Apples, Choi Boy, Flano & Pilks

I am currentlyback in Australia. I head over to Ireland tomorrow to catch up with Stuart Appleby next week, as we practice for 5 days at Waterville, and get ready for the British Open. It looks a lot like both Stuart and KJ Choi are already as ready as they need to be. They are both tied for the lead at 7 under in Washington at the AT&T at Congressional after the first two rounds. Both the guys have had a good week off after the US Open to clear their heads and re focus on the important stretch of tournaments coming up. Technically they are both in very good shape, and with KJ coming off a win at Memorial a few weeks back, he will still be mentally sharp. Apples has been in contention on Sunday in this year's first two majors, and this is a big step toward his goal of being more competitive in the big events. I spent the last couple of days down in Melbourne with Nick Flanagan. He has been home in australia for a couple of weeks and is now ready to go back to the USA for the run home on the Nationwide Tour. Nick's goal is to finish number one on the order of merit, if he doesn't have another win an achieve the 3 win automatic promotion to the main tour. Number one gets starts early in the year in most events, and this is a huge advantage in getting off to a good beginning, setting the playing schedule and working toward keeping your card in the first year out. We had a game yesterday morning at Kingswood with Terry Pilkadaris and it was about 3 deg C. I think Nick thought we were mad and couldn't quite see the point, being that it is about 35 deg most days on the US Tour. Terry is getting ready for the British Open as he qualified earlier this year in South Africa. Cold and windy could be a possibility in Scotland this year. The only one of the group who didn't quite look ready to compete was me, so I better stick to coaching.