Advil Western Open

03 Jul 2002 - 07 Jul 2002
Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, Lemont, IL

Spending time last week in the Muskoka region for the Skins Game was a lot of fun. It was my first experience in the area and I enjoyed it very much. It was really nice to see some friends and family, especially my niece and nephew who I don’t get to see as often as I would like.

I thought Mike played very well, but he just wasn’t able to gain a Skin as someone always cut him off after making a great putt. Overall Mike came away with some confidence as he struck the ball well and made some good putts. Mike was able to stay up in Gravenhurst after the Skins Game with his family and take part in the opening of his course Taboo at the Muskoka Sands Resort. Everyone says it is a must visit.

I flew home to prepare for three weeks on the road starting with this week’s event: the Advil Western Open. We are leaving for Ireland and Scotland on Tuesday in preparation for the British Open. Both Mike and I are looking forward to playing some great golf courses while overseas.

This week in Chicago at the Western Open always seems to bring back good memories for Mike and myself, remembering some of the past success we have had at Cog Hill. In that way our preparation is a little different this week. Mainly Mike is just trying to get into the flow of the tournament as he is very comfortable on this course and has lots of good shots that he can pull out of his memory from past tournaments here. We played nine holes early Tuesday morning then practiced for a few hours. Wednesday is the pro-am and then some more practice to make sure everything is ready to go for Thursday morning. We are paired with David Gossett a great young player and fellow Dallas resident Justin Leonard.

The course is in great shape. Fairways are very lush and the greens are perfect. Look for some very good scoring this week. My prediction for the winning score is 17-under par.