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.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As I’ve talked about before in my journal entries, rookies can face the difficult task of getting into tournaments. My most recent experience with this came from the Byron Nelson a couple of weeks ago in Dallas. Having slowly moved up the alternate list through the week, I arrived Thursday morning as second alternate. At about 8:45 a.m., I got a call from the tour telling me I was now first alternate, with roughly three hours of tee times left. To make a long story short, I was officially the last player not to get into the tournament. A difficult and frustrating position to be in, yet one of those things I would do every week. I would really have been upset if I had left on Monday or Tuesday and got a call Thursday morning in Scottsdale, Ariz., saying I was in the tournament!

This week I played in Memphis and finished in a tie for 39th, my best career finish on the PGA Tour. I’ve been putting in a lot of time and effort trying to improve and believe I’m starting to get on the right track. I played solidly Thursday and Friday, although I didn’t make a lot of putts. I made birdies on my 17th and 18th holes to make the cut by a shot and was proud I didn’t give up. Let me also check that by saying that although I am happy with making the cut, I am not out here to make cuts; I’m out here to contend and have a chance to win.

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

Slowly, I’m learning how to compete out here. I think the missing piece is the driver; I’m just missing too many fairways. Over the weekend in Memphis, I think I hit seven or eight out of 28 fairways. The good news is I shot even par those two rounds despite the difficult times with the driver. On Friday I hit the driver well and shot 68, probably the highest score I could have shot on that day. I know I can continue shooting even par or 1-under driving the ball poorly, although continuing to do that would make contending difficult at best. With that said, I need to plan for improvement, change the way I do things, and change the way I think about driving the golf ball.

The difficult thing with making a change or working on weaknesses comes from the day-to-day practice sessions. I know I like to practice the things I do well because I do them well. Working on my weaknesses is more frustrating because I don’t hit the shots I want to a lot of the time and that is uncomfortable, at times discouraging. In the coming weeks, I will have some practice sessions and rounds of golf that will be discouraging, frustrating. At the same time there will be rounds of golf that encourage and invigorate my drive to improve and work through the frustration. The highs and lows are all part of the process of getting better, and I don’t think golfers are the only ones who live in this cycle.

Last week in Memphis, I also came to the conclusion or realization about the rounds of golf. I’m beginning to understand that the rounds of golf are sort of a cause and effect.  Driving the ball behind trees all day, the only thing I can do is play the percentages, work the process, play the best possible shot that I can on each opportunity, and that’s it. Add ’em up at the end of the day, and you’ve got my score. Hitting the ball on the fairway, I’m giving myself a chance to hit the ball close or at worst somewhere on the green having a chance for birdie. One leads to another.

This week I’m getting ready for the U.S. Open qualifying in Washington D.C. and hopefully the Booz Allen at Congressional next week (Editor's note: Rashell qualifed for the U.S. Open, but not the Booz Allen). The summer months will open up the playing schedule and I could be playing as many as 17 or 18 tournaments in 19 or 20 weeks. I’m looking forward to the opportunity and can’t wait to play.

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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