Tag: Angus Flanagan

Angus Flanagan wins Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase

It took three playoff holes but Angus Flanagan punched his ticket to the Genesis Invitational with some playoff magic.

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — It took three playoff holes, but Angus Flanagan punched his ticket to the Genesis Invitational with some playoff magic.

Flanagan, who’s from England and plays for the University of Minnesota, birdied the third playoff hole to edge Tim Widing of the University of San Francisco and earn the final spot in the PGA Tour’s annual visit to Riviera Country Club, which starts on Thursday.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Flanagan said moments after receiving his tournament credential just off the third green. “Being able to tee it up against the best in the world, players I’ve looked up to. … seeing guys out here that growing up, looking up to, having their pictures on my wall, it is surreal. It’s probably not going to sink in till tomorrow morning when I come back out here and I have my player’s badge.”

In Flanagan’s group was PGA Tour pro Denny McCarthy.

“We had a great day out there. He’s got a really solid game, good enough to play at this level, I believe,” McCarthy said.

After Flanagan bogeyed the 18th hole and walked off the green thinking he was going to miss out by a shot, McCarthy gave him some words of encouragement.

“I said, ‘Even if it didn’t work out today, you got great things ahead of you.’ He was super positive,” he said.

Angus Flanagan
The University of Minnesota’s Angus Flanagan chips on to the 18th green during the 2021 Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 15, 2021. Photo by Todd Kelly/Golfweek

McCarthy said watching Flanagan shake off a bad break and taking a bogey 6 on the seventh hole was telling. “He kept it together after that. He was very talkative to me. The whole day he wanted to learn about how I became a pro, asking me questions, picking my brain.

“Having Angus today, he’s a really nice kid and he’s got a bright future. It was good to see his game,” McCarthy.

McCarthy was sufficiently impressed that he decided to walk with the group of spectators watching the playoff.

“You can contribute a lot of what happened today to him,” Minnesota men’s golf coach Justin Smith said of McCarthy. “He’s just the most classy person. It was an incredible experience for Angus.”

Moments after making his clinching birdie, Flanagan reached into his golf bag to quickly spread word of his victory.

“I texted my teammates, my girlfriend, my dad,” he said.

Smith, who may caddie for Flanagan this week, said Riviera suits his game.

“Angus drives it amazing, he’s playing well, his iron control. … I mean, he’s just a great ball-striker,” Smith said. “You gotta control your ball to get it to the right spot on these greens.”

Flanagan is efficient and doesn’t spend a lot of time overthinking his next shot. He simply gets up and goes.

“He’s playing golf shot, he never plays golf swing,” Smith said.

Flanagan played in one other PGA Tour event, the 2020 3M Open in Minnesota. He earned that spot after winning the 2020 Minnesota Golf Champions event. He also won medalist honors at the 2020 Western Amateur Championship. But now he joins a stacked Genesis field that includes the top four in the Official World Golf Ranking and seven of the top ten.

“Everything we do is to try to see these young men play at the highest level and we had an incredible opportunity here and he goes out and performs like that,” Smith said during a walk back to the clubhouse. “It’s amazing to see him do it.”

Widing had a chance to win the event outright on 18 but he lipped out a putt. His PGA Tour playing partner Will Zalatoris was nonetheless impressed.

“I couldn’t believe it was six years ago that I played in the first Showcase,” said Zalatoris, who won the inaugural event in 2015. “It’s a lot of fun. I was rooting hard for Timmy today. It’s kind of crazy to think that six years ago I was him. It’s fun to see the next generation come up.

“We’re going to see a lot of him. He played a heck of a round today. He can absolutely murder it off the tee, he hit some great irons shots, he made a bunch of really nice par saves. All around he played a really nice round today. If he keeps doing what he’s doing, we’re going to see a lot of him.”

Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase scores

T-1. Angus Flanagan, Minnesota* 71 (E)
T-1. Tim Widing, San Francisco, 71 (E)
3. Kyle Petrovich, Oakland University, 72 (+1)
4. Callum Bruce, San Diego State, 75 (+4)
5. Alex Goff, Kentucky, 76 (+5)
6. Bryce Waters, Wyoming, 77 (+6)
7. Kyle Suppa, USC, 78 (+7)
* won in a playoff

Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase winners

2021 – Angus Flanagan, Minnesota
2020 – Sean Yu, San Jose
2019 – Lukas Euler, Kentucky
2018 – Scottie Scheffler, Texas
2017 – Sahith Theegala, Pepperdine
2016 – Charlie Danielson, Illinois
2015 – Will Zalatoris, Wake Forest

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Angus Flanagan earns Western Am stroke-play medal; bracket set at Crooked Stick

Angus Flanagan holed a 30-foot birdie on his last hole at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, to win Western Amateur medalist honors.

Rainy conditions on the first of three potential 36-hole days at the Western Amateur might have made all the difference for Angus Flanagan. The Minnesota senior grew up in England. Rain clearly isn’t an issue.

Flanagan holed a 30-footer for birdie on his 72nd hole Thursday evening at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, to wrap up Western Amateur medalist honors. Now the format switches to match play. Beginning Friday morning, there will be four rounds of it before a champion is determined on Saturday afternoon.

It was a dramatic finish for Flanagan, who used that birdie to put the finishing touch on a final-round 66 and reach 11 under for 72 holes.

Scoring: Western Amateur

Flanagan, who won a share of the Big Ten individual title in 2019, played the 3M Open on the PGA Tour last week. He earned his invite into the event by winning the Minnesota State Open on July 9 with a course-record, final-round 64 at Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo. His name is certainly starting to make the rounds.

Seven players tied for the 16th position at even par, forcing a playoff to determine the sole player who would move on – and face Flanagan on Friday morning. Ultimately North Carolina’s Austin Hitt earned that honor. He outlasted an impressive crew of opponents in the playoff, including 2018 Western Amateur champion Cole Hammer along with Texas player Travis Vick, Pepperdine’s William Mouw and incoming Ohio State freshman Maxwell Moldovan.

Three of last year’s Sweet 16 are on the bracket again: Ricky Castillo, Turk Pettit and Davis Thompson, the latter being the returning Western Am medalist.

Among the marquee match-ups for Friday morning is defending U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree against LSU’s Trey Winstead, who already made a run at both the North & South title and the Sunnehanna title. Behind them, Castillo – who made it to the semifinals at this event last year – takes on Vanderbilt’s Harrison Ott.

The lower bracket is topped by Sam Bennett, stroke-play runner-up and a Texas A&M junior, versus Connor Creasy, who just completed his senior year at the University of Georgia.

German Matthias Schmid, a Louisville player who won the 2019 European Amateur, takes on George Duangmanee, an incoming Virginia freshman, in the first round. Interestingly, there is another junior player on the bracket, too. Joseph Pagdin, No. 2 in the Golfweek Junior Rankings, will meet Thompson in the final match of the morning.

Oklahoma’s Quade Cummins was among those who barely missed the match-play cut along with Oklahoma State’s Austin Eckroat and recent Sunnehanna Amateur champion Preston Summerhays.

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‘Who’s this kid?’ It’s Angus Flanagan, one of three Golden Gophers in the 3M Open

Angus Flanagan, a 21-year-old senior, will be playing in the PGA Tour’s 3M Open.

Three generations of Minnesota Gopher golfers – try saying that three times fast – teed off on the front nine at TPC Twin Cities on the eve of the 3M Open.

Leading the way was the ageless wonder, Tom Lehman, 61, who consulted on a re-design of the Arnold Palmer layout in 2018. Lehman played with a couple of kids more than half his age: Erik Van Rooyen, a 30-year-old South African who completed his college eligibility in 2013 and met his wife while attending “The U,” and Angus Flanagan, a 21-year-old senior on the team from Woking, England, who was named a third-team All-American by Golfweek and a first-team All-Big Ten honoree.

Lehman made the cut last month at the Charles Schwab Challenge and the five-time Tour winner and Minnesota native is a beloved figure in his home state. Van Rooyen and Flanagan were looking forward to the chance to pick Lehman’s brain on the course setup.

“I’ve never played with Tom Lehman, so I’m looking forward to playing with him today. And then myself and Angus, it’s almost a couple generations of Gopher golfers that will play together, so I’m looking forward to it,” Van Rooyen said. “It’s good fun to reminisce about the days we were there and to talk about the stuff they’re doing now. You know, I’m 30 years old, but I still feel like I’m 21 years old.”

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While Van Rooyen is on the verge of earning his PGA Tour card after a T-3 finish at the WGC Mexico Championship, Flanagan is making his PGA Tour debut on a sponsor’s exemption.

“I think a lot of guys have been like ‘Who’s this kid?’ ” Flanagan said. “Because I’m 21, but I look like I’m 15. So, they’re probably wondering ‘Who’s this guy?’ Like, is he one of the guys’ sons or something like that?’ ”

Flanagan earned his invite into the 3M Open by winning the Minnesota State Open with a course-record, final-round 64 at Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo. At the prize-giving ceremony, he learned he would be receiving more than just a trophy.

University of Minnesota’s Angus Flanagan. (Photo: University of Minnesota)

“I kind of heard rumors that there was going to be a surprise for me at the prize giving,” Flanagan explained. “My caddie stupidly came up to me and said, ‘Hey, there’s going to be something, but I can’t tell you.’ So as soon as (tournament director) Hollis (Cavner) came up, I was thinking, ‘Oh, maybe it might be I don’t have to prequalify, I can go straight into the Monday qualifier.’ But then I mentioned something how I was stuck here (and unable to go home to England), kind of making it sound out like it’s a problem when it’s really not, and he used that in the speech and said, ‘Since you’re stuck here, I’d like to invite you to the 3M Open.’ ”

Even with a bit of a heads up, Flanagan was dumbfounded.

“It kind went through one ear and out the other because I just couldn’t process it with everything going on. It probably took me a good 30 seconds to actually realize like, ‘Wow, I’m actually playing against some of the guys I look up to, I see on TV,’ ” he said. “Sunday night I was out here practicing and I was on the range and I was talking to Russell Knox, and I’ve looked up to Russell because he’s from Scotland, my dad’s from Scotland as well. Then DJ turns up on the range and starts hitting balls next to me and I was just like, ‘Wow,’ I had to pinch myself a bit and say, ‘Is this real?’ I thought I was in a dream still.”

It’s a big step up from being co-medalist at the Big 10 Championship to playing against the likes of Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, but Flanagan hopes to treat it no differently.

“My dad said it’s basically a college event that you play in with a couple TV stands around,” Flanagan said. “We’ve played college events before which have been broadcasted and stuff like that. There is no difference, but it’s probably just a college event with some of the top players in the world playing.”

And a couple of fellow Golden Gophers in Lehman and Van Rooyen to make it feel even more like just another college event.

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