When I woke up on Saturday, May 9^th, I was preparing for a five week, non-stop Nationwide Tour schedule that would begin at the end of the month. Since the Mexico Open was postponed, I thought this was an interval of practice and sleeping, before heading to Raleigh, North Carolina on May 23^rd.  My former teammate at Texas A&M University, Trey Todd, was getting married in a week in Abilene, and I was going to be a groomsman in his wedding. I planned to head for west Texas on Thursday.  Never did I suspect that one phone call would change everything.

THE PHONE CALL

At about two o’clock in the afternoon I got a phone call from a man named Tony Piazzi, President and CEO of Golf San Antonio.  “Would you like to play in our tournament in San Antonio?, Mr. Piazzi asked,  “the Valero Texas Open.”  I was in shock. Was this really happening? I said “yes” after a moment of being literally speechless.  Of course playing on the PGA Tour was a dream of mine, but I didn’t realize that it would come so soon.  So I then did what anyone else would do, go practice!  (Haha)

Two days later, I left Dallas and picked up my caddie, Russell Helson, in his hometown of Georgetown, Texas.  On Tuesday, we played a 7:30 a.m. practice round  in a foursome made up of my former teammate Texas A&M,  Robert “Bobby” Gates, who  shot a 64 the day before to Monday Qualify,  Texan Chad Campbell and Heath Slocum.  Chad and Heath were class acts the whole way as they put up with me being a little star struck.   We finished the round and were greeted on the range by my favorite BBQ in the world, Rudy’s!  I thought, it would be real easy to get used to this whole PGA Tour thing.  Then, on Wednesday, Russell and I went over to the Palmer course at La Cantera Golf Course to play in the off-site pro-am.  Despite the wind blowing about 50 mph, we had a blast with our amateurs as usual.  I’m still waiting to win a pro-am.  I’m beginning to think a Wednesday pro-am is tougher to win than an actual tournament. 

MY FIRST ROUND ON THE PGA TOUR

I started the first round the next day at 2:05 p.m. off of the 10^th with Aron Price and Matt Bettencourt.  Brian Winnett, my high school golf coach from Duncanville, Texas made the trip to watch me play. His familiar face relaxed me a bit, which is what I needed.  I struggled to control some nervousness on the first tee, an uphill par 4 with a stiff wind coming towards us.  I needed Coach Norman Dale of the Hickory Huskers from the movie, “Hoosiers,” to come measure the cups out there just to calm me down or something.   And I thought to myself, this is the same golf that I’ve been playing my whole life.  There’s really no difference.  I calmed the nerves and was able to hit a decent tee shot, second shot and par the first hole.   I shot one under, 69, the first round and was in a good position.

MAKING THE CUT

 While some people would not expect a player to make the cut in his first PGA Tour tournament, I expected nothing less. In the second round, I was even par for the tournament standing on 17 tee, a par 3, one over for the second round.  I knew I had to get to at least 1 under to make the cut.  The hole was about 190 yards into a light breeze.  I smoked a high 5-iron into the back pin about 7 feet away and made the putt for birdie to go one under.  I needed to par 18 to make the cut. On 18, a par 4, l pulled out my driver and hit my tee shot left into a fairway bunker.  From the bunker, I decided on a 6-iron.  The ball shot up high and into the hospitality tents left of the green. The crowd heard the ball hit the roof.  It was embarrassing how bad the shot was.  Luckily, the PGA Tour gives generous drops around grandstands. I was given a free drop about 40 yards short and left of the green.  I pulled out my 64 degree wedge and sent it straight into the air. It landed about 8 feet away from the hole.  I knew I had to make the putt to make the cut. I lined it up and pulled the putter straight back. The ball dove into the center of the hole.  I gave the biggest fist pump of my life!

PLAYING SATURDAY

Saturday was nearly perfect.   I was paired with Matt Bettencourt again. I enjoy playing with him for one reason: he plays fast.  I’ve developed a reputation on the Nationwide tour as a fast player. Matt makes me look slow.  On top of that, he is a super nice guy. We teed off at 8:11 a.m .and somewhere around 5:30 p.m., after 7 birdies and a 5 hour rain delay, I had a 64 by name on the leaderboard.  Just to play is thrilling.  To put together a great round is extra special.  For the first time, I was on a CBS golf broadcast putting out on 18.  I later saw the tape and thought “so that’s what I look like in HD”.

FINAL ROUND

The final round was fun but frustrating.  I wanted to try to get into the top-10, so I could play in the Byron Nelson Championship the next week.  I shot 71 to finish in a tie for 40^th place, far short of my goal.  But the walk up 18 fairway was one of the coolest moments I’ve had in golf.  The galley applauded as our threesome approached the green.  Charlie Wi made a tap in for birdie. Willis Garrett  also made a birdie putt. And I made par to finish my first PGA tournament 69-70-64-71-274 (6 under).

HELLO FRIENDS 

 After my 2^nd round, I was interviewed on Sirius Satellite Radio’s PGA Tour Channel, and I was asked what my goals were for the week.  I responded: “ I want to play well. And , I want to meet Jim Nantz of CBS Sports.”  I heard Mr. Nantz speak at Texas A&M , when I was a freshman in 2004. Ever since then, I’ve always been a big fan of him. Well, someone else took note of that from my radio interview. After my final round, I was stopped outside the scoring tent by a young lady who worked for CBS Sports. She asked me, “do you still want to meet Jim Nantz?”  I said, “Heck yeah!”  So she walked me up to the tower behind the 18^th green and into the booth where Mr. Nantz and Ian Baker-Finch were announcing the play-by-play.   I saw Mr. Nantz in the back of the booth.  He motioned for me to come over.  We waited until a commercial break.  Then Mr. Nantz took off his headset and said “hello Martin”.  He was as smooth off the air as he is on.  He showed me around the booth and helped me get a little comfortable with how things work.  I didn’t realize how complicated broadcasting a golf tournament was. That’s got to be way tougher than actually playing golf!  Mr. Nantz gave me a headset to listen to the broadcast, which was one of the coolest moments all week.  If you listen to the actual broadcast, Mr. Nantz gives me a special “Hello Friend” while scrolling through the scores, his signature greeting during the Masters coverage.   I stayed in the booth for about 30 minutes. After that, Mr. Nantz signed  a copy of his book.  The inscription read:  “I hope to put a green jacket on you in Butler’s Cabin someday.” It also was Mr. Nantz’s 50^thBirthday.

SPECIAL THANKS

Special thanks to Tony Piazza and his entire staff for giving me the opportunity to play in the Valero Texas Open.  I will never forget their support during my rookie year.  That turned out to be a good thing. Thanks to Cliff Dugosh, Chris Curiel, and Brandon Leone for hosting me all week in San Antonio.  And I appreciate Coach Winnett of Duncanville, who is retiring this month and my swing coach, Neil Wilkins of Sugarland for making the trip and all my friends who d walked the steep cart paths of La Cantera. Congratulations to Trey and Casey Todd, who lost not one but two groomsman to the PGA Tour last week, Bobby Gates and me. And finally, congratulations to Coach Higgins and the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Golf team for advancing to the NCAA National Championship in Toledo, Ohio. Whoop!  Thanks for all the people who came out there and supported me for the week, my old roommate Will Harrell, especially my old friends from high school, Jeff Walston, Michael Miles, Daniel Gossett, and TJ Drake, y’all are the best.

FIVE STATE SWING

Russ and I are headed to Raleigh on May 23 for the Nationwide Rex Hospital Open and then to Nationwide tournaments in Maryland, Tennessee, Arkansas and West Virginia. I love the Nationwide Tour because it gives us opportunities, which can lead to one phone call that turns a routine Saturday into an unexpected and life changing opportunity. Come see us play this summer and say hello.

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.”Galatians 5:22