One shot. It’s always one shot. After three missed cuts in the Web.com Finals followed by scores of 61, 74, 63, and 69 in the Tour Championship, I missed out on a PGA Tour card by one shot.
I had a 20ft putt on the 72nd hole for birdie, if I holed it, I earned a PGA Tour card, if I missed, Jim Knous did. Fortunately for Jim, I missed.
Those situations always fascinate me. An entire year and future pathway coming down to one putt. In reality, it was all a result of everything that had come before. The lip out on 17, the 15ft par putt on 11, the birdie on the second hole – they are all equal but all people talk about is the final shot.
In the following hours I felt gutted, as though I had missed the opportunity of a lifetime. I had given everything and come up short of something I have worked towards for countless hours since I was eight years old. My wife Keri told me how proud she was, and I read all the nice texts from friends and family. It was all white noise. I’ve had plenty of moments like this in my career and in the moments after nothing anyone says can help, you just feel numb. It takes a certain amount of time to process the disappointment. You soon snap out of it, put things into perspective and realise that there are bigger issues in life – like hopefully having a healthy baby in about a month!
A day later I felt invigorated. I am excited to play golf again. After months of poor form and missed cuts (most by one shot), I have played some fantastic golf under extreme pressure. On Thursday and Saturday I shot the best score of the day. I hit over 80% of fairways and greens, and at times I felt unbeatable. I came up one shot short of a PGA Tour card but I have found some form and I am no longer dreading playing a golf tournament.
In fact, I cannot wait to fly back to Europe for the Dunhill and the British Masters. As my scores from last week show, you never know what is going to happen in golf, but I feel like I am back on the path to playing great golf again. The goal is to finish the season like I started it.
