What makes this intriguing is that Florida is a hub of golf in the United States. It boasts more courses (1,200-plus) than any other state. An hour or so up the coast from Crandon is the nexus of the PGA Tour universe, the Jupiter/Palm Beach area, with Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, et. al, calling it home. It takes something particularly unusual to cause folks to watch another golfer hit balls.

Did we mention that Monssoh is 8 years old? Yes, 8.

All of 4 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing 70 pounds, Monssoh has a lower-body move that generates enough speed to produce drives that carry 175 yards. To put that in perspective, most similarly adept kids his age and size hit drives closer to 160 yards. But it’s not just his rhythmic action or the surprising length that impresses. The little whiz kid has an uncanny ability to work the ball in either direction on command while also having deft short-game skills to get up-and-down with the frequency of kids much older.

“I’ve watched tons of juniors and you can see early on the ones who have a gift for swinging the golf club,” says noted instructor Jim McLean, who gave Monssoh a lesson two years ago and still sees him on occasion. “Some people are just more talented and have better athletic skills. He likes to practice, too.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Good norming . Have a beautiful day ? #golfswing #juniorgolfer #lovegolf#uskidsgolf #firstteemiami #liveunderpar #pgatour #pga #memories #golfpractice #arizona @golfdigest @golfchannel @gcmorningdrive #liveunderpar #tigerwoods #rorymcilroy #justinthomas #justinrose #rickyfowler #xanderschauffele #teamping #teamnike #nikejr #scottycameron #lacoste #stayhome #golfprodigy #instagolf #kidsgolfing

A post shared by Axel Monssoh (@axelmonssoh) on Mar 30, 2020 at 4:26am PDT

He’s also had competitive success.

At last summer’s U.S. Kids Golf World Championship at Pinehurst, N.C., Monssoh won the boys’ 7-year-old tournament with a three-day 27-hole total of seven-under 101 at Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club. To put that in context, European Tour player Sam Horsfield posted a 104 when he finished sixth in the same event in 2004 and current PGA Tour Latinoamerica player and former LSU standout Luis Gagne shot a 105 for a T-7 finish in 2005.

In his opening round, Monssoh made seven birdies in nine holes to shoot 29—the lowest nine-hole score in the 20-year history of the event—and his closest competitor for the week finished three strokes back. Monssoh was one of just two players to end the week under par. This year, before the coronavirus shut down most competitive play, Monssoh had won the U.S. Kids Copperhead Classic at Innisbrook Resort’s North Course, the U.S. Kids Desert Shootout at Wigwam Resort in Phoenix (where he shot 31-34 to coast to a seven-stroke victory) and the Junior Honda Classic on PGA National’s Fazio Course.

Records in junior events—particularly in such a young age group—can be dubious and are hardly a predictor for future success. The competition is thin, physical development has yet to take hold, and the road to stardom is rife with pitfalls, everything from pushy parents to injury to simply losing interest among the many obstacles. But there are elements about Monssoh that stand out, from his game, to his ebullient personality and practice habits, to his background.

“He’s special,” McLean says.

Courtesy of the Monssoh FamilyAxel (second from right) celebrates with his family after winning at the U.S. Kids world title

Marie Arnoux, 44, and Florent Monssoh, 58, met a dozen years ago at Golf de Saint Cloud in Paris, where they bonded over the game, fell in love and got married. Florent, who is black and is a native of the Ivory Coast in Africa but moved to the City of Lights when he was just a child, wasn’t the golfer of the two. Marie is from a family of talented players, and in 2009 won the French Mid-Amateur.

Shortly after that, Marie and Florent, the founder of multiple companies in the healthcare IT industry, emigrated to the United States, settling in buzzy Miami Beach and later the leafy and more family-friendly Coconut Grove once they had their first child. They wanted a strong name that was easy to pronounce in French and English, and they liked the meaning of Axel—father of peace. A few years later, they had a second son and for the same reasons named him Victor.

By the time Axel was a toddler, he had a club in his hands, first a plastic one and then a real one, designed for kids. “He was very natural at first,” Marie says. “I didn’t teach him a lot. He also watched a lot of golf on TV. His dad was taking him to the golf course a lot, just to be there, be around it and have a club and a ball in his hands. By 2½ years old, he was using real clubs and chipping and putting on the course. It went gradually from there.”

At 5, Axel played in his first tournament, a parent-son event. He was hooked.

“Right after he turned 4 his dad brought him out to [Crandon Park], but he could already hit the ball,” says Zach Newell, Monssoh’s coach. “He already had knowledge of the game that 8- and 9-year-olds have.”

To the point, when asked what his favorite course is, Axel blurts out, without hesitation: “Pinehurst!” Then he expounds. “It’s always fun to play there because of the greens,” he says. “I don’t like golf courses that are always flat.” He adds that he doesn’t like them easy, either, which explains why the background for his Zoom interview for this story is the 12th hole at Augusta National. Like a lot of kids, he plays other sports, including tennis, soccer, basketball and swimming, but golf is the one he is most gifted at.

“The first time I played with him he was 5 years old and we played a half-dozen holes,” Newell says. “I brought him back to his mom and told her that he’s got something I’ve never seen before.”

• • •

Such praise can, of course, be overblown, if not precarious. Youth sports is fraught with unrealistic expectations and domineering parents. Even at an older age, unpredictability still looms—according to the NCAA, out of the 141,000 boys who participate in high school golf only 8,500 of them go on to play in college. The numbers only shrink the higher you go.

There are the prodigies that do pan out, however.

Justin Thomas grew up in Kentucky, the son of a golf professional, and by age 5 it was obvious he was doing things kids his age normally aren’t capable of, according to Mike Thomas, Justin’s father and coach. Still, he and his wife Jani proceeded cautiously, even as their only son became the third-youngest player to make the cut in a PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old and went on to have a standout collegiate career at the University of Alabama.

“I had no shortage of people telling me, Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Mike Thomas said. “I’m like, Really? You have no idea what’s gonna happen. ”

Of course, it worked out. Now 26, Justin Thomas is one of the biggest stars of the sport, with a dozen career victories on the PGA Tour, including a major, and has been No. 1 in the world. Not that his dad, who coached him since the beginning, ever told him that’s where he was headed.

“I knew he was way ahead of his time, but we continued to keep things fun and see where it went,” Mike Thomas said. “If you asked Justin when he was 10, he’d say, ‘I’m gonna play on tour.’ As parents, we never discouraged that, but we never talked about it, either.”

Instead, they let events play out on their own.

When Justin was 8, he didn’t have the power, even at a relative level, to dominate. He was too scrawny and couldn’t reach most par 4s in two, resulting in scores around 40 when playing from the forward tees. Playing layouts adjusted for kids his age and size, though, he broke out, regularly shooting four and five under. That boosted Thomas’ confidence, he continued to develop physically, and his game progressed, eventually leading to a stellar amateur career.

But his dad acted cautiously and was mindful not to overdo things, particularly early on.

“I have a lot of kids show up that are not often as good as the parents think they are,” Mike Thomas said. “It’s natural. Every parent thinks that way. But I look real close at the relationship the kids have with their parents. I’ve seen more than one damaging parent.”

In that area, Axel and Victor, (who at 4, according to Newell, is further along with his game than Axel was at the same age), seem to be doing just fine. Although Axel has his own website, Instagram and Facebook accounts, when it comes to golf, at least, it’s not the parents who are doing the piloting. It’s the other way around.

“Their parents aren’t hovering over their shoulder,” Newell says. “It’s almost the opposite from what we usually see in junior golf. The kids show up after school and their parents have to drag them away at sunset. I’m not asking them to listen or pay attention when I’m teaching them. Sometimes, I’m asking them to take a break.”

Courtesy of Monssoh FamilyAxel (far right), practices beside his younger brother, Victor.

One case in point was a recent lag-putting session. Every drill Newell presented, Axel routinely rolled his ball to within two feet of the hole. On it went for two hours, at Axel’s insistence. Then there are the chipping and pitching drills when Newell has each of the boys hitting different distances and using varying trajectories. Even after Axel completes the drills, he wants to keep going.

“When Axel has a weekend off, he’s like Why do I have a weekend off? ” Newell says.

With Victor showing similar potential to that of his older brother, the sibling rivalry only pushes each of them further. And their enthusiasm hasn’t waned, even during the pandemic and with golf courses in the area shut down.

“We practice chipping and putting,” says Axel, who is an A-student in his second-grade class, dabbles in chess and piano and goes to Kumon, a structured, self-learning math and reading program that focuses getting kids to think critically and learn new material independently.

There’s also an infectious attitude when it comes to the stars he sees on television and aspires to be like. Axel has little trouble rattling off his favourite players and his face lights up when doing so: “Tiger, JT, Rory and Rickie.” Then he expounds about a recent trip to the Honda Classic, where he also thought it was “cool” to see Jhonny Vegas, Ryan Moore and Sungjae Im, before adding that he, too, hopes to be on Tour one day.

“Something inside him drives him,” Newell says of Axel. “He outworks everyone around him.”

The same was often said of Axel’s favourite player—Tiger Woods—during his prime. Axel got to meet Woods during a U.S. Kids tournament earlier this year at Club Med’s Sandpiper Bay Golf Course in Port St. Lucie. The two crossed paths in the parking lot and Woods, who was there to coach and caddie for his own son, Charlie, gave Axel a high-five.

“That was a special day,” Axel’s mom says.

A lot more figure to be ahead.

The post Florida golfer Axel Monssoh gets raves for his skill, work ethic and attitude. Did we mention he’s only 8? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Pinehurst Resort & Country Club finds itself, like many golf facilities around the country, grappling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its workforce. The famed North Carolina golf destination’s hotels and restaurants are closed, and hundreds of employees are temporary out of work. But the resort is leveraging the Pinehurst brand to help address the economic issue in a creative way that anyone can participate.

The resort on Saturday launched an online auction for a handful of “once-in-a-lifetime” Pinehurst experiences. All proceeds will benefit the Pinehurst Employee Relief Fund. Among the 18 items being offered:

• The Dornoch Cottage Ultimate Trip—Three rounds of golf plus two nights for your foursome in Donald Ross’ home off the third green at Pinehurst No. 2.

• Play all 10 Pinehurst Courses—Two players get a six-night stay in the Carolina Hotel, mirroring a real-life escape trip by Barstool Golf’s Sam Riggs Bozoian.

• Play No. 4 with Gil Hanse—The man who redesigned the course will join your foursome.

Photo courtesy Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst No. 4, 11th hole

• Reserve The Cradle for half a day—Play your own music, play in 10-somes, play holes backward. “It’s all your call because the course is yours.”

• Create your own hops—You’ll collaborate with the head brewer from Pinehurst Brewing Company to develop your own brew, from planning the recipe, brewing, naming and drinking.

• Pick the range at Maniac Hill—Hop in the range picker and dodge balls from menacing sharpshooters at Pinehurst’s practice facility.

Other items include plenty of cool Pinehurst swag. Here is a link again for the full list.

UPDATED, March 29: In a little more than 24 hours, More than $126,000 had been raised and six additional items were put online, including a round of golf at Pinehurst No. 2 with Bill Coore, who along with Ben Crenshaw helped restore the course ahead of the 2014 U.S. Open, and a visit to the future site of Pinehurst No. 10.

Bidding runs through 8:30 p.m. on Monday, March 30. A special live broadcast on Pinehurst’s Instagram handle, hosted by Riggs, will start at 8 p.m. to close out the auction.

The post Pinehurst Resort auctions off ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experiences to raise money for Employee Assistance Fund appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Christina Kim, one of the sport’s more colorful characters, captured an LPGA Tour card for the 2020 season. Unfortunately for Kim, she has spent most of the weekend defending a called rules violation rather than celebrating her feat.

The controversy involves Kim, Dewi Weber and Kendall Dye during Thursday’s sixth round of LPGA Q-Series at Pinehurst No. 9. According to Golfweek, as Weber prepared to play the par-3 17th (the group’s eighth hole of the day) Dye gestured to Weber’s caddie to confirm what club Weber was using. This motion breaks Rule 10-2 under soliciting advice, resulting in a two-stroke penalty for both parties—even though Weber was unaware of the communication at the time.

Kim, however, saw the interaction, but choose not to say anything until the end of the round. At that point, she informed a rules official and the players about the violation.

Both Dye and Weber’s caddie admitted they had exchanged gestures, although Dye told Golfweek she was unaware it was an infraction. “I had no idea that was the Rules of Golf. Lesson learned,” she said.

Dye and Weber both told Golfweek that they were not pleased, however, with Kim’s timing, preferring to have known the issue right after it happened. They were further incensed when Kim wrote, “Quick PSA-if you’re a golfer, please read and know the rules. PLEASE!!!”

The fallout was immediate, as Kim spent the next two days on social media defending her actions and comments. She made an appearance on Golf Channel’s “Morning Drive” to plead her case.

“I’ve been called a nark,” Kim said. “Unfortunately, the Rules of Golf don’t really care about who [are] your friends, don’t really care about your personal emotions, and one thing I pride myself in is my integrity and just knowing that I had to do the right thing. If I was going to sit there and try to protect my two friends, one, I’m in breach of the Rules, which is something I hold sacred, and two, that’s unfair to the other 95 players in the field, so it was a really tough decision.

“I wasn’t trying to start any drama,” Kim said. “All I was trying to do is just remind people, hey, if you’re going to do something just make sure you do it within the confines of what is and isn’t allowed.”

Dye, for her part, wasn’t buying it, saying she was “very disappointed” in Kim’s “unprofessional and very public” action.

pic.twitter.com/P3L1i6KdqO

— Kendall Dye (@Kendall_Dye) November 3, 2019

When Q-Series was over on Saturday after the eighth and final round, both Dye and Weber missed out on cards. Weber conceding the penalty affected her weekend play. “It shouldn’t have,” Weber said after a Saturday 82 submarined her chances. “That’s absolutely, 100 percent on me.”

Dye came to the final hole needing an ace to get inside the top 45 and earn her tour card. She went for broke, but pulled tee shot into the water resulted in a double bogey.

The post Controversy erupts at LPGA Q-school following rules violation appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Feinstein
Mike Davis, the CEO of the United States Golf Association, has heard all the rumours, reports and speculation about the changes that are coming to the U.S. Open specifically in the selection of venues.

“Some of them are simply untrue,” Davis says. “Some, I understand where they came from, even if they’re inaccurate. And some might happen down the road, but probably not while I’m still on the job.”

After the success of this year’s Open at Pebble Beach, the rumours began:

• The USGA was thinking of establishing a regular rotation of courses, much like the rota that the R&A has used for years to pick Open Championship sites.
• The USGA was thinking of going into business with a handful of clubs, even establishing an LLC with some of those clubs.
• The USGA was done looking for new golf courses for future Opens.

As with most rumours, there is a degree of truth in some, if not all, of what was being said.

According to Davis, there will be no rota, but, as the schedule from now through 2027 makes clear, there are a handful of courses the USGA will return to on a frequent basis.

“It’s pretty clear that we love Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Oakmont and Shinnecock,” Davis says. “Those four meet all our criteria: They’re great tests of golf, they set up logistically either very well or well enough, and—being honest—we’re going to make money when we go there. We’re a nonprofit, but the U.S. Open financially supports everything else we do—all our other championships and all the golf programs we sponsor—among other things.”

Photo by Dom Furore
An aerial view of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

Davis concedes that the logistics at Shinnecock Hills—notably the traffic that plagued the 2018 event—aren’t perfect. “But the golf course is such a wonderful test, we think it’s worth that inconvenience,” he says. “We know it’s very tough getting there and leaving there, but once you’re there, it’s spectacular.”

The Open is scheduled to go back to Pinehurst in 2024, Oakmont in 2025, Shinnecock in 2026 and Pebble Beach in 2027. That means it will be 10 years between visits to Pinehurst, nine years since the 2016 Open at Oakmont, and an eight-year gap for Shinnecock and Pebble.

Davis thinks Winged Foot has the potential to join the core four, depending on how the Open fares there next year.

“Again, it’s not just the golf course,” he says. “We haven’t been at Winged Foot since 2006. A lot has changed around there since then. If all goes well with traffic, with the neighbourhood, with how the club likes having us there, with how we like being there again, Winged Foot could move into that category.”

But a rota of, say, five courses? No.

“I remember when I first got to the USGA [in 1990], we had constant discussion about things like, ‘How often do we go to Pebble Beach? What about Oakmont?’ We still talk about things like that. At private clubs, there’s always the question, ‘How often do they want us?’

“I also remember P.J. Boatwright [former USGA executive director of rules and competitions] saying back then we couldn’t possibly go to Pinehurst because there was no way to keep the grasses alive in the June heat down there. Now, with all the advances that have been made in grass technology, that’s not a problem for us anymore. We’ve even been able to hold the Amateur there in August.

“There are also some courses where we regularly took the Open in the past where we don’t go anymore. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever go there again, but, in recent years, we’ve gone in different directions.”

Dom Furore
The church pew bunker between the third and fourth holes at Oakmont Country Club.

Much of that different direction came from David Fay, Davis’ predecessor. It was Fay who championed the notion of taking the Open to Bethpage Black, clearing the way to go to other truly public golf courses: Torrey Pines, Chambers Bay and Erin Hills. Torrey Pines worked in 2008 (and will host the Open again in 2021); Chambers Bay and Erin Hills, not so much.

“I think we made a mistake going to two new venues that were also relatively new golf courses in three years,” Davis says of Chambers Bay (2015) and Erin Hills (2017). “The first time you go to a venue, there are almost certainly going to be issues. When the golf courses are almost new, that can add to the problems.”

Bethpage Black—which was not a new golf course—was a big success in 2002, so much so that the USGA returned seven years later. That Open didn’t go as well, drowned by constant rain. But that’s not why the USGA hasn’t returned.

“We wanted to go back,” Davis says, “but the state of New York had basically said it was going to cut funding to maintain the golf course without a hard-and-fast commitment to go back again very soon. We just didn’t feel we could make that kind of commitment. When we hesitated, they went to the [PGA] tour and the PGA [of America], both of whom were willing to commit right away,” for FedEx Cup events, the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup.

As for the rumours of going into business with perhaps four or five courses? “Let me be honest: We don’t have to go into business with anyone,” Davis says. “We want to play the Open on the best possible golf courses, but there are very few places that might turn us away. We will always have options.”

Photo by Dom Furore
The 17th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

There have been difficult negotiations in the past. After the 2004 debacle with final-day course conditions at Shinnecock, club members were so upset that they wouldn’t even discuss hosting another Open for several years. When Mike Butz, who was Fay’s No. 2 man at the time (and had the same role with Davis) finally began to negotiate with the club, its opening gambit was: Give us a share of your television revenue, and we can talk. That shut down negotiations for another few years until the deal for 2018 was worked out. The club did not get any TV revenue.

Fay also walked away from The Country Club in Chestnut Hill, Mass., while trying to make a deal for 2013—the 100th anniversary of Francis Ouimet’s historic Open victory there. In the end, the USGA went to another historic club—Merion—that year.

The relationship with The Country Club also has been repaired, and the club will host the Open in 2022—34 years after Curtis Strange beat Nick Faldo in a playoff, the last time it hosted an Open.

As for the rumours about setting up an LLC, Davis said there was a bit of truth in that. “There have been times in the past when we thought we needed a nearby piece of land for something logistical, and we’ve talked to clubs about perhaps buying the land together,” he said. “That probably would have involved setting up an LLC. But it’s never actually happened.”

Here’s what is probably a certainty: As long as Davis, who is 54, is in charge, the Open will go to the core four every seven to 10 years, and Winged Foot could make it a core five. Other golf courses will be considered—just less often. Los Angeles Country Club will be a new venue in 2023. Merion is likely to get the Open in 2030, the 100th anniversary of Bob Jones’ U.S. Amateur win there to conclude the Grand Slam.

Dom Furore
The 7th hole at Pinehurt No. 2.

Davis recently made a trip to Erin Hills, because giving the course another try isn’t out of the question. The same is true for Chambers Bay. If the chance to return to Bethpage Black comes up, that, too, might be a possibility.

“Ten or 15 years down the road, when there’s new leadership, the approach might be completely different,” Davis says. “Again, go back 25 or 30 years and look at all the courses that we went to that we don’t go to anymore. What we do is always evolving. But I don’t ever see a day when we limit ourselves to a handful of courses on a permanent basis, no matter how much we love them. I think that would be a mistake.”

Lee Janzen, a two-time U.S. Open champion, sat in the locker room at Shinnecock in 1995 after seeing the golf course for the first time and said this: “The USGA ought to go to Pebble Beach one year and here the next year. Period.”

It wasn’t a bad thought then—or now. But it isn’t going to happen.

• • •

FUTURE U.S. OPEN SITES
2020: Winged Foot G.C. (West), Mamaroneck, N.Y.
2021: Torrey Pines G. Cse. (South), La Jolla, Calif.
2022: The Country Club, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
2023: L.A.C.C. (North)
2024: Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort & C.C. (No. 2)
2025: Oakmont (Pa.) C.C.
2026: Shinnecock Hills G.C., Southampton, N.Y.
2027: Pebble Beach G. Links

The post The future of U.S. Open venues appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
PINEHURST, N.C. — Austin Squires woke up at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning uncertain if his amateur golf career was already over. Thirteen hours later, he was the talk of the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship.

The in-between was a crazy odyssey that began by finding out the cutline for match play at Pinehurst Resort had moved from four over to five over when stroke-play resumed at 7:20 a.m. A few dozen players had to wrap up their 36 holes after a weather delay on Tuesday prevented everyone from finishing. With the new cutline, Squires was one of 27 golfers who would playoff for the last three match-play spots.

The 22-year-old, who finished up school at the University of Cincinnati in the spring, then survived a four-hole, three-hour, 46-minute playoff to get the 64th seed, an ordeal that included waiting for roughly an hour between holes as the huge group whittled its way down.

RELATED: The U.S. Amateur playoff might be the most sadistic thing in golf

His reward? Facing medallist Brandon Wu, fresh off arguably the best summer of any amateur golfer in the world.

To his credit, Squires didn’t flinch, bolstered by the confidence that he regained from surviving the playoff. He never trailed in the match with Wu, taking the lead for good on the 10th hole at Pinehurst No. 2 and closing out the recent Stanford grad with a par on the 18th hole for a 2-up victory.

“It was a very long, stressful day,” Squires said. “It was kind of nice that I already played a couple holes before the match. Granted it was No. 4, which is a little different. but it was still nice. It was a little easier to get in a rhythm.”

It’s hard to call Squires’ win much of an upset. He did reach the quarterfinals at the U.S. Amateur last year at Pebble Beach.

“Obviously anything can happen in match play,” said Wu, who was only able to make one birdie during the match. “All 64 guys that made it to match play are incredible players.”

Brandon Wu

Had the cutline not moved, and Squires not found his way into the playoff, he said that this would have been the end of his amateur career. He is set to turn pro and play in a pre-qualifier for the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School later this month. The reason he hadn’t turned pro yet was that he was exempt into the U.S. Amateur thanks to his quarterfinal berth last year.

“I knew I wanted to give this tournament another shot,” said Squires, who faces Stefano Mazzoli of Italy in the Round of 32 on Thursday morning. “I love amateur golf. I wish I could stay an amateur forever, but I want to make a career out of golf. There is not a lot of money in amateur golf.”

Wu was one of several top seeds who fell in the first round on Wednesday. Six of the 10 highest-ranked players in the match-play bracket fell on Wednesday.

Additionally, 2019 U.S. Walker Cup team member Stewart Hagestad lost to Maxwell Moldovan. Hagestad, at 28, was the oldest player to reach match play (and the lone mid-amateur to do it), but fell to the second-youngest player (17) remaining in the field.

A few big names as well as players with North Carolina ties did, however, win their matches and will be back on Thursday. They include Akshay Bhatia, the junior phenom from Wake Forest, N.C., and Alex Fitzpatrick, who plays at Wake Forest and is the younger brother of former U.S. Amateur champion Matt Fitzpatrick. Bhatia won his match over R.J. Manke, 3 and 2. While Fitzpatrick defeated reigning British Amateur champion James Sugrue, 5 and 4.

The post Austin Squires becomes the talk of the U.S. Amateur with his playoff heroics, ‘upset’ of No. 1 seed Brandon Wu appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
PINEHURST, N.C. — It took three hours, 46 minutes for Austin Squires to play four holes of golf on Wednesday morning/afternoon at the U.S. Amateur Championship. Before you close your browser, rest assured this isn’t another story harping on the ills of slow play. No, this is about something far more wonky. This is a story celebrating one of the most idiosyncratic aspects of one of the most underappreciated tournaments in golf.

As it turned out, three hours, 46 minutes was the time needed for the 22-year-old from Union, Ky., a recent University of Cincinnati graduate and quarterfinalist at the U.S. Amateur a year ago at Pebble Beach, to clinch the third and final spot into the match-play field and conclude a 27-player-for-3-spots playoff at Pinehurst Resort. Those 3 hours, 46 minutes, played in the sticky North Carolina air, were packed with a potpourri of emotions. There was joy and heartbreak, anxiousness and frustration, disappointment and relief.

Oh, and there was a lot of waiting around. But for the hearty souls who went the distance, it was also oddly fulfilling.

• • •

It’s best to start with some background: The playoff to whittle down the 312 players competing in the U.S. Amateur to the 64 golfers advancing to match play has become part of the fabric of the championship. Just twice since this format was adopted in 1979 has there NOT been a playoff (in 1985 and 2000 the golf gods somehow magically devined that a perfect 64 golfers would separate themselves without the need of extra golf). The only questions facing USGA officials is how many players and how many spots.

Knowing the inevitable, the folks in charge of the championship have made some concessions over the years to control the chaos. “We’ve ended any notion of trying to end it on Tuesday,” said Robbie Zalzneck, director of the U.S. Amateur Championship. “It’s just logistically too difficult.”

Mind you, a playoff to advance to match play into the U.S. Amateur is no trivial thing. This is not determining a consolation prize. Just ask Doc Redman, who got through the 13-player-for-8-spot playoff in 2017 at Riviera Country Club and went on to win the championship. Back in 2012 at Cherry Hills Country Club outside Denver, both the champion, Steven Fox, and the runner-up, Michael Weaver, were playoff survivors in a 17-for-14 contest.

What made this year’s edition more complicated than usual is that bad weather on Tuesday afternoon prevented everyone from finishing their 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying by nightfall. A few dozen players needed to return to the No. 2 and No. 4 courses on Wednesday, resuming play at 7:20 a.m.

Among them was Chad Sewell. The rising junior at UT-San Antonio had three holes remaining on No. 2, and needed to make three pars to assure himself of getting into the match-play field. He parred the first two, then had 20 feet for birdie on this third … only to three-putt the hole. “I was just stunned,” Sewell said.

It turns out, there were a few other similar mishaps, and because of that, the cut moved from the overnight number of four over par to five over par, with 27 players who had been hitting refresh on their phones all morning happy to see their U.S. Amateur dreams weren’t done just yet.

Among them was Kevin O’Connell, the reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion. O’Connell had finished his second round of stroke play on Tuesday, and walked away from Pinehurst convinced he had missed the cut by a stroke or two. He even checked out of his Pinehurst hotel and stayed with his wife at his parents’ house just down the road in Cary, N.C. But he returned in plenty of time to join his fellow playoff participants.

• • •

When it comes to organizing a sudden-death playoff of any significant size, well it’s a bit like herding cats. To help with the communication, the USGA has the cellphone numbers for all 312 players, according to Zalzneck, and sends an alert to everyone that explains exactly what’s happening. A message went out Tuesday night, then again when stroke play finally ended on Wednesday morning.

The leader board that followed the playoff.

The playoff was set to begin at 9:15 a.m. on the first hole at Pinehurst No. 4, a 450-yard par 4. It started with a threesome of players, then six foursomes each teeing off 11 minutes apart. All 27 players had to complete the hole before any additional holes could be played, in order to determine how many people remained. This guaranteeing the playoff would last at least 90 minutes to get everyone through the hole.

All three players in the first group made pars, which meant that anybody making five or higher among the golfers still to play would be eliminated from the playoff.

Van Holmgren was in the second group. When he holed a 20-foot birdie putt, the 20-year-old college golfer at North Dakota State knew he was pretty sure to advance to the next hole. Yet as subsequent groups completed the hole, and nobody was posting better than par, Holmgren’s birdie started looking more likely that it would be enough.

There were a few fairly big names among the amateur ranks in the playoff. In addition to O’Connell, there was Jovan Rebula, the 2018 British Amateur champion; Cole Hammer, the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world entering the event; and Alex Smalley (a 2017 U.S. Open qualifier and All-American golfer at Duke). None of them, however, could match Holmgren. O’Connell and Rebula made a par, and Hammer and Smalley made bogeys (Hammer’s drive landed in a divot hole and his approach left him a 35-footer for birdie. He raced the putt three feet by and missed the comebacker to frustratingly end his week early.)

It wasn’t until the final foursome played the first hole that a second golfer made a birdie. Sewell, who had waited nearly two hours to get back on the course after his three-putt finish to stroke play, warming up on two separate occasions, hit a 138-yard 9-iron to a foot, and made the putt to advance to match play.

Copyright USGA/Michael Reaves
Sewell’s tap-in birdie was revenge for a three-putt on his last stroke-play hole that forced him into the playoff.

As he walked off the green, he hugged his mother and father. “I was calm all morning,” said Todd Sewell, the proud pop, afterwards, “but after seeing him make that one, well it’s emotional. It’s his first U.S. Amateur and we didn’t want him to walk away feeling like he did after the three-putt.”

• • •

The trickiest part of the playoff? All the waiting between shots. O’Connell finished the first hole with a par and then didn’t hit his tee shot on the second hole for almost 90 minutes. To bide his time, he did a lot of pacing, tossing his golf ball, talking with his father and friends. But otherwise, it was a bit of a slog.

“It’s definitely an awkward rhythm,” O’Connell said. “I would liken it I guess to multiple rain delays. I mean kind of keeping your tempo and the up and downs of watching guys hitting putts that could eliminate you is definitely a different experience.”

The long waits didn’t necessarily deter those in the gallery from hanging with the action. Roughly 200 or so were out watching, the number dwindling slightly as time went on, but never dipping below 75.

But there was no doubt an odd atmosphere about the event. For some, it wasn’t quite the gauntlet that it might have seemed.

“I think it makes it a little less nervous because there are so many guys in it,” said Nate McCoy, who made a par on the first hole to continue on. “You know realistically your chances aren’t high. So you just enjoy it.”

At 10:43 a.m., all 27 players had completed the first hole. Holmgren and Sewell had advanced, earning the 62nd and 63rd seeds in match play. With 18 players making pars, they all walked to the second hole—a 512-yard par 4 that plays as a par 5 for the public—now competing for one last match-play spot.

Similar to the first hole, there were no huge fireworks on the second. In the final fivesome (yes, they played some fivesomes), Jacob Bridgeman and William Walker had birdie putts from 20 feet and six feet that just burned the edge of the hole. By 11:41 a.m., the 18 players had finished the hole, with 13 making pars and moving on.

• • •

The third playoff hole was No. 4’s 17th, a 590-yard par 5. Surely, we’d see a few birdies here. But interestingly, there were only three, a testament to the mental grind (if not the physical one) playing out. “It’s nerve-wracking out there,” Dawson Jones said. “The starting, the stopping, watching other guys putt and knowing it will control whether you move on or not. You can’t help but think there is a little bit of luck to it all”

Squires made his birdie 4 in the first group, and looked like he might be the only one. But in the final fivesome, Jordan Garner and Bridgeman also converted birdie putts. (O’Connell lipped out a 12-footer for birdie to be eliminated.)

At 12:40 p.m., the final three players teed off on the 18th hole. Squires was the only one to find the fairway and the green in regulation. He made his par at 1:05 p.m. and was officially the last man standing.

Copyright USGA/Michael Reaves
Squires makes par on the fourth playoff hole to get into match play as the 64th seed.

“It was stressful for sure,” Squires said. “I just kind of stayed patient, I guess. As patient as you can be in a sudden-death playoff.”

There was some redemption for Squires. He had played his final six holes in stroke play at five over, wrapping it up on Tuesday morning. He had all afternoon to boil over what had happened but held out hope that he still might have a chance if somehow the cut were to rise to five over.

On Wednesday morning, he got the USGA text and took a deep breath. “I told myself I wasn’t going to give it away this time,” he said.

Squires’ reward for his three hours, 46-minute playoff odyssey? In 2 hours, 5 minutes he would face the medallist, Brandon Wu, in his first-round match. Was he tired? Sure. But he was also still in the hunt at the U.S. Amateur, and that’s all that really mattered.

RELATED: Austin Squires becomes the talk of the U.S. Amateur with his playoff heroics, ‘upset’ of No. 1 seed Brandon Wu

The post The playoff to advance to matchplay at the U.S. Amateur just might be the most sadistic thing in golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
That Brandon Wu would hold a one-shot lead after Day 1 of stroke play at the 119th U.S. Amateur Championship is hardly a surprise. The recent Stanford grad who helped the Cardinal win the NCAA title in May is in the midst of an impressive summer run that includes becoming the first amateur golfer to qualify for the U.S. and British Opens in the same calendar year since 1967. Wu finished T-35 at Pebble Beach (and was awarded his college diploma behind the 18th green) before missing the cut at Royal Portrush.

But there’s a backstory that makes Wu’s opening five-under 65 at Pinehurst No. 4 on Monday all the more impressive. Just the day before, Wu, the eighth-ranked player on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, was competing in the final round of the Pan American Games . . . in Lima, Peru. A closing even-par 71 left him in fourth place as an individual and helped the mixed U.S. team win a gold medal in the four-day event.

Afterwards, Wu went to the airport and took a red-eye flight through Miami to Pinehurst, where he arrived mid-morning on Monday, a few hours ahead of his 2:45 p.m. tee time (USGA officials gave him an afternoon time to accommodate his schedule since he was representing the country in an international competition).

By participating in the Pan Am Games for the U.S., Wu had to forgo weekend practice rounds at Pinehurst. However, the 22-year-old from Scarsdale, N.Y., visited the North Carolina resort in early July, getting the chance to play the newly re-designed No. 4 and the fabled No. 2 course.

Wu showed few signs of fatigue on Monday, as he closed out his round with three birdies and an eagle on the 14th through 17th holes. A par on the 18th still gave him the competitive course record.

“I tried to manage my sleep as well as I could,” Wu said. “I slept great on the two flights up here, and then took a quick nap before I teed off for about two hours. I actually feel pretty good.”

He’ll need to as Wu has a quick turnaround on Tuesday morning, teeing off the 11th tee at the No. 2 course at 9:30 a.m.

The top-64 players after Tuesday’s second round of stroke play will advance to match play, which will be contested from Wednesday through Sunday’s scheduled 36-hole final.

Ed’s Note:  MENA Tour prodigy Rayhan Thomas had an opening round to forget, carding a 10-over-par 80 to sit in T-262 place – 15 shots off Wu’s first-round pace. It’s not all bad for the Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club member even though he looks unlikely to advance to the matchplay phase at Pinehurst; Thomas is headed to Oklahoma State University for the next chapter in his golf education.

RELATED: MENA Tour trailblazer Rayhan Thomas is about to take his golf education to the next level

The post Brandon Wu arrives off red-eye flight from Peru, still shoots 65 to lead U.S. Amateur; Tough start for Dubai’s Thomas appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Kent Gray
When Martin Kaymer waltzed to his second major championship victory at the 2014 U.S. Open, it seemed the German had rediscovered the secret that had taken him to world No.1 three years earlier.

The wire-to-wire romp at fabled Pinehurst was a masterclass in not only closing out a fast start (back-to-back 65s for a U.S. Open record 130 aggregate) but winning going away as joint runners-up Rickie Fowler and Erik Compton can attest after finishing a distant eight shots in Kaymer’s rear-view mirror.

The now 34-year-old looked to be at it again on his beloved National course the following January when he opened the 2015 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship with rounds of 64, 67 and 65 to hold a seemingly unassailable six-stroke lead. Indeed, when he extended that buffer to 10 shots after five holes on Sunday, it was not a matter of how, but by how many Kaymer would claim his fourth Falcon trophy. Expect Kaymer didn’t win, inexplicably sliding to third behind fast-finishing Frenchman Gary Stal and serial bridesmaid Rory McIlroy courtesy of a pair of horrendous drives which lead to a double bogey on the 9th and shocking sand and bush encrusted triple on 13.

Despite his repeated protestations to the contrary, it seems Kaymer has never recovered from the vexing events of that surprising Sunday even if he admitted at the time that he was “surprised” and “shocked…I don’t really know how to put it into words.” He certainly isn’t the same “effortless” player who edged Bubba Watson in a three-hole playoff at Whistling Straits to claim the 2010 PGA Championship, much less the star who spent eight weeks at No.1 in 2011 or the European hero who holed the putt to retain the Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club the following year.

Kaymer edged Bubba Watson in a three-hole playoff to win the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straights

What hasn’t changed is Kaymer’s blunt honesty which makes him one of golf’s most fascinating interviews. We sat down with the Rolex Testimonee, who was 185th in the world rankings as we went to press, ahead of this month’s U.S. PGA at Bethpage Black in attempt to get to the bottom of the curious case that is Martin Kaymer.

I think when you think about a Plan B it takes away focus from your Plan A and what you actually do now. Obviously, I have other things that interest me, but could I make a career out of any of those things? I don’t know. I thought about what my life would be like if I had been a football player rather than a golfer. Maybe 12-18 months after I retire from playing golf I’ll find something else I’m passionate about. I think it’s really important to find something else to be passionate about, and you can only do that by trying. Right now, I don’t really have the time to try anything else.

I don’t have children; I don’t have a wife or any other responsibilities so I can really focus on myself. It’s great to have that freedom to do whatever I need to do, and I will put everything I have into being successful. I have eight majors and two other big events [The Olympics and Ryder Cup] that I would like to participate in over the next two years, so although it’s a long process to win one of the two majors that I haven’t won yet, it can happen in any year.

To be honest, I was surprised to be in that position [to win the 2010 PGA Championship] that early in my career, but I really enjoyed that possibility of winning and the chance that I had given myself to win my first major championship. My second Major at the U.S. Open in 2014 was a completely different kind of win and a different kind of experience. Any time you try to win a golf tournament you can only relax and hope that the preparation that you have put in subconsciously takes over and leads to a victory.

I really see things from a different point of view now because I would like to enjoy just playing. If I set my goal as winning on the first day of play, I would be thinking too far in advance. If I take a tournament too seriously, I can’t really enjoy the win. It can be a very fine line.

When I was at home recently, I really enjoyed just spending time with my father working around the house. He has an old shed and he took off the doors a few weeks ago so we had to paint them and change the handles and I enjoyed how real it was. Ultimately, what we do as golfers will not really be remembered in 10-15 years…What I love to do is spend time with the people that I don’t see all that often, interact with them and see the happiness of them and the pride that they have in me and what I have achieved.

I enjoy playing golf a lot, otherwise, I wouldn’t play anymore. That said, it’s a different type of enjoyment. Back when I first started playing on the tour it was a very pure type of enjoyment because there was nothing like this [interview] because people didn’t know who I was, so they weren’t interested in what I was saying. But I also didn’t really know myself or how I was playing the game, I just played. Now I do other things to try to keep my mind occupied and to grow as a person. I’ve had success in my career and that has helped me to feel like I have done something with my life. It’s a proud feeling.

I don’t enjoy all the travelling anymore. How can you enjoy seeing yourself with bags every week at the airport and waiting in line? It’s a pain. At the same time, when I compare that to what other people have to do in their life to earn a living, I ask myself if it really is a pain, or if it’s just a pain because I’ve done it for so long. I don’t enjoy it and I don’t think that anyone else in my position would enjoy it, particularly doing it over 10 or 15 years. But once I start playing on Thursday, that gives me the happiness that I need for the rest of the week.

I love going to other sports events. Rolex has invited me to go to Wimbledon a few times and I think it’s really cool to be able to see the best of the best performance in their sport. The Olympic Games was another event that I loved being at because it was so inspiring to see people being so good at one thing, knowing that they think the same thing about me. But what was really amazing was the mutual respect we had for each other. It’s amazing to be able to spend time with other people who can inspire you to do other things in your life.

Just imagine if you are 23-years-old and you meet up with the guys you went to school with and you’re wearing a Rolex. I was embarrassed at the beginning because they could never afford one. My parents never wore Rolex watches, nor any of my family members but I was a 23-year-old with a Rolex which I found a bit embarrassing. After a while, I got used to it and understood that’s just the way it is sometimes.

I’ve been a Rolex Testimonee since 2008. In the beginning, I felt a bit uncomfortable because I thought as a brand they were way above me because I had never even worn a watch before, and then I was immediately associated with the best in the world and it really made me think about whether I belonged to be in that position. Rolex has supported the game of golf for over 50 years now starting with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, and so to be a part of that very small family tells you a lot about yourself, because as a brand, Rolex would also like to be associated with you as a person.

That relationship definitely comes with a lot of responsibility as you have to act and behave in a certain way but I think as a brand they are a class act and I’m delighted to be associated with them and what they have done for the European Tour.

The Masters is a tough one for me but I can definitely see myself winning The Open in the future. I believe I can win the Masters but I think I need another two or three years to find an edge and get a bit more comfortable playing there. I think I play the golf course well, but I don’t putt well at Augusta National, so I need to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and then I think I can win there.

In 2008 I was a special guest of team Europe Captain Nick Faldo and I received the Rolex GMT Master II with The Ryder Cup logo on the back even though I wasn’t playing, and although I really liked the watch, I didn’t feel like I deserved to wear it because I wasn’t on the team. After the tournament I bought the watch myself because I liked it so much, so now I have two of them, but at least the second one I felt like I deserved it and could wear it!

I don’t actually wear the watch we got at Medinah [2012 Ryder Cup] either. I only wear the watches that I get for winning a tournament, and only after I get an engraving of the name of the tournament and the year that I won on the inside of the watch. When I won The Players Championship in 2014 I bought a new watch which I had engraved so that way I have an association with the watch. It’s a way of treating myself for my achievements.

In my opinion, there is a time for learning technique and a time for playing, and I think I need to start playing again, because sometimes when I doubt myself, I try to control too much and force good results. By letting go I think I get better results but in order to let go, I have to have belief and confidence, and in order to have belief and confidence I have to have success – it’s a never-ending circle. You need to get out of that cycle and see it for what it is, look at yourself and stop tying yourself to results so much. For me, that involved enjoying the game of golf rather than trying to force myself to hit the perfect shot every time. It’s not about hitting the perfect shot, it’s about feeling the hole and just playing the hole. It doesn’t always work or happen like this, but the intention is important.

The post Being Martin Kaymer appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.