Proud Of My Big Brother

I have one sibling, a brother, who is almost 5 years older than I am.  I love my brother, Jason, dearly but we've never been super close.  After our parents divorced he went to live with my dad in New Jersey while I stayed with my mom in Georgia.  Living 800 miles apart makes it hard to develop a good brother/sister relationship.  He moved back to Georgia after he graduated high school but he spent most his time working and hanging out with his friends.  Jason loves to be the life of the party and gets along with almost everyone he meets. 

This is him dancing the night away at my wedding

My brother has always been in to golf though.  He loves to play the game and he loves to work in the industry.   He has the perfect personality to work at a golf course/country club.  He's very engaging and has a great memory so he really gets to know all the members.  He started off working at a small neighborhood club not long after he moved back from New Jersey.  After a few years there he got a job at a much bigger private club in Atlanta.  He started out in the bag room of this new club and worked his way up to assistant pro.  While at this course he also started working on the PGA coursework to become a certified Head Pro.  After about 5 years he moved on to another very large, well known, private club in New Jersey.  His ultimate goal though was to be a Head Pro at a private club which basically means you own and run the pro-shop.  He finally go to see them dream come true when he took the job of head pro 2 years ago at a course in Virginia. 

During his time working in golf he has also continued to play in various tournaments.  Two years ago he qualified to play in his first PGA sanctioned event which took place last summer in Albuquerque, NM.  My mom, sister-in-law, and niece took the trip out there with him and had a great time watching him play.  He didn't do as well as he'd hoped in that tournament but it was a great learning experience for him. 

Currently he is trying to qualify for the 2010 US Open.  He played in his local qualifier last week and finished 2nd!!!!  Now he has to play in sectionals on June 7th in Atlanta!  If he makes it through sectionals he will get to go play the Open at Pebble Beach!  How freaking cool is that?!?!?  My mom and I plan to go walk the course and watch him play on June 7th.   There is one slight bump in the road, if he does qualify for the Open, he will most likely miss the birth of his 2nd child.  My sister-in-law is totally okay with that though! 

Here's to wishing my brother good luck on the 7th!!  This is finally his chance to make it to a major PGA event and I'm incredibly proud of him.  I would love nothing more than for him to see his dreams come true!!

Jason and my niece, Jordyn, at the Bad Pants Open, the tournament his club always opens the season with.