By Ryan Herrington
OAKMONT, Pa. — It’s hard to describe the expression on James Piot’s face when he held the Havemeyer Trophy for the first time behind Oakmont Country Club’s 17th green late Sunday afternoon. Let’s call it something between shock, exhilaration and awe, as the newly minted U.S. Amateur champion, after a 2-and-1 win over Austin Greaser in the 36-hole championship finale, stared for a few moments at the most impressive piece of golf hardware he’d ever laid his hands on.

“I was just trying to see if it was real or not,” Piot said when asked what was running through his mind as he gave the trophy that first long look.

It was definitely real, the hard-earned result of years of trying to prove people wrong. Yes, you can come from up Canton, Mich., with its eight-month golf season, and still be a damn good player. And you can be 5-foot-9 and 153 pounds and still stand tall.

In all likelihood you’d probably never heard of Piot before catching a glimpse of him this week at the 121st edition of the USGA’s oldest championship. The 22-year-old fifth-year senior at Michigan State was ranked No. 86 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, good but not elite. He wasn’t a member of the U.S. Walker Cup team last May at Seminole Golf Club. He qualified for the U.S. Am last year at Bandon Dunes, even earned the No. 2 seed, but didn’t get past the second round of match play.

It’s easy, then, to believe that some unknown wound up walking off with the most prestigious title in amateur golf. And, maybe, technically, you’d be right. But don’t mistake unknown for fluky or undeserving.

“I know what people think, by the way he looks and all. He doesn’t look dynamic or powerful,” said Michigan State men’s coach Casey Lubahn. “But you can’t see his heart.”

It’s the heart that showed on the back nine at Oakmont, when it looked almost certain that Piot had finally met his match in Greaser, a 20-year-old honorable mention All-American at North Carolina. Through 27 holes, Piot shot the equivalent of six over par—four over on the front nine of the afternoon 18 alone—leaving him 3 down with nine holes to play. That’s when he turned to his caddie, Spartans assistant coach Dan Ellis, and uttered his latest audacious prediction: said he was going to shoot four under on the back nine.

And what exactly made him think that he could do that?

“Just self-belief. I feel like that’s one of the things, the golfer I am, I’m that guy who never has an extremely bad round,” Piot said. “In my head on the day, I’m kind of doing a recap and I think I was like six over. I’m like, ‘That’s not me.’ ”

And then it happened. A perfect drive on the par-4 10th, setting up a 9-iron approach from 150 yards and his first birdie of the afternoon session. 2 down.

Another good drive on the par-4 11th, and by good meaning it was safely in the 10th fairway, setting up a par that helped him win the hole when Greaser three-putted. 1 down.

Another par, this time on the 603-yard 12th hole, tied up the match, as Greaser suddenly was struggling to find fairways he’d hit all week and having trouble adjusting to Oakmont’s greens, which were getting faster as the day went on.

When Greaser bogeyed the par-3 13th hole, Piot’s 14-foot birdie try now conceded, Piot had his first lead since standing 1 up after the morning 18.

They exchanged birdies on the 14th hole, but Piot got to 2 up when he won the par-4 15th with another par. Two holes later, he was staring at the Havemeyer.

“I just didn’t execute coming down the stretch,” Greaser said. “I think it’s pretty obvious. He won four holes in a row there and kind of tides changed, and that’s how it goes.”

Chris Keane
Austin Greaser had a 3-up lead with nine holes to play, but struggled to find fairways on the back nine.

Piot’s golf career began at a place unlikely to produce a future U.S. Amateur champion: Fox Hills Golf and Banquet Centre in Plymouth, Mich. The facility had three courses and became Piot’s Disneyland each summer, the place he’d go to hang with his brother and his buddies, gamble for just about anything on the putting greens, and learn how to play golf rather than just golf swing.

While he developed a reputation as a stick within the state, winning the Michigan Junior Am and three high school state titles, it didn’t carry much outside the Wolverine State. So it was that Piot ended up staying home, following in his older brother’s footsteps and playing at MSU for Lubahn.

Since the fall of 2017, Piot has worked methodically on his game in relative anonymity with his Spartan teammates, a very real chip on his shoulder.

“Good golfers have long memories,” Lubahn joked.

Piot had quick results in college and was Big Ten freshman of the year in 2018. He took his biggest leap in the 2020-21 season, earning honourable mention All-American honours with a win and six more top-10s in the spring, including at Big Tens and NCAA Regionals.

“It’s hard to identify any one thing because it’s just gradual improvement,” says Lubahn when asked about what’s the biggest difference in Piot’s game from when he first arrived in East Lansing. “He’s picking up a 10th of a shot every day. And he’s the best driver I’ve ever coached.”

And not a bad putter either. In preparation for the U.S. Amateur, Piot put back into his bag a Ping Piper H putter, a flat stick he’d fallen in and out of love with since the sixth grade, one he affectionately nicknamed “the garbage putter.”

“My dad got that from a golf shop actually just down the road from our house, had to be 10 years ago,” Piot said. “He used it for like two weeks and was like, ‘This thing is not worth it.’ I think he got it for $60 or $70 at the time. I picked it up in probably sixth or seventh grade and started rolling with it. I was like, ‘This thing is actually awesome.’ ”

The putter proved vital this week at Oakmont, Piot holing several clutch putts.

Chris Keane
James Piot celebrates with his caddie/assistant coach Dan Ellis after winning the 2021 U.S. Amateur.

In the glow of victory, Piot could be allowed the chance to gloat. What did this win say about him and where he came from?

“Just it’s kind of nice to show the guys out there that don’t go to the big-time school that you can still do it,” he said. “Coming from Michigan it’s a phenomenal feeling being able to grind from a guy who wasn’t highly sought after to U.S. Am champ.”

It also proved something else: just how deep the amateur game is. All over the country, there are players like Piot, grinding day in and day out, aspiring for greatness with no guarantee that their efforts will be rewarded. Only the hope that the week will come when they get their chance to prove their mettle.

That week happened to be this one for the little man from Canton, the week James Piot finally became somebody you’d heard of.

The post James Piot’s comeback U.S. Amateur win is for all the little guys no one believed in appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

In addition to giving Oakmont seven future championships, the USGA designated the course as the second U.S. Open “anchor” site, along with Pinehurst Resort

By Ryan Herrington
OAKMONT, Pa. — Walk the halls of Oakmont Country Club’s stately clubhouse and you will think you’ve entered a golf museum. Pictures, artifacts and assorted memorabilia from Hall of Famers Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Johnny Miller and Patty Sheehan, among others, greet you at every turn, keepsakes from the 17 USGA championships the club has hosted—including a record nine U.S. Opens—that contextualize Oakmont’s place in golf history.

On Wednesday, that place was bolstered even further when the USGA, as part of its effort to more frequently stage its championship at America’s most iconic courses, named Oakmont its second U.S. Open “anchor” site. With that status, Oakmont was awarded seven future USGA championships in addition to hosting this week’s U.S. Amateur for a record-tying sixth time and the 2025 U.S. Open it already had been awarded.

Here’s what’s on tap to Oakmont in the coming years:

2028 U.S. Women’s Open
2033 Walker Cup Match
2034 U.S. Open
2038 U.S. Women’s Open
2042 U.S. Open
2046 U.S. Women’s Amateur
2049 U.S. Open

In addition to Oakmont, the USGA also announced that another historic Pennsylvania course, Merion Golf Club outside Philadelphia, has been awarded two future U.S. Opens (2030, the 100th anniversary of Bobby Jones completing the Grand Slam there, and 2050, the 100th anniversary of Hogan’s famed 1-iron shot on the 18th hole to help earn one of his four Open titles) and two U.S. Women’s Opens (2034 and 2046). The 2022 Curtis Cup and 2026 U.S. Amateur were already heading to Merion, which has previously hosted 18 USGA championships including five U.S. Opens.

Drew Hallowell

“Oakmont and Merion are iconic in every sense of the word. They’re in rare company in golf and continue to test the best in the game,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director, championships. “We’re making history and kicking off a new era for our national championships in Pennsylvania, and we couldn’t be more excited for what lies ahead.”

Oakmont joins Pinehurst Resort as the two courses the USGA has named as U.S. Open anchor sites, a designation the governing body created to signify its intent to bring championships to those venues every five to six years. When the concept of “anchor” sites was introduced in September 2020, USGA officials said the idea behind it was to create stronger connections between the USGA, players and fans to these fabled courses, as well as help with the planning and logistics of hosting the USGA’s biggest events.

The decision to designate Oakmont as an anchor site, according to Bodenhamer, was predicated on the fact that the Pittsburgh-area club has such a long history of crowning marquee champions in USGA events. In turn, current players have voiced their interest in joining that legacy.

“We’ve asked players where they want to win their U.S. Open and we know the sites they speak of very highly,” Bodenhamer said. “The ghosts of the past matter. What has come before these great players … Hogan in 1953 at Oakmont, Nicklaus and Palmer [in 1962], DJ in 2016. All the great moments that are here, that matters. When a man or woman wins, I won where this happened, that’s hugely important.”

Bodenhamer said that the USGA is still evaluating other sites that could potentially receive anchor status, with future announcements potentially coming later this year or early 2022. “For us, it’s about each place is unique and how do we build out the relationship in every way we can, with championships but what else we can partner with. In Pinehurst, it was a building and expanding our footprint [a second Golf House and equipment testing facility]. Here it was championships, the Open but also a Walker Cup.”

“Our members and all of Pittsburgh are so excited to host the USGA and the best players in the game at Oakmont, which we believe is one of the most exacting tests of golf anywhere in the world,” said Ed Stack, president of Oakmont. “It is the perfect venue to identify the best golfers around the globe, in concert with the USGA’s mission for championship golf. The new champions that will be crowned over the next 30 years will join a distinguished list of past champions and etch their names in golf history.”

The famed church pew bunkers between Oakmont’s third and fourth holes. (USGA)

Future U.S. Open sites

2022—The Country Club
2023—Los Angeles Country Club
2024—Pinehurst No. 2
2025—Oakmont Country Club
2026—Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
2027—Pebble Beach
2029—Pinehurst No. 2
2030—Merion Golf Club
2034—Oakmont Country Club
2035—Pinehurst No. 2
2041—Pinehurst No. 2
2042—Oakmont Country Club
2047—Pinehurst No. 2
2049—Oakmont Country Club
2050—Merion Golf Club

Future U.S. Women’s Open sites

2022—Pine Needles
2023—Pebble Beach
2024—Lancaster Country Club
2025—Erin Hills
2028—Oakmont Country Club
2034—Merion Golf Club
2038—Oakmont Country Club
2046—Merion Golf Club

The post USGA unveils long-term agreements with Oakmont and Merion to host future U.S. Opens appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
OAKMONT, Pa. — The question washed over Mark Goetz as he stood on the terrace outside Oakmont Country Club late Wednesday morning, a handful of reporters interviewing the newly minted medalist at the 121st U.S. Amateur Championship as darkening skies swirled in the distance.

“What’s the biggest tournament you’ve ever won?”

The 23-year-old senior-to-be at West Virginia University paused a few beats, his wrinkled eyebrows an outward sign of the gears grinding inside his head. The effort wasn’t because Goetz has an abundance of victories to choose from. On the bio sheet he filled out for the USGA, under playing record, he lists just three “firsts”: the Western Pennsylvania Amateur in 2019, the WPGA Open in 2020 and the Mountaineer Invitational in 2021.
A handful of reasons to root for Goetz this week as he moves on to match play in the USGA’s oldest championship (Mother Nature willing). He lives 40 minutes from Oakmont in Greensburg, Pa., so locals will appreciate the son of the Keystone State representing (expect a flood of folks from Hannastown Golf Club, which had four players qualify for the U.S. Amateur this year, to be onsite and cheering him on). When nightfall interrupted his second round of stroke play on Tuesday, he didn’t hesitate to pull out of Oakmont’s parking lot and pull into a McDonalds a few miles away for a quick dinner. And, most importantly, there is no visible sign of a chip on the either of his shoulders.

But arguably the best reason to root for Goetz was the answer he gave to the question at hand.

“I’d have to say it’s the college one I got this past year,” he explained. “College golf for me has been very, very difficult. I was very fortunate to get the opportunity to play at West Virginia. I was not heavily recruited. And I pretty much went from square one there. I had to earn my spot and prove myself. I really wasn’t on a scholarship up until my sophomore and junior year.”

Each year you watch a batch of 18-to 22-year-olds playing in the U.S. Amateur, their games crisp and sharp, their swings dialed in, their destinies seemingly already defined. You see Viktor Hovland go from holding up the Havemeyer Trophy at Pebble Beach in 2018 to being a two-time PGA Tour winner 28 months later, or Collin Morikawa winning two major championships two years after turning pro, and it all looks so easy.

But it’s not, not for many in the field at Oakmont. The 312 players competing this week all have supreme talent to qualify for the biggest amateur golf tournament in the world, but they aren’t all world-beaters.

“Going from square one, to being left at home [not in WVU’s starting lineup] and really struggling, to being able to get a win in college and helping my team out, it’s kind of like comeback complete in a sense,” Goetz said. “That did a lot for me, for sure.”

Justin Aller
Mark Goetz hits his tee shot on the 10th hole during the second round of stroke play at the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club.

So now the fun begins. With newfound confidence and a medal in hand for shooting an eight-under 132 in stroke-play qualifying—making just one bogey over 36 holes (the par-4 fifth hole at Oakmont when he returned to play on Wednesday morning)—Goetz heads to match play hopefully unaware that no medalist has gone on to win the championship since Ryan Moore did it in 2004.

Living so close to Oakmont has afforded him a handful of rounds on the brutally difficult W.C. Fownes track, enough to gain some local knowledge that could prove handy before the week is done. That and his incoming group of followers can hopefully counteract the negative medallist mojo.

After his interview, Goetz waited to see who his first-round match play opponent would be. But another rainstorm delayed the start of the Round of 64 and the 12-for-1 playoff for 64th spot for nearly four hours. Eventually, Sweden’s David Nyfjall advanced to match play, and he and Goetz started their match at 7 p.m., grateful to get in at least a few holes. When darkness ended play again, the duo was tied through four holes.

So Goetz waits for Thursday, anxious to see just how long he can make this dream week last. What he’s got going for him is this: Dark skies have followed him before. But he knows the sun can come out again

The post This heartfelt story will have you rooting for Oakmont’s unknown U.S. Amateur medalist appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

17th Hole — Old Course, St. Andrews
In the opening round of the 2015 British Open, the field averaged a bogey (4.8) on the Road Hole. Not sure why. All the 450-yard par 4 requires is a tee shot over a railroad shed/hotel to a blind, dogleg-right fairway surrounded by heather, with an approach to a narrow green guarded by a bunker that’s harder to escape than most prisons and a stone wall lining the back of the hole that garners overrun balls. Nothing to it.

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18th Hole — Blue Monster Course, Doral
For years, the Blue Monster’s finishing holes lived up to its namesake. However, following a $250 million renovation to the course, the 18th has made players tremble in even greater fear. Specifically, a tightened fairway has correlated to an uptick in balls in the lake. During Thursday-Friday play at the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Championship, there were four birdies in 145 attempts against 69 bogey-or-higher scores.

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12th Hole — Augusta National
Many a green jacket dream has drowned in Rae’s Creek at Augusta National’s 12th hole, which Lloyd Mangrum once called “the meanest little par 3 in the world.” Swirling winds and the whirlpool effect wreak havoc, not only on players’ shots, but their mindset. Two-time Masters winner Ben Crenshaw blames the hole’s location on an old Indian burial ground. “Sometimes it comes down to superstition. When the wind comes up while the ball is in the air and knocks it into the water, the local caddies will say, ‘The spirits got it.’ “

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Fourth Hole — Bethpage Black
How can this 517-yard par 5 at Bethpage Black — one of the hardest layouts in America — be the course’s second-handicapped hole? For one, add 100 yards to that distance, because the hole makes a severe track uphill. The view from the tee will make the most courageous individual seek shelter– go left, you’re in a cavernous bunker; right, in thick rough. Traversing up the hill requires a long shot over a deep wall of sand, with the green surrounded by, you guessed it, more beach.

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17th Hole — TPC Sawgrass
“It’s like having a 3 o’clock appointment for a root canal,” Mark Calcavecchia once said of the 17th at TPC Sawgrass. “You’re thinking about it all morning and you feel bad all day. You kind of know, sooner or later, you’ve got to get to it.”

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17th Hole — Ocean Course, Kiawah Island
In compiling Golf Digest’s 20 Toughest Golf Courses in America, one of our panellists said, “I think the 17th hole is the toughest par 3 in the world. If the wind blows, watch out.” Tipping out at 231 yards, the 17th will bring those of weak demeanours to their knees.

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Photo By: Stephen Szurlej

18th Hole — Carnoustie
Jean van de Velde. Enough said.

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13th Hole — Whistling Straits
Thanks to a strong Sunday gust at the 2015 PGA Championship, Bubba Watson overdrove the 409-yard hole. However, don’t let Bubba’s feat fool you: The hole known as “Cliff Hanger” is one of the most arduous challenges in championship golf. Anything less than an accurate tee shot will find the sand. Same sentiment applies to the approach, with shots off to the right falling towards Lake Michigan.

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First Hole — Oakmont Country Club
Hitting off the first tee is hard enough. When the opening hole is a 482-yard par 4 with eight bunkers off the fairway and two more by the green? It can be a downright dream-killer

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Photo By: Stephen Szurlej

Eighth Hole — Pebble Beach
The Pacific Ocean hugging the cliffs is breathtaking…until you put your tee in the ground, and in that case, the view becomes breathtaking in a different manner. A well-hit drive can overrun the fairway and into the drink, and the green, which runs front to back, is guarded by four traps. Forget making par; not losing a ball is the real goal.

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Photo By: Dom Furore

14th Hole — Coeur d’Alene Golf Resort
Fact: 80 percent of scary movies take place near a remote lake. Throw in a 218-yard shot to the floating island, along with a boat ride to the green, and we’re staying far away from this Idaho resort.

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Fifth Hole — Pine Valley
While many of Pine Valley Golf Club’s holes don’t leave much room for error, the par-3 fifth does not suffer fools. The 220-yard hole requires an uphill shot over water and bunkers to a narrow, sloped green. Bogey is your friend.

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Extreme 19th — Legend Golf & Safari
The longest par 3 in the world at 395 yards, a shot from the top of Hanglip Mountain takes close to 20 seconds to land at this South African course. Players have to take a helicopter to reach the tee. God forbid if you bring the wrong club.

The post The 13 most terrifying, frightening, fear-inducing holes in golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.