Cory Schneider’s Golf Blog

                            After visiting with the doctor and discovering that x-rays were negative, I was instructed to rest for 2-3 weeks. After that time period the doctor said that I should be ready to resume normal activity. Once the 3 weeks were up I tried to play a few holes and immediately was struck with some immense pain. I stopped playing and went to the doctor’s to get re-examined again. The doctor was confused on what could be wrong, so he ordered another x-ray from additional angles. The results came back that I had almost completely cracked through the sixth rib on my left side. I was happy to finally find out the source of all my pain. Unfortunately though, the doctor told me that because of the severity of the crack it would be another 6 weeks before I would heal. This would mean an extended time of no practice, no playing, and no working out. It has been 4 weeks since my last visit to the doctor and I am almost pain free. I am going to go back to the doctor in a week or two and get an x-ray to hopefully get clearance to get back to practicing. This has been a difficult time for me to have no physical activity. I would like to thank my friends and family for all of their support. I look forward to get back to playing and am more determined than ever to make it to the PGA Tour.

After playing the final round of the NC Open through pain, I have done no practicing to try to rest. The pain has persisted on the left side of my chest and even hurts when I breathe. Today I decided to go to the doctor to get an x-ray to make sure I didn’t crack a rib. The x-rays came back negative, however, the doctor believes that I have a pretty major pull/strain of a muscle that goes over the ribs. His recommendation is to take at least another week off and hopefully slowly get back into practicing when the muscle is healed. This is extremely difficult for me to not practice and this will be the longest lay off of my career. The needed rest will cause me to miss both the Mill Run Pro-Am as well as the next Hooter’s Carolina Series event. I will keep everyone updated on my progress and look forward to getting back on the course.

The North Carolina Open was held on June 2-4 at Kilmarlic Golf Club in Powells Point, NC. It was nice to be able to sleep in my own bed since I live directly across the street from the tournament site. I finished the tournament in a tie for 19th place with a three day total of 1-under par. I shot scores of 72-72-71 throughout the tournament. My ball striking was quite problematic to the tune of ten penalty strokes throughout the 54-hole event. Prior to the final round I pulled a muscle in my chest and had to play the final round in a good bit of pain. Currently, the injury has gotten worse so I am trying to rest. This is very difficult for me because I am dying to get out and practice. I have updated my tournament schedule through September, however, this my be subject to change if this injury persists. Hopefully I will have good news in the upcoming days.

                    Today, I hit the ball marginally better and was able to post a 68 in the final round. I only had one bogey on the card today and it was on the 18th hole. I was able to get myself within three strokes of the leader with three holes to play. However, as the main theme of the week, I just wasn’t able to control my ball striking which was costly in the end. I finished in a tie for 5th place for the tournament. I look forward to getting back to work on the game and competing again in the near future.

                         Today I struggled once again with my ball striking throughout the round. However, I was able to make some tremendous par saves and managed to fight out a 2 - under par 69. I am very happy with the fact that I was able to post a decent round even though my game was not very good. On the other hand, it is frustrating that I am not performing up to my ability. I am heading back out to the course to work on the swing and look forward to tomorrow’s final round. I would like to thank everyone that continues to follow my progress.

There was an hour delay on today’s round so I didn’t tee off until 1:54 PM. Today I was fighting my game the entire round, but was fortunate enough to make some crucial par saves to post an even par 71. After day one that puts me in a tie for eighteenth place. Tomorrow I tee off at 8:42 AM and look forward to playing well.

                  This morning I participated in a pro-am at the Surf Club in Myrtle Beach. The Surf Club will be the host course for the Carolinas Open May 5-7.  This morning I posted a 72 and our team shot a respectable 66. I enjoyed the company of my playing partners and it was a beautiful day. However, I am frustrated with the way I am playing and am just going to try to stay positive for this weeks tournament. Late in the round, I pulled a muscle in my back and hope that it fell better in the morning for the first round. Tomorrow I tee off a12:54 PM off #10 tee. I would like to thank everyone that is keeping tabs on my progress and hope to have good news to post tomorrow night.

Today was my first official PGA Tournament at the Verizon Heritage which started at 9:00 AM off #10 tee with Matt Weibring and Brendon de Jonge. I was a little nervous on the first tee however felt comfortable throughout the remainder of the round.

Unfortunately my golf swing didn’t work well and put me in tough situations making it difficult to score. Harbour Town is a very unforgiving course when you’re hitting the ball off line. The round felt like swimming with bricks on my feet as I could never stay a float.

Today’s round was extremely disappointing and tough to swallow because of my personal expectations and friends and family watching the event. I’m going to shrug it off and tomorrow is a new day to apply knowledge from today’s round.

I arrived at the golf course this morning and had a new driver and hybrid custom made by Taylor Made. I hit some balls on the range and then proceeded to the practice green where I spotted Justin Leonard and asked if he would be interested in playing in a practice round with me.

I ended up playing a practice round with Justin Leonard, Tom Pernice, Jr., and Matt Weibring. It was a great experience to see how my game compared to theirs and they were roughly one in the same. It was also was beneficial to get out on the golf course again, only this time in front of larger crowds.

I think today’s events will all be helpful to gain experience that can be applied towards the first round of play on Thursday morning when I tee off with Matt Weibring and Brendon de Jonge.

For those of you have not heard, I qualified last month for the Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head Island, SC.

Today I was able to get on the golf course and see it for the first time by playing an early morning round. The course was in great condition and will be a great test of my game. Extremely tight tree lines and firm greens will add to the difficulty.

This week I hope to take in the experience of participating in my first PGA tour event while still balancing my personal expectations for the week. It is surreal seeing all the players I normally see on TV, however I am confident my skills can hold up with the rest of the field. I’m looking forward to getting another practice round in again on Tuesday, fine tuning my game on Wednesday, and delivering my skills during the tournament.