Turning Stone Resort Championship

I got to the course at 8am on Monday morning to go and play a practice round but the Monday Pro-Am was at 9am instead of its usual 1pm so I spent the morning on the driving range hitting balls and on the putting green. I worked with Larry from Scotty Cameron on a new putter, a Newport tour select belly putter and a little bit of time with Aaron, Bob Vokey's number two for wedges.

The staff in the players lounge this week were exceptionally nice and are so helpful and friendly, it really does make a difference.

On Tuesday I was one of the first players on site so that I could get out on the course early as I thought it would be really busy and slow. After a nice breakfast I went out on the course and I was the first one out there, all of the marshals around the course were very friendly and a few stopped to chat. As I played on my own and didn't get held up I was finished in three hours. I was really pleased with my new putter but wanted to alter it slightly so took it back to see Larry to tweak it a little, I had a little length taken off it and changed the grip from a one piece square grip to a two piece round grip, this felt much better and I am happy to have the putter in play this week.

Out on the course there were some people dressed in Native American clothing and in historical army costume. In the American Revolutionary War the Oneida Indians had fought alongside colonists, as this is the only PGA tournament that is held on Native American land, owned by the Oneida tribe they were trying to share some of their culture. Even the name of the course Atunyote means "eagle" and each hole is named after a bird. In the clubhouse entrance the trophy is on display, it reflects the Oneida pride and is an exact copy of "allies in war, partners in peace" a statue that was created for the National museum of the American Indian. The course also had a old fashioned British phone box next to the 9th tee so they can call in their food orders and collect them at the 9th green.

Wednesday was my usual quiet day and as the weather was colder than home all week I didn't go to far from my hotel.

I played on Thursday afternoon with Doug LaBelle and Kyle Thompson, as I had a late start I had a lie in before going to the course for lunch. It was bitterly cold and was raining as we went out to play. It was a mixed day, two birdies on the front nine and two bogeys on the back nine but considering the conditions it wasn't a bad day's work.

Friday wasn't a good day, the wind was howling and I struggled to get the ball close to the hole which led to a couple of three putts and missed greens. We had two delays during the round, one was because of a hail stone shower covered the greens and we had to wait for it to clear and another was because of lightning. I got my round finished but it wasn't good enough to make the cut.

I moved my flight forward to fly out of Syracuse on Saturday evening, we boarded the flight and were ready to take off until the stewardess checked the toilet and somehow a panel had been damaged when the bags were loaded so we were taken off the plane and had a couple of hours delay. As a result I missed my connection in Chicago so had to spend the night there.

I flew to San Antonio on Sunday morning and arrived into the sunshine at lunchtime. There were volunteers to greet the players on my flight and direct us to our courtesy cars. Lets hope the weather is nice this week, but I have a feeling I will have gone from one extreme to the other.