The Number One

(Photo by Robert Salas)

A lot has been made of the number one this week. I'll start with the good news. My first event as a professional is The PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. TPC San Antonio's Canyons Course plays host this week for the Pre-Qualifying. In honor of my first event, and first round as a professional I played a Titleist 1. Also, the first hole was quite indicative of how the round would go. A drive down the middle of the fairway left a good angle to the back hole location. A solid wedge shot left about 9 feet for birdie and the putt peered into the hole before rolling 8 inches or so past for an easy par. I played solidly most of the day, making three birdies against just two bogies and posted a one under par 71 on the demanding layout. Tournament one, Round One, Ball #1, Hole One, One Under par. Unfortunately I am not in first place, but I am comfortably placed on the scoreboard and three more rounds like this one will definitely do the trick.

The unfortunate detail involving the number 1 is that I am operating on one less toe than everybody else in the field this week. A bizarre incident while packing Saturday night left my little toe on my right foot broken, severely bruised, and swollen. After icing, medicating, and coaxing my right foot into a golf shoe Sunday afternoon for my first practice round I immediately wanted back out of the shoe. The pain was immense. I quickly found a new stride, walking on the inside of my right foot to relieve pressure, which in turn made my entire right leg sore in places I didn't know existed. The one positive thing I took away from the course on Sunday was that the injury did not appear to affect my swing, just the long walks between shots were excruciating. Because of this I decided to forgo my second practice round on Monday in exchange for rest. I just played the back nine in untied tennis shoes, which still didn't feel great.

After more ice, more Aleve, and a little more coaxing I got my foot back into a golf shoe this morning and was able to play some decent golf despite the distraction literally every step of the way. Now its back to the ice until tomorrow morning when I get to do it all again.