Cherry Hills Bound
The U.S. Amateur is the strongest field in all of amateur golf. With 89 qualifiers throughout the US, as well as exemptions handed out to the top 50 amateurs in the world, it is a who’s who among young and old playing for the Havemeyer Trophy. With the winner of the tournament not only cementing themselves into golf history, they also receive invitations to the Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship, and a boatload of sponsorship opportunities.
On July 10th, I qualified for the 123rd U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills.
I’ll walk you through the actual day, but I think the story starts a little bit earlier.
Over the 4th of July, I joined up with some former teammates for a fun weekend in Northern Minnesota. We played a decent amount of golf for a “vacation”, but none really under any serious pressure. After a successful trip recharging my competitive juices, I was back home practicing for a few days in preparation for the U.S. Am qualifier.
Boy, was it bad.
Going through usual range sessions was nothing abnormal. I was able to hit my little cut, feel the feels I like to feel, and I kept grinding hard on my short game. However, anytime I would make it out on the course for a casual nine holes, I couldn’t hit any of my lines, and had no idea where the driver was going. After a good two days of caddying for one of my favorite members at Bob O Link in a member event, I went into the 36 on Monday with very low expectations, I think saying to my mom, “I hope I can break 80.”
Taking the hour drive down to Beverly was pleasant, listening to some songs, and feeling good. The only goal I set for the day was to stick to my swing feel and process, with no wavering whether I hit a good shot or a bad one. The range session was good, however a little rushed because I forgot the first tee was across a long tunnel on the other side of the property.
Jumping into the first round, I bogeyed both of the par 5’s on the front, starting two over through 7 holes. Not ideal. I birdied the three of the next four to get it to one under for the round. After a bogey on the 12th, I birdied 17 and 18 to finish the round two under par.
With about a whopping 15 minutes to each lunch and get ready for round two, I set a goal to try and get to six under par. There was no rhyme or reason to this number, however I felt like the course wasn’t playing super easy, and it gave me room to stay aggressive throughout the entire round.
After playing my first nine holes even par, I turned still at two under, needing some birdies. I have never been one to check leaderboards. I believe there is no point, as my strategy won’t change whether I am leading or in last place. This unfortunately didn’t matter as I reached my 10th hole met by a rules official who told me exactly where I stood. “Thanks,” I replied, now more nervous knowing I had a shot to make it in the top 2 out of the 84 man field.
I dive in deep to my final nine holes in this month’s round recap, but I will give you some of the highlights. After a missed six footer on 10 for birdie, I birdied 11 and the 222 yard par 3 12th to get to four under. Stellar short game saved me most of the day, and it certainly did on holes 4 and 5, leading to two good par saves. After two more good pars on 15 and 16, I birdied my 17th hole of the afternoon to get to 5 under. I cap off the day with a pretty unbelievable up and down from a shortsided position to secure my spot as medalist.
What a day it was.
The way I played the 36 holes was unexpected. It was fairly stress-free compared to my week of practice leading up to it. There’s a good lesson in there somewhere. Yet what was most unexpected was the outpouring of support from fellow playing partners, family, and friends who have reached out over the past week or so. It was very nice to feel all the love.
From here, I will continue to work hard on my game, playing in lots of tournaments, and sticking to MY process.
