Jon Mills had no choice but to chill this past weekend after the Nationwide Tour postponed the Mexico Open due to the recent outbreak
of swine flu in that country.
That event will now be played in early September and Mills said he welcomed a breather that fell just before an important stretch of a season that was rather shaky at the beginning, with four missed cuts in his first six tournaments.
Mills is 40th on the money list, about $16,000 US short of the top 25, who get their PGA Tour cards next year. He will play five tournaments in a row, beginning this week in Raleigh, N.C., and two or three top-10s or his third Nationwide Tour win would quickly put him into the running for his third shot at the big show.
“It would have been nice to keep playing, but at the same time, it’s always nice to come home and rest and work on some things,” Mills said. “This is definitely a big five weeks for me because it’s the first long stretch of the year for me. My focus is definitely to do something in this stretch.”
Mills goes into a busy June with improved confidence after a tie for sixth at the South Georgia Classic two weeks ago. Last week, he was just one shot off the lead going into the third round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am, but on moving day, he got stuck and shot a 73.
“I got off to a great start last week even though it didn’t pan out,” said Mills, who shot 65-66 in the first two rounds, but eventually tied for 50th. “On Saturday, I think I was two-under after nine and just didn’t play well on the back nine. I kind of did the same thing on Sunday.”
Despite his disappointing conclusion just over a week ago, Mills saw enough to offer encouragement going into this important part of the season and a big part of that is his comfort on the greens after changing his putting style following a conversation with his coach Dave Woods.
“I hadn’t really putted very well consistently. We really focused on my putting and what I needed to do,” said Mills, who adopted a cross-handed style.