Scots boy takes on the world
A question I get asked a lot over here is "how did a boy from Scotland end up living and playing golf in America?"
I should have a short answer by now, but I really don't. I'm happy with how it has all worked out, but it certainly was not planned in advance.
I always wanted to come over and try the US college golf route, but I had no idea when I came over as a 17-year-old that I wouldn't leave again for a while and would end up making Scottsdale, Arizona, my home away from home.
Getting through to final stage of PGA Tour qualifying school at my first attempt out of university turned out to be the deciding factor for the path that my career would take from then on.
It gave me a place to play, on the Nationwide Tour, and time to settle down in the US and set about my goal - to make it to the PGA Tour.
After a couple of years on the Nationwide Tour (and a lot of hard work), I had learned a lot and improved enough to make it to where I had always wanted to play, among the top players in the world.
I don't know exactly what the attraction was with America, but I remember as a kid watching the US golf on Sunday nights and always thinking 'I want to play in these tournaments someday'.
It's probably got something to do with the warm sunny days.
has taken a lot of pressure off me, but I have also added pressure to myself as now my goals are higher than they were this time last year.
My game is now at the stage where I am really comfortable playing on the PGA Tour and feel like, at any time, I can compete with anyone.
I always imagined, after I won, I would take a huge break and really celebrate and ride it out as long as I could, but it never really worked out like that.
Things definitely got a lot busier and new opportunities have arisen that I want to take full advantage of.
So I ended up having a shorter off-season and practicing harder in December than I ever have before, a little backwards many people have told me.
One short-term goal that has come up for the next three weeks is to play good enough to move into the top 64 in the world rankings and gain a place in the Accenture World Match-play Championship.
This is one event on the schedule, I will admit, I have never looked at before with a view to being there.
But now that I have broken into the top 100 in the world, this tournament is definitely on the radar and hopefully a good showing this week in the desert will get me .
It's supposed to rain, so I'm sure I'll hear on multiple occasions the one phrase that I always get when it does: "You should do well this week, its just like Scotland."
I hope they are right.
I was born and bred in Glasgow, but now I live in Scottsdale, Arizona, and make my living on the US PGA Tour.
I won my maiden Tour event in October 2009 - the first Scot to do so on US soil since Sandy Lyle won the Masters in 1988.
I want to win again and play in this year's Ryder Cup, so I'll be letting you know how I'm going about it, as well as providing you a behind the scenes look at the PGA Tour.
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