Rob Rashell is playing his first season on the PGA Tour. Throughout his rookie year, Rashell will provide a frequent glimpse of what it's like to break into the Tour.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Each year, as the FBR open draws near, I have a group of friends who religiously make their way to the TPC of Scottsdale for the tournament. The fun would usually start on Wednesday night and continue to an exhausting finish on Sunday with the final round followed by a Super Bowl party. I had a great time with all of my friends, and knew that some day I would get the chance to compete.

I always liked being able to go out and watch the tournament for one simple reason: they were playing and I wasn’t. I’m not saying that I liked to be on the outside looking in, I’m saying that this group of players earned the right to play on the PGA Tour and I can learn something by watching them play. Each day I thought if I could pick up one or two things from watching guys play then I was one step closer to playing myself.

Rookie on Tour Return to Q-School Family, friends, fun Learning from Tiger Taking time off Practicing patience   Major highs, lows Open a thrill It's the driver Alligator ... yum! Clubs, car ready Raindelay by a nose Alternate anxiety Rain, rain go away Pebble amazing Home, sweet home Pro-Am popular Club changes Happy in Hawaii

Well, this year I got my chance, and what a great week. I slept in my own bed for a tournament, which I haven’t done in over a year and a half. I also had a great group of friends out supporting me all day Thursday and Friday. I didn’t have my best stuff and missed the cut after rounds of 77 and 74. We ran into some pretty tough conditions on Thursday morning and had a wind delay for about 30 minutes. Some of the greens had gotten so hard and fast that the ball was actually rolling off. I don’t think you’ll hear of too many wind delays on the PGA Tour, especially when the tournament is over 400 miles from the nearest coast.

The FBR Open is run by a local group in Phoenix called The Thunderbirds, and man do they do a nice job. Each tournament has a designated area for player dining. PGA Tour players and their immediate families are the only people who have access in addition to a limited amount of staff from the PGA Tour. Normally, we have a nice buffet breakfast in the morning followed by a similar buffet lunch with various dishes. This week, The Thunderbirds went above and beyond the call of duty. On Friday I went in for lunch and was met by a pile of Double Double Cheeseburgers from In & Out. For desert they had a full cart from Cold Stone Ice Cream. In addition to the non-diet food, they also had the standard selection of salads and sandwiches.

Not only did The Thunderbirds put on a great golf tournament and a great spread of food, they also gave the players a chance to go to a Phoenix Suns game or take in a performance of ‘The Lion King.’ All of these activities are free of charge and available upon request, so a big thank you to The Thunderbirds and the guys from FBR on a great tournament.

I know a lot of you may wonder about my mind set after missing the last three cuts. I have always been a positive person and have learned that a large part of my improvement as a player has come from difficult times. Through difficult times I’ve learned some great lessons about managing my emotions, having a great plan for each golf course, and working hard on both my physical and mental fundamentals. I know that if I go out each day and work hard to get better and grow as a person and a player the year will be a success no matter what. I look forward to the challenge of competing against the best players in the world and know that I need to be at my best if I want to compete and win at this level. Most importantly, I know that when I’m having fun, I play my best golf. So, I’m off to play at Pebble Beach, and if I can’t have fun doing that, then I’m in the wrong business.

2005 results     How Rob Rashell stacked up on the PGA Tour this year. He made six of 25 cuts and earned $84,391. — 11/3-11/6: Southern Farm Bureau Classic (70-70-69-69—278, -10, 44th-tie, $9,070) — 9/22-9/25: Texas Open (67-73—140, Even, cut) — 9/15-9/18: 84 Lumber Classic (71-76—147, +3, cut) — 9/8-9/11: Canadian Open (72-73—145, +5, cut) — 9/2-9/5: Deutsche Bank Championship (75-73—148, +6, cut) — 8/25-8/28: Buick Championship (73-69—142, +2, cut) — 8/18-8/21: Reno-Tahoe Open (77-77—154, +10, cut) — 7/21-7/24: U.S. Bank Championship (71-72—143, +3, cut) — 7/14-7/17: B.C. Open (74-70—144, Even, cut) — 7/7-7/10: John Deere Classic (72-72—144, +2, cut) — 6/30-7/3: Western Open (72-72—144, +2, cut) — 6/23-6/26: Barclays Classic (75-73—148, +6, cut) — 6/16-6/19: U.S. Open (74-72-73-74—293, +13, 42th-tie, $26,223) — 5/26-5/29: St. Jude Classic (73-68-69-71—281, +1, 39th-tie, $20,090) — 4/28-5/1: Zurich Classic (74-73—147, +3, cut) — 4/21-24: Houston Open (78-73—151, +7, cut) — 3/31-4/3: BellSouth Classic (79-73—152, +8, cut) — 3/10-3/13: Honda Classic (73-68-76-70—287, -1, 58th-tie, $12,100) — 2/24-2/27: Chrysler Classic (71-68-71-75—285, -3, 64th-tie, $6,300) — 2/17-2/20: Nissan Open (73-72—145, +3, cut) — 2/10-2/13: Pebble Beach Pro-Am (72-75-73—220, +4, cut) — 2/3-2/6: FBR Open (77-74—151, +9, cut) — 1/26-1/30: Bob Hope Classic (66-76-73-72—287, -1, cut) — 1/20-1/23: Buick Invitational (73-72—145, +1, cut) — 1/13-1/16: Sony Open (73-67-74-69—283, +3, 56th-tie, $10,608)

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