Benjamin Remains Optimistic 7/17/12
By: Scott Leber
Updated: July 17, 2012
Rockford, Illinois-The life of a professional golfer seems glamorous on the surface, but it's a very difficult one starting out. Rockford native Brad Benjamin knows. His first year as a pro has been made even more challenging by some nagging injuries that got his year off to a slow start.
By now Benjamin should have played in up to a dozen tournaments, and he should have dozens of practice rounds under his belt. You wouldn't know it from his performance at the Rockford Pro-Am Monday, but Benjamin was plagued early in the year by neck and rotator cuff injuries. Those problems are behind him, but he has a lot of catching up to do.
"I've been doing better," said Benjamin. "Once I got back at it I took a little time to shake the rust off, but I really can't blame injury on any poor play from here on out."
Benjamin doesn't have his PGA Tour Card, so for now his route to competing in tournaments is by playing in Monday qualifiers to try to get into Web.com Tour events. Web.com used to be known as the Nationwide Tour.
"I've played in four of them (qualifiers) for Web.com and the John Deere last week for the PGA Tour, so the first couple were like on a week or week and a half practice, so there wasn't much of an expectation for me," said Benjamin.
Benjamin has three qualifiers coming up in the Midwest in August. Then he'll head back to his new home in South Carolina. He'll try to qualify for more Web.com events there. And he's considering playing some eTour events.
"I have to get some rounds in," said Benjamin. "I've been practicing a lot, and I've gone to these one-day qualifiers, but you really can't get a judge of your game on one round, so I definitely need to get some reps in."
Benjamin remains optimistic about the rest of the year based on how he has played lately.
"The last couple (qualifiers) I felt better about, and my game has been getting a little sharper, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the year."
By now Benjamin should have played in up to a dozen tournaments, and he should have dozens of practice rounds under his belt. You wouldn't know it from his performance at the Rockford Pro-Am Monday, but Benjamin was plagued early in the year by neck and rotator cuff injuries. Those problems are behind him, but he has a lot of catching up to do.
"I've been doing better," said Benjamin. "Once I got back at it I took a little time to shake the rust off, but I really can't blame injury on any poor play from here on out."
Benjamin doesn't have his PGA Tour Card, so for now his route to competing in tournaments is by playing in Monday qualifiers to try to get into Web.com Tour events. Web.com used to be known as the Nationwide Tour.
"I've played in four of them (qualifiers) for Web.com and the John Deere last week for the PGA Tour, so the first couple were like on a week or week and a half practice, so there wasn't much of an expectation for me," said Benjamin.
Benjamin has three qualifiers coming up in the Midwest in August. Then he'll head back to his new home in South Carolina. He'll try to qualify for more Web.com events there. And he's considering playing some eTour events.
"I have to get some rounds in," said Benjamin. "I've been practicing a lot, and I've gone to these one-day qualifiers, but you really can't get a judge of your game on one round, so I definitely need to get some reps in."
Benjamin remains optimistic about the rest of the year based on how he has played lately.
"The last couple (qualifiers) I felt better about, and my game has been getting a little sharper, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the year."
