JACKSON, Miss. — Twenty-eight feet, two words and integrity stood between Davis Riley and a shot at the U.S. Junior Amateur championship in 2013.
It moved.
That’s what the then-16-year-old from Hattiesburg confessed to rules official Skip Giston and opponent Scottie Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer in the world today. His ball had rolled a bit after he addressed it while preparing to putt from just off the green on the final hole of match play.
Riley was penalized one stroke as a result. He conceded Scheffler’s short putt, putting the title of tournament champion on Scheffler by a 3 and 2 count.
It moved.
“It sure does feel like a lifetime ago,” Riley said Tuesday while he took a break from practicing putts at The Country Club of Jackson ahead of the Sanderson Farms Championship, which begins Thursday.
Riley tees off at 7:38 a.m. that day with Trey Mullinax, a fellow Alabama alum and Cameron Champ.
‘It was all in good fun’
Riley was reminded of that day in late May, when Scheffler had a front-row seat to the former’s victory in the final round of the Colonial National Invitational, aka the Charles Schwab Challenge, at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
The two played together in the final pairing, with Riley winning his first individual PGA Tour event with a 14-under-par. Scheffler tied for second at 9 under.
“A video resurfaced,” Riley said with a grin. “It was pretty funny looking back on that.”
Does Scheffler ever talk trash about that day in 2013?
“Not really,” Riley said.
That responsibility belongs to another golfer from Texas who beat Riley for the 2014 Junior Amateur title, Will Zalatoris.
“I probably hear it a little bit more from him than from Scottie,” said Riley, who has qualified for the U.S Open three times and tied for 13th in the 2022 PGA Championship. “It’s all in good fun. That was a good time.”
Riley’s two second-place finishes did land him in elite company with Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth, though. They are the only players to appear in the junior amateur championship match twice.
‘This is the final hole to win the Masters’
Exactly 100 miles, most on U.S. 49, separate The Country Club of Jackson and Canebrake Country Club in Hattiesburg, according to Google Maps.
The latter is where Riley, 27, grew up in his family’s home that overlooked the ninth fairway.
Riley’s return to his home state this week, though, is not a return trip home.
This is about business. About trying to add the winner’s share of $1.368 million to his bank account. About putting to bed not making the cut the last three years here after tying for 39th in 2020.
Still, the memories of home always resurface when Riley is here.
One hundred miles away from Jackson is where, as a 4- or 5-year-old boy, Riley began to wear a 200-yard path from his house to the driving range. Where his golf aspirations were born. Where he won four individual state championships at Presbyterian Christian School before enrolling at Alabama.
He turned pro in 2019.
“Playing matches with buddies, you know, ‘This is the final hole to win the Masters,’ and things like that,” Riley said. “This is the place we always dreamed to be. I have to pinch myself every now and then, because I’m living out my dream.
“It’s a pretty special one.”