Summerhays prospers this season with family in tow

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At 14th on the money list, Daniel Summerhays is all but assured a spot on the PGA TOUR in 2011.

Daniel Summerhays wanted to spend more time with his family this season as he continued to chase his dream on the Nationwide Tour.

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So he and his wife, Emily, bought a motor home and took to the open highways. With two young boys, Jack (2 ½ years old) and Patton (nine months) in tow Summerhays has had his best season as a pro.

"It's funny but when I get back from a round all Jack wants to do is play catch or something like that so he doesn't really care if I've had a bad day or not," said Summerhays, who will play in the Mylan Classic presented by CONSOL Energy this week at Southpointe Golf Club in Canonsburg, Pa.

"It really does kind of ease the grind some and I think it's helped me that I haven't been burned out. I can be with my wife and kids and I haven't missed a lot as they've been growing."

Summerhays' game has also been growing, thanks to a better perspective that has allowed him to be more consistent. This is the 26-year-old's third full year on the Nationwide Tour, and he sits at a comfortable spot on the money list at No. 14. Last year he was 81st on the money list and 2008 was 35th.

His goals this season were simple. If he didn't get in the top 25 on the money list and earn his PGA TOUR card, Summerhays wanted to finish inside the top 40 so he would get a pass to the final stage of q-school. He also wants to win again on the Nationwide Tour, something he did in 2007 at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational.

Of the 18 tournaments he's played this season he has made 11 cuts and has five top-10 finishes. But to truly see how far he's come consider last week's Knoxville News Sentinel Open where he was battling a sinus infection.

"I think I practiced for 45 minutes on Tuesday, and then had to pull out of the pro-am on Wednesday because I was feeling so bad," he said. "But I knew if I could just somehow grind it out and get past how I was feeling it would be a small victory for me."

"I think consistency out here comes from being positive and not always getting so down on yourself."

-- Daniel Summerhays

After he shot 1 under in the first round Summerhays shot 67 on Friday to make the cut and wound up tying for 29th at 10 under. That might not seem like such a big deal, but it was to him.

"It's the small things you do each day and I just kept telling myself to try and figure it out instead of saying 'Man, I'm feeling bad and I'm never going to make it,'" he said. "I think consistency out here comes from being positive and not always getting so down on yourself."

Summerhays' only brush with the PGA TOUR came this summer when he qualified for the U.S. Open but he missed the cut. The fact that he is close to being on the PGA TOUR next season, though, doesn't mean he can become complacent with nine tournaments remaining.

"I think that just motivates more to keep working harder," said Summerhays, a 2008 graduate of Brigham Young.

Summerhays, who comes from a family of golfers, says that he never felt pressure to perform just because of his family name. His older brother, Boyd, is a former player on the Nationwide Tour and his uncle, Bruce, is a Champions Tour player. A cousin, Carrie Roberts, used to play on the LPGA Tour.

Summerhays, says the only pressure he feels comes from within. "I want do well and I want to accomplish a lot in this game," he said.

Summerhays won't have his family around this week, but next week is will be extra special because the Tour will be outside of Salt Lake City in the Utah Championship presented by the Utah Sports Commission.

The Summerhays clan lives in Farmington, Utah, so his wife and two boys will be waiting for him. He's looking forward to sleeping in his own bed and having the kids at the house instead of the motor home.

"We are about 35 minutes away from the course so that's going to be nice," Summerhays. "I'll get a chance to play in front of a lot of friends and some extended family members. But right now I'm focused on this week."

John Dell has covered golf for the Winston-Salem Journal in North Carolina for the last 17 years. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.