WOWZERS it’s been such a long time. Been a lot going on. We are in full swing on the Duramed Futures Tour. I have played in 6 events so far and the last this week in Kansas City I had my best finish so far of the year with a tie for 6th. So moving on up. I am sitting in an airport in Denver right now waiting to catch a couple flights in order to make it to Corning, New York tomorrow for the LPGA monday qualifier. It’s been an exciting couple of months and I’m looking forward to new things to come. I have also joined the land of twitter….you can follow me there janellaxo. I will get better at keeping posted on how the season is going. Thanks for keeping up with me and all the support!!!!

Hey everyone….just wanted to catch you up on what has been going on since Hawaii. I went home and basically got ready to leave again.

Meredith, Michelle, Janell with kids from the Arc

On Friday I flew to Shreveport for a pro-am.  This pro-am is a weekend full of activities that included a little bit of Mardi Gras.  The whole idea of the weekend was to raise money for the Arc school of Shreveport.  This is a school that lets handicapped children grow up and learn with other children from ages 0-5.  On Friday Meredith Duncan, Michelle Simpson and I got the opportunity to go to the school and see the kids and learn first hand what we were all coming in for.  It was a true blessing to go and see the smiling faces of the children and how excited they were to have us there.

Lisa and Janell on the float

Friday evening a few of the other girls came into town and we were treated to a night at Superior’s Mexcian restaurant.  Boy was that ever fun.  Saturday we had a crawfish boil and went to the Shreveport night Mardi Gras parade.  Sunday morning rolled around and we were invited to a friends house for a pre-Mardi Gras feast.  We had many different southern dishes from shrimp and grits to gumbo and of course King cake!!! For most of us it was a 1st time experience and one that we are looking forward to doing every year.  After the feast we went to the Mardi Gras parade, however this time instead of watching……we were on a float!!!!  We rode in a float and threw beads and had an amazing time.

Monday morning was the reason we were there.  The David Duncan Memorial Classic Pro-Am.  The people of Shreveport and the members and staff at East Ridge Country Club put on a fantastic event.  All of the girls had a really great time while helping out such a wonderful cause.  The pro-am was a huge success for the community,  The Arc, and the girls who were there.  We can’t wait until next year, Meredith, her family and friends truly know how to host a first class event!!! Until next year…..Laissez les bon temps roulet!!!!!!!

Janell, Leah Wigger, Lisa Strom on the Golf Channel tower behind 17 green

Aloha.  The 2009 season has officially kicked off.  I went to Hawaii for the first event of the year to do the Monday Qualifier.  I knew I wouldn’t get into the event off my number.  It wound up being well worth the trip.  I played great on Monday and qualified!! So I’m in the first event for the year.  It wound up being just like a normal tournament week.  Practice round on Tuesday and pro-am on Wednesday.  The only difference was I played in a pro-am off site.  The pro-am was to benefit the families of our armed forces.  It was an absolutly amazing day.  The 5 guys that I played with couldn’t have been any more fun!! We laughed our way around for 18 holes and even through the entire luncheon.  All the LPGA players who participated really were treated first class and couldn’t have asked for a better day.  It was truly our pleasure to give back and do something for so many people who defend this amazing country that we live in!!!!  The tournament was Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Unfortunately I only got to play on Thursday and Friday, but it was still a great week.  One of my pro-am partners came out with his wife and son and followed for 2 days, so that was special.  I learned a lot and had an amazing time and I’m looking forward to fixing what went wrong and having a successful year!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to 2009!!! I am really excited to get the year started!  To ring in the new year I went to Charlotte and celebrated with a lot of friends.  What a fun way to bring in 09!!!  During the middle of January I took a trip down to Orlando to visit with a good friend who is no longer going to be playing on tour.  Annie Young took the head women’s coaching job at Oklahoma State University and while I will miss her out on tour, I wish her and her husband, Caleb, the best of luck in their new venture. 

After visiting with her I played in a pro-am in Mt. Dora, FL.  There were a lot of Duramed Futures Tour gals there, so it was fun to hang out for a couple days.  The next week I spent down in Palm Beach Gardens with some other great friends.  The game that I play for a living gives me an opportunity to meet so many wonderful people and be able to go pretty much anywhere and visit with them.  It’s so much fun and I really love what I do.  Staying down in south Florida we practiced and played a few times and I was getting ready for my first event of the year. 

Last week I played in the Suncoast Ladies Tournament at Rio Pinar Country Club.  The first day I played very solid.  I shot even par, but was 2 over on my last 3 holes….oops.  Day 2 rolls around and things were going good again, until I hit the last 3 holes, and oops, I was 2 over again, so wound up shooting 1 under for the day.  I was tied for 5th.  I was ready to go low in the final round and things were finally going my way, I was playing great and was 3 under going into 11.  THEN, the rain came.  It literally came down in 5 minutes and EVERYTHING was flooded…..so, we got called off the course and sat for about an hour and a half hoping to go back out.  It wound up being impossible for us to finish so they washed the final round and called it at a 36 hole event.  Of course I was bummed because I was playing well, but I figure I’m sure that it will all come around and even out.  I took a lot of positive things from the week and am working hard on my game this week.  I am back at home in Greenville for the week before I leave to go to Hawaii.  I’m going to go Monday quaify so everyone keep me in your thoughts on Monday!!!!  Hope 09 is going great!! Thanks for sharing this journey with me.  Keep checking back, hopefully I’ll have some more great news to write about :)

Hello everyone.  Just wanted to give some news of the last week.  I had my 31st birthday on Monday.  Then today on Christmas eve, my college roommate and her husband welcomed their first child into the world.  Patrick and Nichole Wienstroer are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy, Garrison Lewis!!!! I’m so excited to go and meet my little “nephew”.  I can’t wait.  I hope you all have a very blessed and Merry Christmas and remember Jesus is the Reason for the Season!!!!!

WOWZERS…it’s OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  What a very long week.  I arrived in Daytona early to play in 2 Suncoast events like I said before, and I am getting ready to leave Daytona as a member of the LPGA!!!  Q-School is never a fun time, and this year was no different.  I played a couple practice rounds after my dad arrived to get him familiar with the courses again, and then it was time for business.  This week is a week of 5 rounds of golf.  We play 4 rounds on 2 different courses and then a cut is made to the low 70 players and ties.  Then we play the 5th and final round to determine status for 2009.  The top 20 gain top priority status and the next 20 have some status.  I really had a good week, even though I didnt finish in the top 20.  I stayed within the top 40 so that gives me my status back.  I shot rounds of 72, 67, 73, 72, 75.  It was a week filled with highs and lows.  The highest for me was in the 2nd round I made a HOLE IN ONE!!!!!! It was awesome, even though none of us saw it go in.  The lowest was not gaining full status…but back to a high, I have SOME status.  I am SO excited to get back out on the LPGA and start playing out there.  Thanks to all of you who continue to support me.  I can’t wait to see what 2009 brings.  Have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the season!!!!! Until ‘09….God Bless you all!!!!!

It’s that time of year again…….the fun-filled week of LPGA tour qualifying school.  So far things have been going well.  I played in 2 tournaments leading up to this week getting my game ready.  I have finished my practice rounds, finished my practice, and done my homework, so I’m ready to go.  You can always follow at www.lpga.com.  This year they are having real time hole-by-hole scoring, so you’ll pretty much know how I’m playing at the same time it’s happening.  I hope that this year things go my way, but whatever the Good Lord wants to happen is going to happen, and I’m ready for whatever He wants to happen!!!!!!

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Marci, Kelly, Nichole, Nicole, Kindal, Janell

Wow, it’s been awhile again since I have written a new blog.  Hmmm, let’s see what’s been going on in my life.  Well, last time I reported that I moved to South Carolina.  I am loving it there!!! We got all settled in and the 3 of us are really enjoying our new house.  

We had one final tournament in  October in Georgia where I played pretty solid for the 3 days, so it was nice to end the season on a positive note.  After season was officially over I took some time to just relax and not worry about golf.  My parents got to come over and see the house and hang out and after they went home I just hung out with my roommates and got to know the area and just chilled for awhile.  

I took a weekend and I flew back to Houston to surprise my college roommate for her baby shower.  Her husband picked me up and she had no idea until she walked in the door.  So good to see my college friends and catch up for a few days.  It was the PERFECT weekend.  Unfortunately the weekend was over just as quickly as it came and it was back to South Carolina for me.

Since the beginning of November I have just been working really hard on my game and working on getting myself ready for Final Stage of Q-School in December.  I started working with professional trainers at Performance QSA (Quickness Speed Agility) in Greenville and they are working hard on helping me achieve my goals.  I am currently in Florida right now playing in the Suncoast Series tournaments leading up to Final Stage.  The first tournament was last Tuesday-Thursday where I played solid and finished tied for 2nd place!! So good feelings going into Finals.  But the best feeling was on the first day of the tournament one of my best friends had her baby!!!!!! I got the message that morning and by the time I was done playing golf, Parker James Russell had joined the world!! Congrats Katie and Phil!!!  There is another tourney this week and I’m hoping to continue the same good feelings to get ready.  To relax a little bit in between the two, I went to Jacksonville for the weekend where I saw my best friend Dasha.  It was fun to relax and catch up with her and remember all the fun stuff we did as kids….hahaha.  So now as I write this I’m back in Daytona getting ready for the next couple weeks.  I’m enjoying myself and enjoying all I am doing right now and hopefully that will show in my golf game!!

Well this time I have a little better news to write about.  After not qualifying in California I was really stressed out.  I was at a point in my life where everything was having to be done all at the same time.  I had to go to Venice to play, I had to move out of my house and into a new one….where am I going to find the time to do it all?  I talked to my roommate and he told me to take it easy and go take care of business in Venice and move out when I get done.  So I went to Venice and got ready for my last chance at Q-School for this year.  It’s always a stressful feeling knowing it’s your last chance.  I had some really good practice rounds with a good friend Annie Young.  We always play little games to up the competition and get our games more tournament ready.  This week was a break-through for the year for me.  I played 4 solid rounds of golf shooting 70-70-71-73.  I finished at 4 under for the week and tied for 5th place.  It was such a relief and a sense of accomplishment knowing that I CAN play the golf I know I am capeable of.  So leaving Venice on a positive note I got home Friday evening and packed up my life and moved up to the great state of South Carolina.  I got in here Saturday night and am pleased to say I am writing the from the couch in my new home.  I love my roommates, our friends here, and the house and am so very happy.  I know that things will fall into place at the exact moment they are supposed to and maybe not the moment I want them to.  So to all you who are reading this, keep believing that!  I know I do!!!!!!!!

Well it’s been awhile since I have written anything so what better time than q-school.  This is the fun time in every professional golfers life when it’s either your week or it’s not.  This week happened to not be mine.  I was really excited to come to Palm Springs.  I was playing ok, noting great, but I like the area here, I like the courses, so I was thinking it was my week.  Oh boy, was I wrong.  Haha.  I played decent, but unfortunately I putted bad this week.  So unfortunately for me, I missed the cut.  I don’t like that feeling.  The last cut I missed was way earlier this summer at the US Women’s Open, and I didn’t like it there either.  The good thing about qualifying school for the LPGA is that I do have another chance.  We have 2 sectional qualifiers and if you don’t make it in California (like me) we get another chance in 2 weeks in Florida.  I like the area there and the courses there too.  Plus it’s only an hour from my home in Florida, so that will be nice.  I am going to refocus and practice up for the next couple weeks so I can perform much better in Florida and make it to final stage.  I hope everyone is wonderful,  thanks for reading and Happy Golfing!!!!