to mine -from the other side of the ropes. As you may have guessed, she also has a website, www.shawnaharding.com. It’s a good read and a chance to see the journey of an olympic-class athlete a few years prior to the event.

Today was two shots worse than yesterday, but I am still playing on the weekend. I felt like I hit it better than yesterday. However, the golf gods definitely were not with me. It was definitely a struggle at times, and I did the best that I could.

There are a few positives for me going into the weekend. First, I feel like I’m hitting it better. Second, since I only made the cut by a shot, I will get an early tee time tomorrow…pristine greens. Finally, by playing earlier, I will avoid some of the heat that we’ve had this week.

I’m only a shot out of the top 25 which is one of the goals for me every week in these events (since that gets me into the next week’s event without having to monday qualify). I feel like I’m poised for a good weekend.