Oct. 17, 2005

By Nick Cook

At this time of the year, most of my friends from Georgetown are in business school, medical school, law school, or some other form of graduate school. I have found myself this fall in another type of school - Q-School.

Looking back, it has been an interesting road which has led me here.

After graduating from Georgetown in June of 2004, I competed in amateur golf tournaments over the summer.

Following the last big amateur event of the summer, the United States Amateur, I turned professional hoping to earn a living doing what I love. That is right about when the proverbial roof fell in.

The costs of traveling and competing in professional golf tournaments added up quickly, and I started to feel financial pressure (in professional golf, only the top 40 percent of the field makes the cut and earns a paycheck).

The level of the competition was a lot higher than in college, and somewhat intimidating. I was playing poorly, missing cuts, and my confidence had reached the lowest point in my career. I moved down to the West Palm Beach, Florida area this winter, and decided to try my luck on the Golden Bear Tour, which competes in south Florida.

My first event was a disaster, and I missed the cut by 12 shots. I decided that the only thing I could do was to try to learn from the experience and keep practicing. I have tried to apply that philosophy to my game every week. Instead of worrying about results, I just focus on learning and becoming a better, more mature golfer.

After four months in Florida, in which I made 10 of 12 cuts, I joined the Cleveland Golf Tour, which competes throughout the northeast, from New Jersey to Maine.

From June through the first week in October, I competed in 13 events, and made every cut. I won twice, and only finished outside the top 15 once. I was named 2005 Cleveland Tour Rookie of the Year.

I am currently competing, as I mentioned earlier, in Q-School, which is the unofficial name for the annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

In Q-school, professional golfers from all over the world compete for the opportunity to play on the PGA Tour the following year. There are typically around 1,400 professional golfers, from all of the major tours, competing for approximately 35 spots.

This past week, I managed to make it past the First Stage (the first cut), where the field narrows to about 450 players. It was a close call for me, as I had to shoot four under par on my final nine holes to make the cut on the number (nine under par for 72 holes).

I will hopefully learn from the mistakes I made at First Stage, and play well at Second Stage next month.

No matter what happens, though, I will try to learn from the experience as best I can and continue to grow as a person and as a golfer.

Nick Cook, a 2004 Georgetown graduate, was the first Hoya golfer to ever play in the United States Amateur. He was a three-time All-BIG EAST honoree during his days on the Hilltop. Come back and visit www.guHoyas.com and hear from Nick on his quest to make the PGA Tour.