Blog: Welcome to the PGA TOUR, Woodland

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Editor's note: Each week this year PGATOUR.COM will have a blog from a different TOUR player. Today's comes from PGA TOUR rookie Gary Woodland, who is playing in the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer.

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Gary Woodland missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

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LA QUINTA, Calif. -- The last month has been a whirlwind. I took a couple of days off after I made it through q-school but it really didn't feel like I took any time off at all. I had moved to Orlando a few months ago and joined Lake Nona so I was out there practicing all the time. I got through all three stages of q-school and I had never played in a PGA TOUR event until last week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. So I was counting the days to when it started. I played with Webb Simpson the first two rounds at Waialae, which made the transition a little easier. We played against each other in college and we've been friends for a while.

I am really glad the season has begun. It's good to put all the nonsense away and get on with it. All your buddies -- and some newfound friends -- want to talk about the fact that you made it to the PGA TOUR. But now it's here. It's time to move forward. I want to do my best and stay out here and compete. I played well last week in Hawaii. I shot 68 in the first round, but I had two lost balls in the second. People said I'd never lose one ball there -- much less two. We think both of them got stuck in trees. There were a lot of people there, and they said they never saw the balls come out. You've got to take the good breaks with the bad breaks, though. Hopefully I got some of the bad luck out of the way there. It was a great experience and it was good to get one tournament under my belt.

I'm playing in the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer this week. I had an up-and-down first round. I made eight birdies, but I also had three bogeys, a double and a triple. So I'll need to play well the rest of the week. It's funny. It's kind of like I am transitioning back to q-school this week. We played some of these courses that week and q-school was six rounds compared with five at the Hope. I haven't seen Mr. Palmer yet. He's arguably one of the greatest to ever play the game so to have him host the event and me play in it is a dream come true. I'm not in the celebrity rotation, but yesterday I saw Sterling Sharpe and some football players I grew up watching so that was neat, too.

People have asked me about my welcome to the PGA TOUR moment. I guess maybe it was walking into the locker room last week and seeing my locker next to Ernie Els and Chris DiMarco. I mean, I was playing the mini-tours last year and I look at the locker and it says Ernie Els. Seeing these guys, practicing next to them, eating lunch with them -- that lets me know I'm on TOUR. I have met a few of the guys and they have all been very welcoming. There are about 15 TOUR pros at Lake Nona and they've all been great. They've answered any questions I've had. My caddy Brent Everson has been out there for a while, too. He used to caddy for Justin Leonard and some other pros. So he's introduced me to a lot of people and made the transition a lot easier. I played some practice rounds last week with Harrison Frazar, too. I've known him for a while. I used to live in Dallas, where he does, and we have the same management group. So I feel like I could ask him anything, and he'd be honest with me.

I always knew I wanted to play professional sports, so this is really something. My dad played golf and I used to mess around and play with him. I used to rent Lee Trevino videos from Blockbuster and then I finally got my first teacher in high school. I played one year of basketball at the Division II level and then I transferred to Kansas to play golf. I learned real fast that my future after college wasn't on the basketball court. I just wasn't fast enough. So I felt like I would have a better opportunity for success in the future if I made the switch to golf. I made the right choice. I know from playing and hitting balls out there that I have the game to compete. I just have to get strong mentally. That's what sets the really good players apart.