Portland John

Interrupt the U.S. Open coverage for a good story developing on the @LPGA Two years ago I wrote a story about Riley Smyth. At the time she was on the Epson Tour and didn’t have great status. FOUR times she was the 1st alternate on site and didn’t get into those events. Later that year she finally got a few chances and took advantage. Played great later in the year and kept her Epson card. Last season back on Epson she played great, had two wins and graduated to the LPGA. This is her rookie year and to say it has been a struggle would be an understatement. When I saw her at Mizuho she was 0 for 7. I saw her in the parking lot and said hello. And she stopped and talked. Nothing ground breaking, just that she wasn’t used to the courses, was struggling with her swing a bit, concentrating too much on the cut line, etc. But the easy thing would have been to avoid the conversation, instead she answered my questions for 10 mins. It was much appreciated. Last week she missed the cut in Midland MI at the team event by one. That brought her to nine events played….zero made cuts. This week in Grand Rapids she opened with a -2 70, followed that with another 70 and easily made the cut by three. And today….she shot a bogey free five-under 67 and will go into tomorrow T7. A win is likely out of the question, she is six back, but a solid round would go a LONG way in turning around her season. Here is to a good one.

A few days ago, I got this message. Our @driveftf does everything we can to take care of all the requests we get for those in need. Even when it doesn’t make sense from a budget standpoint. Today we ordered this young man a brand new set of @CallawayGolf clubs. Play Well.

American Nick Carlson’s season on the @HPlanner_Tour is pretty phenomenal considering 14 months ago he was coaching a D3 college team and living at his parents house. After college Carlson played professionally but as many players do, ran out of money often. So he worked whatever jobs he could and then take that money and play mini-tour events. Delivery driver, substitute teacher, etc. Then last year won a @NEXTGolfTour event and the next day quit his job as a D3 coach. Then he got thru all three stages of Euro Q-school and earned HP status. He went to South Africa to start the year, and put the trip on his credit card. That pressure is hard to comprehend, which many players go thru. He had to play well or face the fact his season might be over before it started. Made the cut the first week, finished 12th, and made $6,000. That helped get to the next few events, but travel is expensive and he ran out of money a couple more times. In fact in India he didn’t even have a flight home before he teed it up, he couldn’t afford it. Another made cut that week helped keep the season going. 10 events into the season Carlson finished T5. “Before that the bank account hit zero many times” And in the last nine weeks has been on an outstanding run. He’s made 9 of 9 cuts, including 6 top-25s. And has four top-12s in his last five events. He has moved all the way to 19th in points, the top 20 at the end of the season get their DP card. Pretty outstanding