September 2003

Wednesday 3 September - Bell Canadian Open
I have been up here in Hamilton for a few days practicing and taking a look at the new course. It's in great shape and I am feeling good. the tee times are out and I am playing with Bob Tway and Todd Fischer. We have a "late, early" with a 12.20 start from the 10th tee on Thursday and a 7.20 start from the 1st tee on Friday. The next few weeks are important and my focus is on playing good golf - if I do that the results will take care of themselves. I hope to see some Canadian fans out here this week! Bye for now, Per

Thursday 4 September - Bell Canadian Open -75 (+5)
It's been a very long time since I had more bogeys than pars on my card! Starting from the 10th on this tough golf course I had a nightmare on the front nine with bogeys on 11, 14, 16 and 18, I did pull one back with a birdie at the par 5 17th to be out in 38. It didn't get a lot better on the back nine as I made bogey on 1, 2 and 4. My back was to the wall the whole day and the stats show that my driving was the real problem. I sandwiched another bogey on 7 with a pair of twos towards the end and the resulting 75 leaves me a great deal of work to do tomorrow morning. Believe me I'll be trying! Catch up after the round, Per

Friday 5 September - Bell Canadian Open - 72 (+2)
I'm writing this back in West Palm Beach - not a good sign! The day was better and I kept the ball in play more , which is the key around this golf course. Still too many bogeys on the card on a day I needed to shoot in the 60s to make the weekend. After the game I headed for the airport with Jesper and was planning on taking a week off. Having now had the chance to practice and see more of my swing on video I have decided that I will play in the John Deere Classic. I need to be out there giving my chance to make a cheque and it certainly felt better at the weekend at Medalist. I'll leave on Tuesday for Pennsylvania. See you there! Per

Tuesday 9 September - West Palm Beach
Unfortunately my thumb is playing up and having seen the doc he has suggested I take a few days to rest it. So, I'm still here in WPB and will have to miss the John Deere. I hope to be 100% ready physically and mentally after this week. Catch up with you all then, Per

Tuesday 16 September - 84 Lumber Classic of Pennsylvania
The tee times are out and I have a late/early again. I am off the 1st at 1.03pm and my playing partners are Jay Don Blake and Mark Wilson. On Friday we are teeing it up on the 10th at 8.18am. Its a new course this week and it plays nicely. Jesper, Rickard Johnson and hid girlfriend Linda are coming over tonight for some turkey bolognese. Jill is cooking one of her specialities! The weather is so nice here and Jill is taking walks with Stella around the course, which is really wide and it's hard to miss a fairway. The greens are very hilly too. I've changed putter back to the Odyssey two ball without the black line on it ? Hope it works. The storm Isabel is coming this way so we might be in for bad weather on Friday. I hope to see some of you out here, if it stays calm, Bye for now, Per

Thursday 18 September - 84 Lumber Classic of Pennsylvania - 70 (-2)
A solid start to the week and a good confidence builder with an opening round of 70. After a poor start with bogies at 1 and 5, I started making a few putts and turning the round around. I was level standing on the 8th tee after birdies at 6 and 7 and from then on built the round with three more birdies and just a single dropped shot in the rain at the last. So, out in 36 and back in 34 for my first competitive round in a couple of weeks. I can move forward from here and today I only missed one fairway, the 18th, so that is certainly an improvement. After the round Jill and Stella were there to meet me, which was a nice surprise. We headed back to our apartment for the week for an early dinner. Looking at the forecast it is likely that we will have a rain delay, but I need to be up at 6am just in case. The predicted bad weather is the fall out from Hurricane Isabel! Let's hope we get some golf in tomorrow, Bye for now, Per Friday

19 September - 84 Lumber Classic of Pennsylvania - No golf today!
I got up at around 6am and made a phone call to the Tournament HQ to find out our fate for the day. At that time there was a 3 hour delay because of the weather. Anothere announcement was made at lunchtime that play was called off for the day. Well, what to do on a free day? Jill, Jesper and Eric (the TOUR travel guy) and I went to "Falling Water", the magnificent Frank Lloyd Wright building. It was designed in 1936 for the family of the Pittsburgh department store owner, Edward J. Kaufmann. The house is built over a waterfall and is stunning. After our cultural experience we headed home for dinner made from leftovers - it's a great life on TOUR! Hope we can play some golf on Saturday. We are not sure how many holes the event will be at this time. See you out there, Per

Saturday 20 September - 84 Lumber Classic of Pennsylvania - 70 (-2)
I played well again today and a solid round of 70 would ordinarily be enough to put me into the weekend action. I actually finished in 54th position at -4, but when I got in after my round I discovered that only the top 60 were going to make it for the 36 hole finish on Sunday. Even though I was in the top 60 the cut is based on the scores leading to 60 rather than including 60 - I know it's kind of complicated, but those are the rules. Bearing in mind I missed a 6 footer on 17 and 18 you can imagine I am not too happy at taking the day off! Jill and I plan on making our way up to Houston for the next event a day early. If I can hit the ball as well as I did this week and get the flat stick working I will post some good numbers up there. Bye for now from a disappointed Per!

Tuesday 23 September - Texas Open, San Antonio
The resort here at La Cantera is great. We are right by the course and there is lots to do. I played in the Pro-Am on Monday and had a great team to play with. We were telling jokes from the first tee to the last - and I enjoy the chance to find new material! The scoring will be low again this year as the course has had a great deal of rain. I am playing well and due a good result, especially after the disappointment of last weeks "missed cut". Following the Pro-Am, Jill and I had dinner with Richard Johnson and his girlfriend, Linda. Today, I played a practice round with my Swedish friends, Richard and Jesper. The tee times are out and I have an early / late. I'm playing with Glen Hnatiuk from Canada and Kelly Gibson from the US. We are off the 10th tee at 8.42am and then the 1st tee on Friday at 1.22pm. I hope some of you can make it out to the course. Bye for now, Per

Thursday 25 September - Texas Open, San Antonio - 68 (-2)
Although I shot 68 today, it was a frustrating one. Starting from the 10th I made a good start with birdies on 12 and 14. I then had a bogey, birdie, bogey run before getting another back at the first. From then on I just couldn't make a putt despite hitting nearly all of the greens. Whatever I tried it just wouldn't go in today and I ended up signing for a 68, which was the highest score I could post for the way I played! Look on the bright side, I should be a due a few putts over the next few days. I'm out in the afternoon and following a session on the putting green after play I hope to make some putts. The greens are really grainy here and are very slow up and into the grain and lightning fast downhill and down grain. There are some goods scores posted so clearly some of the players have got the speed! I'll catch up with you on Friday night, Per

Friday 26 September - Valero Texas Open at La Cantera - 67 (-3)
Another solid day on the La Cantera course - it always feels good to be bogey free and my 67 moved me up the leaderboard and comfortably inside the cut line of -3. I made 3 birdies at the 9th, 14th and 17th and had many other chances which I didn't convert, but at least made a few good par saves today. Play will be in 3 balls on Saturday and I am off the 10th tee with Tim Petrovic and Blaine McCallister at 10.15am. With the scoring so low I need to go low also. With my long game feeling good, if I can get the flat stick working a low 60s is certainly on the cards here. Catch up later, Per

Saturday 27 September - Valero Texas Open at La Cantera - 71 (+1)
A quick entry today because I just got back from the range and we are headed out to dinner. A disappointing start to the day with a double on 10! I made a few birdies along the way but was stopped in my recovery tracks by another double at the 2nd. A 71 didn't do me too much good and I need to shoot a low number to make up for it on Sunday. Until then, Per

Sunday 28 September - Valero Texas Open at La Cantera - 71 (+1)
Another disappointing day at the course. A 71 is not good enough on this course and I finished towards the bottom of the pack. I won enough money to take me through $400,000 for the year, but am still short of the $570,000 or so need to keep my card for '04. I'm not focussed on the money at all - I'm focussed on playing well and then the money will take care of itself. We got home late on Sunday and I will be off again in the morning to the next event, the Southern Farm Bureau Classic in Misssissippi. I'm on my own this week and then Jill and Stella will join me in Vegas. I need to get it together and was very disppointed that after a solid start my game was so poor on the weekend. Hopefully this week I can keep it going! Hope to see some of you in Mississippi, Per

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