20th August, 2010
Hello Everyone,
I’m currently in Greensboro where it's damn hot again! It's been hot for a while now and unfortunately over here when it gets hot they pour water on the greens. Each week we play on soft greens that get destroyed by soft spikes, this week is no exception.
Since l last blogged I’ve played in the British Open and had the privilege of playing with the great Tom Watson in a practice round. Surprisingly we also played with Stewart Cink, so on the first tee l thought l would break the ice by asking how they went in last year’s British....
The Wednesday was completely washed out and you couldn’t see 50ft because of the fog. When we played Thursday morning it was like playing indoors. I got seven holes in without any wind, was one under and cruising, but the wind got up and unfortunately I three putted four times on the way in to a disappointing 76.
The second round was played in crazy wind; I only got to play 11 holes in five hours, all into the wind, when we finally got called off the course. Funnily enough it was called just as Tiger finished. So at 10pm we left the course and had to try find somewhere to eat, sleep and be ready to play at 6.30am the next morning.
The good news was the wind had turned around and l got to play the back nine into the wind too, needless to say I missed the cut.
It was a disappointing week but l did get to take my Dad to the home of golf and walk a round with Tom Watson which made it all worthwhile. I also got to have a photo with Tom on the Swilcon Bridge on the 18th which, when I look back, will be something pretty special.
My Wife, Katie, and l were lucky to have great friends in Canada who looked after our 2 boys, so we could go to the British Open with no kids. It was the first time my wife had been away from them for more than 1 night so that was fun. The jetlag was bad enough for us let alone having the 2 boys there to wake us at all hours.
There have been some very low scores recently with Paul Goydos shooting 59 then Stu Appleby doing the same at the Greenbrier. With the changes to the grooves it’s harder to spin the ball back which has made it easier to attack pins on soft greens, but still to shoot 59 is awesome I think.
I feel like my game is getting better, I just got some new clubs from Cleveland and asked for the shafts to be s300. They didn’t have any so they put in s400's but I thought they were too heavy so said I couldn’t use them. I was shocked to be told that I had been playing with s400 shafts all year, but this does explain why I haven’t been able to hit the ball like last year. I now know l have the right shafts and the ball striking has come back, now for the putter to follow suit. I hope to finish the year strong.
I need a top 3 finish this week or I will have 5 weeks off as the playoffs start next week. So l better get on my bike as the scoring is crazy again this week.
If I don’t make the playoffs the one good thing is the fact Collingwood will so c’mon boys, keep doing what you're doing.
Bye for now
Cameron Percy
Entry June 24, 2010:
I am writing to you from Hartford this week as we are playing the Traveler's championship on a very good golf course. It looks like if you are on you can go low and if you are off a bit you will struggle. There is a lot of water on the back nine!
My congrats goes out to Greame McDowell for winning the US Open at Pebble Beach last week. It was brought to my attention that he wouldn't have got a start had it not been for Tiger withdrawing from his own tournament and Greame getting a start in the 12 man event which gave him enough world ranking points to get inside the top 50 in the world. Then you have Gregory Havret holing a 50 foot putt to get into a playoff in qualifying and now he has a USPGA tour card! Talk about making the most of your opportunities!
For me personally l missed qualifying by 1, but from watching the US Open each year and seeing how hard it is, its probably the one event l am happy not to be playing!
Since l last wrote l played in Memphis and the temperature was that hot my belt fell apart from the sweat. You may have noticed Garrigus sweated a little too on Sunday.
I was in contention to have my best finish this year but l finished bogey bogey which cost me $70000 so it was a disappointing way to finish. l am still getting used to playing for such huge amounts of money. If you want to try it for yourself, go out and try to par the last two holes at your local course, but if you don’t make par you have to hand over $50,000. That will give you an idea about my heart rate when I’m out on tour!
The extra money would definitely have been handy as l play the British Open in a few weeks. People often ask how much it costs per week on tour, so I’ll tell you.
There is a charter going over to The Open from the John Deere at $1250 a seat for my wife, dad, caddy and myself and the same coming back to Canada. Accommodation is 2000 pounds plus $1000 for my caddy and then we have to eat so l basically need to make the cut to cover the cost of the week.
Now The Open is not a normal week but usually a caddy gets $1300 a week on tour plus you also use a physio to help recover and work out which is around $1500 a week. Then add flights and hotels and you are looking at at least $3500 per week. So to those looking to turn pro- better start saving!
It's been interesting watching the World Cup. The contrast in our sports is that in golf you are trying your hardest to not break a rule and play as fairly as you can and in soccer you are doing everything you can to cheat the opposition… and are happy when your cheating gets someone sent off! Imagine if when we hit the ball into the trees you threw the ball out and hoped no one saw you! l couldn't look at myself in the mirror each morning.
Congrats to the Aussies for winning one match- the yanks have been ribbing me telling me about how soccer is easier with 11 men.
Anyhow wish me luck this week. l hope l can improve on my result in Memphis.
Cameron Percy
Entry May 27, 2010:
Well, what a strange game we play!
Believe it or not on the first day I couldn’t find the golf course at the Byron Nelson, and then three days later l flush it and qualify for the British Open! l think it's every golfers dream to play in the Open at St. Andrews, and what makes it even better for me is that l get to do it after surviving a playoff with Charlie Hoffman and Bubba Watson.
I must admit I thought l was home on the 3rd hole of our playoff as the other two were in trouble, but as the game goes they hit crazy shots to 8 and 10 feet. l was in the middle of the fairway and hit my 8 iron to 12 foot and holed out first. Charlie and Bubba just missed their putts and unlucky for them but lucky for me that was enough for me to get a spot.
In a way it makes up for last year when l made a mess of the last five holes during Open Qualifying at Kingston Heath and missed by one shot. It's amazing how determined you can get when you really want something, particularly when you’ve been so close before. Now the fun begins trying to organise tickets, accommodation and flights!
It's been a great two weeks for Australian golf with Adam Scott winning in San Antonio on a new course Greg Norman designed which l thought was fantastic. It made you hit quality golf shots on every single hole. Its just a pity the weather was so bad that we had to play it so short. The first and 4th holes went from rip driver and 4 iron to 3 wood wedge.
Then the next week Jason Day fulfilled his amazing potential to win at home in Dallas at the Byron Nelson in tough conditions. If ever you want to have a bet on golf in Texas the Aussies always go well as its windy and the courses are usually tough. The guys at the Byron Nelson treat you like kings and raise an incredible amount of money for charity. I thought we got the royal treatment at Quail Hollow but they look after us even better at the Byron!
On a personal note l have changed coach in the last week and am now seeing Col Swatton who also happens to coach Jason Day and Greg Chalmers. My coach Darren Cole has done an amazing job with me but unfortunately l am in America 11 months this year and was struggling with my game and to get him over was too hard.
It was a really hard decision for me. You become so close to your coach that it's like telling your dad you don't want him to be your dad anymore! It took me a week to get the courage to call him to tell him and I think it's fair to say l might have had a few tears in the eyes during the phone call. Darren is such a good bloke and has a great family. It was not one of my happiest moments but l had to make the call.
I have also developed a relationship with Buyaustralianmade.com.au which helps promote Australian products which l am passionate about so go check the website out.
Well that's about it for me for now- wish me luck at the Open!!
Cameron
Entry May 13, 2010:
Hello everyone from a windy San Antonio.
I just said bye to Katie and the kids who are heading out for some fun at the magnificent Marriot Resort at the new TPC here only to find our car/truck has been broken into and our GPS gift l got has been stolen! Not the best way to start the day but not sure how they broke in as the car/truck they gave us is a massive Ford F150 that you need a running jump to get in to.
The bigger the better here in Texas.
I have recently been to New Orleans with Katie and the kids and my coach Darren Cole. It was a bit of fun walking down Bourbon Street with the kids in pram and all the drunks spilling out of bars. My son Liam kept asking why all the girls were calling me ‘sweety’...will explain that a few years from now.
I played nicely in New Orleans but made way too many soft bogeys and didn't finish too well there so Sunday night we decided to drive 12 hours to Charlotte as the flights were just too hard with the kids. The 6: 30am flights aren't too good with the young ones.
We got to Charlotte and Liam developed a terrible cough. The people at the tournament organised a doctor to go to motel and check him out and it turned out he had a strep throat infection so there was no childcare for him that week - which he loves! I also managed to leave my bank card in the ATM and once again the people at Quail Hollow took care of that for me.
Yes we do get spoilt.
Have l mentioned we got Mercedes Benz GL 450 SUV's too?
Now we get to the best bit, the golf course. Just a fantastic course with so much variety and lightning fast greens and massive crowds with Tiger and Phil playing. I think l signed 1000 autographs that week.
I started nicely and was 5 under and in 2nd place through 14 holes with a reachable par 5 to come but l made a mess of it and 3 putted 17, shooting 69. Not bad but l didn’t feel completely happy with my game so I decided to come out early Friday to check the set up and alignment. Unfortunately with the crowds and having to drop the kids off to childcare l arrived late and didn’t get to check things and then struggled my way around - just missing everything.
For some reason the greens have gone from lightning fast to slow. l needed 3 pars to make the cut and the seventh was a par five with a creek on the right. l hit the edge of the fairway but it looked like it had bounced into the creek. l got to the ball and the marshall said “You won’t believe this!”. The ball had hit a rock, hit another rock, hit a little wall going across the creek and was now out of bounds by one foot. “So, I missed the cut.
I haven't felt that flat after a round of golf for a long time as it was such a good tournament to play and l just wanted more. What made it worse was that the winner Rory McIlroy from Ireland came from just making the cut. Rory played in front of me and eagled the 7th to make the cut. It really is a game of inches.
What a weekend for golf it was with Rory shooting 62. He is a ripping guy too and Ryo shooting 58 in Japan. Two stars making their marks.
Well better head off to Best Buy to get another GPS. It was the gift l got from the Travellers tournament with every tournament for the year already programmed into it. Bummer!
Cheers,
Cameron Percy
Entry April 6, 2010:
Well hello everyone in this Masters week. Hopefully you will be up in the wee hours watching an aussie win next Monday morning.
Since l last wrote things have been poor, woeful and now on the improve.
l travelled down to Cancun Mexico absolutely exhausted after a long week at Pebble Beach and played accordingly, only playing one round after a dodgy soup that had me up all night!
l decided to head home to Raleigh to see Katie and the kids for a day before heading to Phoenix for the Waste Management tournament. l was really homesick after only 12 days away which l am finding l am getting worse than ever!
So off to Phoenix l go with my manager and two friends in tow for the famous 16th hole. On Tuesday afternoon there had to be 2000 people there. Incredible! When l went through there Thursday afternoon at a lovely ten over, the drunks absolutely gave it to me. “Nice score Percy!” as l hit was about what l deserved as l three putted from 12ft again.
l end up shooting 81 and my confidence was shot but l showed up the next day and come last for the first time in my career.
After Phoenix they re-rank everyone from Q-School and Nationwide Tour so l went from number 14 to 39. So all the hard work last year only lasts for seven weeks! l am going to struggle to get into events now.
I then took the family down Puerto Rico as l was told it's a great place at a resort on the beach - which it is - but 12 inches of rain kept the kids inside. We played at a Donald Trump course and he was there to help the tournament out which is great for golf. He didn’t bother battling the traffic as he flew in on his helicopter each day. Good luck to him!
The rain finally went and the sun came out and boy was it hot. I made the cut, but got a fever Saturday night and my son got croupe cough all night so l only got three hours sleep and really battled. l couldn't bend over to tee my ball up or get the ball out of the hole so when l got home l decided to go to a doctor and he told me my blood pressure was 88 over 50 which meant nothing to me, but my wife's face told me it wasn’t good. Any wonder l was feeling like rubbish so I had to eat anything with salt to get the pressure back up.
I then headed off to Houston and was seventh alternate so l had to Pre-Q. I was on the tee and l got a call that seven guys had pulled out so l was in!....The tide was turning!
Houston is set up a lot like the Masters with fast greens and low rough and it felt a lot like Southern Golf Clubs greens used to be like when l first joined it. So l all of a sudden felt good about the course and my chances. A friend of mine Mal Baker gave me a few tips for my putting which helped me to the first round lead with my good mate Kev Stadler.
I was pretty happy as it blew a gale and l hoped to take advantage of early morning conditions - only to hit off in a gale again. l shot 69 and was in the final group on Saturday which was great! One thing l need to teach my family and friends though is l use my phone also as my alarm so the texts during the night woke me most of the night. l need to teach them to email at 3am in the morning Aussie time.
I started well Saturday and hit the lead and just missed a few putts by nothing. l could have been well in front but struggled to score and went into final round four behind but still sitting ok.
Another text at 6am woke me up and l couldn’t get back to sleep so l had four hours to kill. I played pretty poorly and shot myself out of a good cheque with a disappointing 76. The positive thing is, l feel l belong and l only need to putt half decent to compete at this level.
My coach Darren Cole is heading over next week so l feel he can sort out some troubles and the next month could be a good one.
Well Tiger is back this week and l have always thought he must have had a strange life away from golf as it makes no sense that your caddy of five years is your best man at your wedding. He obviously has grown up alone with no close mates but he looks like he has had some real hard looks in the mirror and wants to be a better person. l say good luck to him and l think he will be really hard to beat this week, as apart from Ernie, Camilo, Couples and Dustin Johnson, no one is in really good form, so l won't be surprised if he wins.
Well l want to thank everyone for their support last week and look forward to New Orleans in two weeks time.
Go Pies!
Cam Percy
Entry February 16, 2010:
Well hello again!....I write to you having just made my first of many cuts on the PGA Tour at the famous AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am.
Wow,what a place!!! It reminded me so much of home in Victoria down near Flinders and Sorrento except the waves at Pebble where crashing against the wall so hard l had to back off my bunker shot on 17 because l got wet from a wave that just hit.
Since l last wrote l played the Farmers Insurance Open at the fantastic Torrey Pines GC. It is also overlooking the ocean and it was strange playing it as l have seen it on TV but it played so different due to the rain they had.l had a very disappointing week there as l played really nicely but three 3putts and an 8 iron in a hazard meant l missed the cut again and it was time to ship the family and myself back to Raleigh for some rest. Unfortunately the kids had got sick at daycare so we had the two boys vomitting, then it was Katie's turn....so... not a fun week.
l got plenty of rest as we arrived home to snow. We spent the first day home tobogganing down the front lawn.
One thing that has been funny lately is Liam keeps yelling out, "Dad there's your friend!" when Tiger comes on TV so when he does it when we are out we get a few funny looks. He he he.
People often ask me do the US PGA Tour guys get gifts? ...Well, I soon found out! .. Waiting for me when we got home was a Garmin GPS for the car with every Tour event pre-programmed into the "Favourites" - courtesy of the organisers of the 'Travellers' event the week after the US Open.
Now that was nice.
So after a week of snow and the gym l headed off to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro am but for the first time Liam was crying and didn't want me to go which l have to say is not a lot of fun but l told him l need to make some money so he can buy some toys so he was a little bit better....but only just!
The AT&T is played on three different courses so it was three practise rounds at Pebble,Spyglass and Monterey. Three fantastic golf courses and my amateur partner was the CEO of Neilson's ratings. A fantastic guy, which helped. l played great at Spyglass- but got nothing out of it- and solid at Pebble and Monterey to make my first cut. Beauty!!
l get to play Pebble in twosome's on Sunday....can't wait.
Wrong!....Was in a foursome off 10 at 7.55am and it's so cold a 4 iron goes 165m instead of 195m.l battle it out and come 45th so l am on the board.
One thing they do out here is track how close you hit each club to the hole and l am NO.1 on the USPGA TOUR from 150-175 yards. Unfortunately l aint doing so well with the wedges and putter but l have a positive to build on.
Oh and as with the recent controversy with the Ping clubs... l have played with someone using them and they definately make a difference.I guess it's like everyone playing cricket - bowls one way, but a few people are allowed to throw it.So for the guys using them if they are looking for respect from their peers they won't get it from me!
So l am now in Cancun Mexico and it's raining like nothing else as we get ready for this weeks event.
Wish me luck and also wish the new dad Geoff Ogilvy all the best defending after having a bay boy last week.
Cheers!
Cam Percy
Entry: January 28, 2010:
Well the 2010 PGA Tour has started for me and it feels like l only just sat down to reflect on the 2009 season. Normally l spend a lot of time with family and friends but this year l felt like l crammed three months into two weeks. So l packed the family up (five suitcases, one set of clubs, two car seats, one pram, two back packs and the kids toys in another bag,) and headed to Hawaii for the Sony Open.
We arrived at the International Terminal at the airport only to find out we had to go to the Domestic Terminal and Liam my 3 year old then decided he didn't want to walk the trip. Got off to a perfect start! Luckily an man was very kind and helped carry my golf clubs or we could be still there. We arrive in Hawaii and what a place!!! Unfortunately it took six hours for our room to be ready so the kids are a little tired - as were the parents.
Our first experience of PGA TOUR life comes when we go to register, but the ladies are so happy to help us. We go to get some lunch only to be laughed at- lunch is free on Tour it seems! They didn’t laugh as much when l asked for 32 tickets though.
I had a nice practise round with Bryce Molder who helps me understand where the wind will come from on each hole and how the course will play. He was definitely right about the wind. In the first round it blew like crazy. I played really well but putted poorly and even managed to three putt from 12 feet which rocked me a bit. I needed a good round to make the cut and I struggled but I made a good run late and only needed one birdie with two holes to go. I hit it to 12 feet on 17 when my caddy came up and said 'lets not do anything silly here.'
Well l lost a bit of focus and whacked it four foot by and lipped out the next putt and of course birdied the short 18th to miss by one shot. I played with a local guy Tadd Fugikawa who would be lucky to be 5ft tall but played nicely and is a great kid to boot.
So now I have to get to Palm Springs. We get dropped off at the airport at the wrong terminal, again, and of course Liam doesn’t want to walk again so he sits on my golf bag and l drag him along. There is no nice man this time as everyone watched Katie and l struggle with all the luggage by ourselves.
The Bob Hope is on four courses over five days and there was a bad storm around so the weather was awful and the best l could do was play about two holes at each course before the rain came each day. They had two years rainfall in three days and we lost a day's play. I played with Bubba Watson who shoots 10 under and did it easy. l played nicely but missed everything like the day before. Its the sort of event you know you need to putt well at so that's not good. The third and fourth rounds get off to nice starts but I just putt woefully so another missed cut!
I packed up the family again and drove down to San Diego for the Farmers Insurance tournament which is on a spectacular course at Torrey Pines. This week feels like a real event with big stands and pro's only. Two more new courses to get to know and most importantly a trip to the Scotty Cameron factory to try to sort out my putting woes. More than likely he will tell me to get some sleep as l haven’t had much yet as Liam has been up most nights keeping Katie and l awake.
From what I’ve noticed so far the biggest difference has been that the courses are longer. l have already worn out my 5,6 and 7 irons. On the Nationwide Tour you wear out your wedges. The crowds are much bigger here too.
Another interesting thing is we have two massive trucks that travel to each event with gym equipment, but instead of wearing you own shorts, shirt and shoes Nike have provided heaps of shoes, shorts and shirts that you can use and they just get washed after you finish. Nice!
Well, got to get ready for another practice round in the morning…. and hope for a good nights sleep!
Cheers,
Cameron
Stay tuned to www.pga.org.au for more blog entries from Cameron in coming weeks!