Playing with the pros

A dream came true earlier this week. I qualified for a professional golf tournament at Mason, Ohio, just outside of Cincinnati.

It's called the Teva Championship, and is part of the Duramed Futures Tour, a developmental tour for the LPGA. It's the same as Triple A in baseball.

I played 18 holes in Monday's qualifier, and shot 75. I tied with two others, and then won with a 15-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole.I got off to a tough start, going bogey, bogey, and double-bogey but settled down and went even par the rest of the way.

The tournament is today, Saturday and Sunday. There's a 36-hole cut, and the top 70 and ties advance to Sunday's final round. There are 149 professionals and one amateur -- me -- in the field.

I tee off at 12:50 p.m. today, and one of my playing partners is the No. 2 player on the money list.

I'm really looking forward to learning from the pros, and this can help me going into my senior year at Ball State.

No matter what happens this weekend, I'm going to approach it as a learning experience.

If you'd like to follow the scores, you can at http://real-timescoring.com/2010/MasonRe...