The pairings are out for Saturday morning foursomes at the Walker Cup, and both sides have brought in an alternate.
After a 12-hour delay, pairings are out for the first foursomes session at the Walker Cup. With a stomach bug sweeping both teams – making some players’ status in the matches uncertain – officials bought themselves a little time by delaying the release of pairings to Saturday morning.
Both teams have dipped into their pool of two alternates, with the U.S. bringing in Mac Meissner to pair with Ricky Castillo in the second match out and Great Britain and Ireland using Jake Bolton in the final match.
It’s no surprise to see Alex Fitzpatrick, alongside Barclay Brown, in the GB&I lead-off spot. He was first out in every session two years ago when the matches were played at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England, and picked up two points for his team then.
Hammer said Friday afternoon that he didn’t make any requests about the order, but starting off the day suits him.
“I haven’t asked to do anything this go-around, but I do like going out early, kind of setting the tone,” he noted.
Hammer and Hagestad provide anchors on both ends of Saturday’s foursomes for the U.S.. They’d be a good match together, but should also make for a tough matches with their respective partners.
Davis Thompson, a former top-ranked amateur in the world, will play alongside Hammer. Hagestad noted in March that Thompson was probably high on the list of preferable partners for many members of the team.
“I think everyone on the team is going to say Davis,” Hagestad said, “because he’s just such a stud.”
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John Pak, the only other U.S. returner from 2019, is not in the opening lineup, nor is reigning U.S. Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci or Pierceson Coody. The U.S. could also pull in its second alternate, Cooper Dossey, in future matches if needed.
As for GB&I, Benjamin Schmidt, Ben Jones and reigning British Amateur champion Joe Long are absent the foursomes lineup.
Eight singles matches will follow Saturday morning’s foursomes matches.
Morning Foursomes
8:20 a.m. – Alex Fitzpatrick and Barclay Brown, GB&I vs. Cole Hammer and Davis Thompson, USA
8:35 a.m. – Mark Power and John Murphy, GB&I vs. Quade Cummins and Austin Eckroat, USA
8:50 a.m. – Jack Dyer and Matty Lamb, GB&I vs. Mac Meissner and Ricky Castillo, USA
9:05 a.m. – Angus Flanagan and Jake Bolton, GB&I vs. Stewart Hagestad and William Mouw, USA
A stomach bug is traveling through both teams at the Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club, but play will go on.
JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Cooper Dossey didn’t sleep much on Thursday night. As a stomach bug moves through the U.S. Walker Cup team – the Great Britain and Ireland team, too – several players at Seminole Golf Club for these week’s matches have found the concept of infection a bit unnerving.
Three weeks ago, Dossey, a fifth-year senior at Baylor, found out he’d be an alternate for the U.S. team, replacing Oklahoma’s Garret Reband. Dossey picked up the phone mid-April to hear U.S. team manager Robbie Zalzneck on the other end.
“Robbie started the phone call saying this is going to be awkward, so I knew what he was going to say after that,” he said. “I just told him, it’s not awkward at all. I told him, I’m thrilled to be here.”
And so far, his health remains intact too.
“I feel great so far, I don’t have any issues,” Dossey reported after spending several minutes moving around a practice chipping green at Seminole. “I don’t know what the heck it is but it’s knocking them down.”
Dossey’s status in the matches remains uncertain. Two alternates are present for each side, an unprecedented detail put in place this year as a COVID protocol. Dossey joins Mac Meissner, an SMU senior, on the U.S. side. GB&I brought Jake Bolton and Joe Pagdin after already dipping into the alternate pool in April when Jack Dyer replaced Sandy Scott, who took himself out of the matches because of a wrist injury.
“The other good thing,” John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director or championships, told media on Friday evening, “we made a decision about testing players every day so we knew early on this wasn’t COVID.”
Bodenhamer said foodborne illness has been ruled out and the cause of players’ symptoms is a virus.
It’s rampant. Bodenhamer said up to six members of the U.S. team have reported experiencing symptoms, with one player still struggling with the illness. Martin Slumbers, chief executive of the R&A, said seven of the 12 GB&I players have suffered from the illness, with one player still feeling ill. Both captains have experienced symptoms, too.
Robbie Zalzneck from the USGA talks to a group of US Team members during a practice round at the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. on Friday, May 7, 2021. (Chris Keane/USGA)
A player can only be subbed out of a session for illness. And if he feels well enough to return for a subsequent session, he’s eligible to do so.
The USGA and R&A delayed the announcement of pairings, usually revealed at the opening ceremony, to Saturday morning at 7 a.m. ET.
“The key thing to remember is the original 10 that will be the core,” Slumbers said.
A two-year body of work
Truly, selection to the Walker Cup team is a reflection of a player’s two-year body of work. Perhaps no one can put that into words better than Cole Hammer, a U.S. returner who was uncertain to make the team until winning the South Beach International Amateur in December and nearly winning the Jones Cup a month later.
“Two years ago was the best experience of my life on the golf course, and I wanted with everything in my body to get back here,” he said. “Obviously it’s a great feeling to be able to have done it, but I will say back in October, November of last year I was really stressing out. I was behind the 8-ball on the outside looking in, and I knew it, and I knew I just needed to go out and play a bunch of good golf.”
Hammer, who is coming off the individual title at the Big 12 Championship, recently made a coaching change to Bruce Davidson, with whom he’s worked as a kid. Davidson helped him get in a better position at the top so he could hit a draw again, a shot shape he likes.
He can trust what he’s doing, and that makes him formidable this week. Hammer won a lopsided Sunday singles match for the U.S. at the 2019 Walker Cup, and this week is one of three returners for the U.S. squad along with John Pak and Stewart Hagestad.
“I remember standing on the first tee last time and how cool of an experience it was,” Hammer said, “and I also remember how fast it was over.”
Alex Fitzpatrick was often in that lead-up spot for GB&I in 2019 – he played every match and brought home two of a possible four points for GB&I. He’s the only returning members for that side.
Fitzpatrick, whose older brother Matthew Fitzpatrick plays on the PGA and European Tours, feels fortunate to have family friends who are members at Seminole. He’s seen the place a handful of times, and even once had a putt for birdie for a back-nine 29 here.
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“Every time I come here I love it just as much,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s my sort of course where there’s no trees by the side of the tee that I’m worried about hitting. It’s just a lot of drivers.”
Golf aside, there remains the feeling that the weekend presents a bit of a gauntlet for players.
“I’m being very cautious with what I eat and where I go, and I’m sanitizing as much as I can,” Fitzpatrick said of his approach. “But it’s kind of luck of the draw really. I’m hoping that it doesn’t happen to me and that I can be healthy for tomorrow’s match.”
As for Dossey, who had a conversation with Zalzneck after playing Seminole’s sixth hole on Friday, the possibility of seeing action over the weekend is very real. He already called his mom back in Austin, Texas. Tears were shed and the Dosseys boarded a flight for South Florida.
Dossey said he has a strong relationship with Meissner, the other alternate, and told Meissner he shouldn’t think twice about playing if an alternate is needed, provided he feels well.
“These guys are some of my best friends,” he said. “I told them all when I got here that I hope I don’t play this weekend. They all deserve it, they got selected. But obviously things have changed. I’m ready to play, I’m hopeful that I don’t. If my name does get called, I’m excited and honored.”
Cole Hammer won his first title since the spring of 2019 after running away at the South Beach International Amateur.
In the summer of 2018, Cole Hammer seemed invincible. He won the Azalea Invitaitonal in March, the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in May, waltzed through 72 holes of stroke play and another four matches to win the Western Amateur (one of the most grueling events in golf) and two weeks later, played his way to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach.
Hammer, now a junior at the University of Texas, last won a title as a Longhorn freshman at an NCAA Regional in 2019. Now he’s the South Beach Amateur champion.
It wasn’t even particularly close at Miami Beach Golf Club on Tuesday as Hammer coasted home in the 72-hole event with a final-round 2-under 69 for a five-shot win. He posted four rounds in the 60s and finished the week at 16 under.
Hammer took a four-shot lead into the final round but bogeyed two of his first three holes. He recovered with birdie on two of his next four and was back in the driver’s seat on an exceptionally windy South Florida day.
Hammer, once the top-ranked amateur in the world, is now No. 26 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The South Beach win is sure to help his ranking, and his Walker Cup chances. The 21-year-old played on the victorious U.S. team in 2019. He arrived at the South Beach International Amateur directly from a 16-man Walker Cup practice session.
U.S. captain Nathaniel Crosby followed him, and was there when Hammer wrapped up victory on Tuesday.
Western Carolina’s Pierre Viallaneix, from France, took second place after a 1-under 71 to finish at 11 under. He was two shots ahead of Coastal Carolina’s Zach Taylor and Duke commit Kelly Chinn. All three started the day at 10 under with Viallaneix picking up a stroke to par and Taylor and Chinn dropping a stroke.
Cole Hammer fired a third-round 62 and now leads the South Beach International Amateur by four shots.
Three days ago, Cole Hammer was 225 miles north of Miami at a practice session with 15 other amateurs who have caught the U.S. Golf Association’s attention for selection to the 2021 Walker Cup team. Hammer, who played on the U.S. team in 2019, has helped his case at the South Beach International Amateur.
Hammer began pulling away at Miami Beach Golf Club on Monday afternoon. He had nine birdies in a 9-under 62 that bumped him to 14 under and the top of the leaderboard. His approach at the par-4 18th gave him a 25-footer for birdie at 61 but Hammer two-putted for par instead.
A third-round 62 was more than enough to do the trick.
Hammer, who has had middling results so far this summer (a missed cut at the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open among them), opened with rounds of 67-69 at this event. He was seventh entering the third round, trailing co-leaders Frankie Capan and Ben Smith by three shots. Smith had even-par 71 on Monday and managed to gain no ground. Capan lost some with his 73.
Behind Hammer, a trio of players are at 10 under, including Kelly Chinn, a Duke commit and the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year. Chinn had 64 on Monday, a round that included an eagle at the par-4 eighth.
Coastal Carolina’s Zack Taylor and Frenchman Pierre Viallaneix are also in the mix at 10 under.
For his part, Smith remains within striking distance alongside James Piot, recently named the Golf Association of Michigan player of the year. Both are 8 under and tied for fifth.
William Holcomb V, who was stroke-play medalist earlier this month at the Maridoe Amateur, is among a four-man tie for seventh at 7 under. Holcomb, a fifth-year senior at Sam Houston State, has fired rounds of 69-68-68.
Thursday was cut day at the Southern Amateur, and Cole Hammer isn’t going anywhere.
Thursday was cut day at the Southern Amateur, and Cole Hammer isn’t going anywhere. He played as well as anyone did in the second round at Maridoe Golf Club in Carollton, Texas, and a 5-under 67 left him within five shots of the top of the leaderboard.
Maridoe can tip out over 8,000 yards, but it’s not playing anywhere near that this week. It’s still a ballstriker’s golf course, and if you’re not hitting the ball well, forget about scoring.
“It’s north of Dallas and the wind really gets up and makes it hard,” Hammer explained. “The fairways are tight and firm and the rough is really thick and then the greens are small.”
Hammer had five birdies and an eagle on his card. So far, he has walked and carried his own bag at Maridoe, even though it’s “like 100 degrees and feels like 130.” He may convince a buddy to carry his bag for the second half of the event.
The Southern Amateur, despite being in his native Texas, was a bit of a late add for Hammer. This global pandemic changed everything on his schedule, from up-ending the spring college season to knocking out the Northeast Amateur last month, a tournament he always looks forward to playing (and one in which he finished fourth last summer).
After Maridoe, he plans to play the Sunnehanna, the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur. Technically, there will be a few extra days off between the latter two events. Two weeks on and one week off is more his style but these days, when you can play, you play.
Two weeks ago at Pinehurst, Hammer found himself one shot out of the North & South Amateur match-play bracket. He had visions of missing last summer’s U.S. Amateur match play by cut by one shot, too.
“I feel like Pinehurst is a good course for me,” Hammer said. “I just somehow managed to miss the cut by one both times.”
After Hammer won the 2018 Western Amateur, he had an explosive freshman year for the Longhorns. His last tournament title was at the 2019 NCAA Austin Regional. When quarantine started, Hammer admitted he wasn’t hitting the ball all that great. Many players have been able to find a silver lining in the unexpected events of 2020, and for Hammer, that was having a bit of breathing room to straighten things out.
“It was kind of everything honestly. I just wasn’t hitting it very solid. I was not in the best position on my downswing,” he said. “I just had a couple things to iron out. It really wasn’t that big of a deal. I just didn’t feel comfortable over the ball and that’s changed, thankfully.”
His performance so far at Maridoe may suggest that things are trending in the right direction.
At the top of the leaderboard through two rounds, Pepperdine sophomore William Mouw has built a one-shot cushion on David Perkins. Both men fired a second-round 67. Mouw is at 8 under after his opening 69.
Maridoe member Pierceson Coody is 6 under. Coody is tournament-tested at his home course, having won the Trans-Miss Amateur here a year ago this week.
A strong Texas presence at the top of the leaderboard also includes teammate Travis Vick, a Houston native, at 4 under. Hammer is tied with Texas commit Tommy Morrison, a 15-year-old who also is a member here and is making his fourth competitive start at Maridoe in the past three months.
The cut fell at 5 over, with SMU’s Noah Norton, Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl and North & South runner-up Will Holcomb among those on the wrong side.
Maridoe Golf Club is hosting a field of high-level amateurs at the Southern Amateur this week.
Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas, has become something of a golf oasis in the midst of this pandemic. The club took it upon itself to demonstrate how golf could safely be played and proceeded to stage two fundraising events with a stout field of amateurs and pros – dubbed the Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational (and MSFI2.0) – then created the Maridoe Junior Invitational for the nation’s top up-and-coming players.
As a result, the field of 156 players includes some of the best college players and juniors in the nation. The 54-hole event begins Wednesday with a cut to the top 66 players and ties after the first two rounds.
PGA Tour events are the only tournaments with featured pairings. We present the four most stacked groups at the outset of the Southern:
12:50 p.m., No. 1: Quade Cummins, Cooper Dossey, Austin Eckroat
Impressive resumes here for some of the Big 12’s best. Oklahoma’s Cummins is the reigning Pacific Coast Amateur champ, and remains so for another year after that tournament was canceled for the summer. Baylor’s Dossey won the North & South Amateur in 2019, but came up two match-play victories short of a title defense earlier this month at Pinehurst. Eckroat, finished T-4 at the first MSFI event and finished as the low amateur that week.
Three USGA champs with a unique bond make up this group. Barbaree, an LSU senior; Goodwin, an SMU junior and Summerhays, a high school senior committed to Arizona State, are all past champions of the U.S. Junior, with Summerhays being the defending champ. Goodwin won in 2017 and Barbaree in 2015.
All have been busy this summer but particularly Barbaree, who teed it up on the amateur circuit two of the past three weeks.
1:20 p.m., No. 1: John Pak, John Augenstein, Pierceson Coody
John Pak played perhaps the craziest schedule of all last summer, teeing it up six times in a 10-week stretch. More than perhaps any other player, he truly played his way onto the U.S. Walker Cup team with his summer performance. Pak is toning it down this summer, playing only the Southern, the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur and otherwise camping out in Tallahassee, Florida, where he attends Florida State.
Walker Cup teammate Augenstein won his last college start (the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate in March) on the strength of an opening 63 and also won the G-Rock Open (something like a rogue state open) at the start of June.
As for Coody, a member here, he’s already won a major amateur event at this venue. The Texas junior defeated Paul Gonzalez (also in the Southern field) by two shots almost exactly a year ago to win the Trans-Miss Amateur.
2:30 p.m., No. 1: Trent Phillips, Cole Hammer, Joe Highsmith
All three of these men land among the top 100 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, with Hammer at No. 8, Phillips checking in at No. 36 and Highsmith at No. 92.
Hammer is a native Texan, and comes off a disappointing missed cut at the North & South. Highsmith beat his Pepperdine teammate Dylan Menante in the second round of the North & South, only to fall in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Tyler Strafaci. Phillips, a Georgia junior, is making his first major start since the Southern Highlands Collegiate. He won the Ka’anapli Collegiate Classic last fall.
Here are a few of the top players to watch at the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst.
If you’re a competitive amateur player (looking at you, collegians), summer doesn’t feel like summer without tournaments to play. The summer season is almost like a rite of passage for players making their way on up to a career in professional golf, a path that many players in the North & South Amateur field this week likely are on.
The coronavirus pandemic wiped out several June events. Some, like the Sunnehanna Amateur, moved to new dates. The calendar truly kicked off at last week’s Rice Planters Amateur just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. It continues this week in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Tournament directors reported unprecedented interest in their events and subsequently, above-average field strength. Nearly 100 more players sent in applications for this year’s North & South Amateur than last year, when the tournament offered players a chance to compete on Pinehurst a month before the U.S. Amateur landed there in August.
This year, it will be just the golf showcased at the North & South, but with a backdrop like Pinehurst, you don’t need a lot of extras.
“This was our communication to the players: This is going to be golf almost in its purest form,” said Brian Fahey, Pinehurst’s director of tournament operations.
Put the U.S. Amateur, the summer finale, in the category of “things that look a little different this year,” too. Among the exemption categories announced on June 17 were a handful of spots for top finishers at the summer’s top events. The North & South is one of those, so if the winner and runner-up at Pinehurst this week aren’t already qualified for the U.S. Am, they will be courtesy of their play here.
Below are a few names to keep an eye on in what turned out to be a loaded North & South field. The tournament begins with stroke-play qualifying on June 30 and July 1 to decide a 32-man match-play bracket. The final match will be played July 4.
The defending champ
Cooper Dossey
Dossey’s 2019 North & South victory reminded us what a strong match-play competitor he is. It also launched a period of exceptional golf for the Baylor senior, who has announced he’ll be returning to Waco, Texas, for a fifth year in the fall. After claiming the Putter Boy trophy, Dossey went on to qualify for the U.S. Amateur and log five top-10 finishes in six college golf starts.
Noah Norton, runner-up to Dossey at the North & South, returns this year, too.
The quarterfinalists
Cohen Trolio, Spencer Ralston, William Holcomb V
All three of these men were among the final eight standing at last summer’s U.S. Amateur. Ralston’s run we might have seen coming, considering that he had won the Players Amateur just a month earlier. But for Trolio, 17, and Holcomb, a senior at Sam Houston State, it was a get-to-know-you kind of week at Pinehurst. It’s hard to forget the sound bites from Holcomb, a man with big personality.
The local
Jackson Van Paris
The 16-year-old Pinehurst resident logged a big win this spring at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. Familiar ground should make up for the age difference between Van Paris and some of the older, more experienced players in the North & South field.
The sage
Ken Kinkopf
The 58-year-old is No. 3 in Golfweek’s Senior Rankings and a seasoned competitor. He tees it up frequently on the senior circuit and is the reigning North & South Senior champion.
Mr. 57
Alex Ross
At the start of last summer, Ross, who plays for Davidson, fired a mind-numbing round of 57 at the Dogwood Invitational, a tournament that was canceled this year in light of the pandemic. But Ross’ round won’t be forgotten any time soon (in fact, Edward Toledano, tournament chairman emeritus of the Dogwood, said it comes up every time the tournament committee gathers to talk about, well, anything).
Ross won a college tournament this fall and finished in the top 5 in two others.
The road warrior
Canon Claycomb
The 18-year-old arrived at Alabama in January, a semester early. He’s truly crossing the junior-to-amateur threshold this summer and has the distinction of playing the North & South with a fresh title under his belt. Claycomb won the Rice Planters Invitational on June 25.
Like many players, he’ll be burning up the highways driving to the events he can in his Ford F150 – a vehicle purchased on a whim outside Atlanta when the engine on his Cadillac exploded halfway between Tuscaloosa and Sea Island, Georgia, where Claycomb was driving to play the Jones Cup.
The Texans
Cole Hammer, Noah Goodwin, Travis Vick
Never count out Texas sophomore Cole Hammer, World No. 7 and 2018 Western Amateur champion, in match play. The same goes for Goodwin, now an SMU player who won the 2017 U.S. Junior. Hammer’s Longhorn teammate Vick defeated Goodwin at the North & South last year to advance to the quarterfinals, where he fell to runner-up Noah Norton.
The up-and-comer
Maxwell Moldovan
Moldovan, the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year in 2019, is headed to Ohio State in the fall to start his freshman year. A shining moment from Moldovan’s U.S. Amateur run last summer was knocking off Walker Cupper Stewart Hagestad in the Round of 64. Moldovan displayed a wizardry around Pinehurst’s tough and tiny greens that should come in handy again this year.
Texas sophomore Cole Hammer is passing the time stuck at home by making trick shots.
Cole Hammer has some serious skill.
As a freshman at Texas he maintained a sub-70 scoring average and tallied consecutive T-1 finishes in the spring of 2019. In a sophomore campaign cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, Hammer had two top-10 finishes for the Longhorns.
Before heading to Austin, the Houston native and former world No. 1 amateur played in the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, was a member of the 2017 U.S. Junior Presidents Cup team, earned co-medalist honors at the 2018 U.S. Amateur before losing in the semifinals to eventual champion Viktor Hovland and won the 2018 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.
His talent on the course also translates to backyard, pool-side trick shots.
Breaking down the five teams and players to watch this spring as the college golf season tees it up again.
For many of you, it’s winter, which means the long-awaited first round of golf of 2020 is far in the distance thanks to cold temperatures and snow on the ground.
That’s not the case for college golfers, as the spring season begins with the best of the best teeing it up across the country over the next few weeks with their eyes on the ultimate prize: May’s NCAA Championship in Phoenix.
If you weren’t following the men’s game last fall, you missed quite the show. No team nor player has separated themselves from the pack, meaning the race for the national title is up for grabs.
Here are five teams and players to watch this spring.
The 2017 national champions are back at the top and there’s no reason to believe we won’t see Oklahoma back in match play at this year’s NCAA Championship in Phoenix. Head coach Ryan Hybl has the Sooners at No. 1 entering the spring for the first time in program history, led by seniors Quade Cummins, Garett Reband and Thomas Johnson. This team has experience, a deep roster and unfinished business after a quarterfinal exit at last year’s NCAA Championship at the hands of rival Texas.
Can Georgia Tech keep winning?
One of the most talented rosters in the country resides in Atlanta, and we’re seeing that talent flourish this season. Georgia Tech won its first event of the fall at the Carpet Capital Collegiate and tied Baylor for first at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational. The Yellow Jackets also took down Cal, UCLA and Duke en route to the title at the Cypress Point Classic. It’s the last go-around for a senior-driven team, led by 2019 U.S. Amateur champ Andy Ogletree, Luke Schniederjans and Tyler Strafaci. But don’t forget about junior Noah Norton and sophomores Ben Smith and Connor Howe, who complete a well-rounded team that proves it has what it takes to win in both stroke and match play. Now, they just have to carry that ability into the spring.
SMU Mustangs no longer a dark horse
After a tumultuous year in 2019, SMU – the 30th seed out of 30 teams – went on a joyride at the NCAA Championship, winning a playoff against Clemson to place in the top eight and qualify for match play. Jason Enloe’s team is back, ranked No. 12 in the country, and boasts arguably one of the nation’s best 1-2 punches with juniors Noah Goodwin and Mac Meissner. Watching the Mustangs last season, the team had something you just couldn’t put your finger on, an “it” factor that a lot of teams don’t have. Last year, they trashed expectations and earned a seat at the table. This year, they’re ready to feast.
Wake Forest ready to reclaim No. 1
If there’s a word to describe this year’s Wake Forest team, it’s confident. The Demon Deacons spent time at No. 1 earlier this season, but the men from Winston Salem, North Carolina enter the spring season at No. 6. Head coach Jerry Haas has just one senior on this year’s team in Eric Bae, but don’t let that fool you. The team has seen impressive production from juniors Marco Steyn and Parker Gillam, who has the nation’s lowest score of the year with a 60 in the opening round at the White Sands Intercollegiate, where he went on to take first place. Sophomores Alex Fitzpatrick and Eugenio Chacarra, as well as freshman Mark Power, have also been key for a Wake Forest squad that hasn’t finished worse than fourth all season.
Texas Tech not slowing down
Win. Win. Win. Fourth. That’s how Texas Tech started the fall, and there’s no signs of slowing down from head coach Greg Sands’ squad. The Red Raiders had at least two players in the top five of each of their three stroke play events, including two different winners in Sandy Scott and Andy Lopez. Their third win of the season came at the Big 12 Match Play, where they dominated one of college golf’s best conferences and proved to be a menace of a match play opponent. With six events this spring before the Big 12 Championship, it’s unlikely to expect Texas Tech to keep winning at the rate displayed last fall. But if anyone can do it, it’s Texas Tech.
Five players to watch
Adrien Pendaries, Duke
Meet the top-ranked player in the Golfweek/Sagarin Men’s Collegiate Individual Rankings, and for good reason. Adrien Pendaries finished in the top seven in three stroke-play tournaments for Duke and boasts a 5-1 fall match-play record for the Blue Devils. Not only is he No. 1 in the rankings, he also leads the nation in par-4 scoring (3.84).
Though he’s still chasing that elusive first win of the season, Pendaries’ consistency to always be in the mix and his match play chops make Duke a dangerous postseason team (especially with the ACC Championship moving to match play).
Peter Kuest, BYU
All eyes will be on BYU’s Peter Kuest this spring after a blistering hot fall campaign. The senior was Mr. Reliable early and often for the Cougars with wins at the William Tucker Intercollegiate and Nick Watney Invitational in addition to a top five and top ten. Pendaries may be No. 1 in the rankings, but Kuest isn’t far behind. In fact, he’s first in the country in scoring (67.93), eagles (nine) and par-5 scoring (4.33).
John Augenstein, Vanderbilt
John Augenstein set high expectations for his senior season after a runner-up finish at the 2019 U.S. Amateur this summer, and he hasn’t disappointed, earning two top-five finishes among strong fields at the Nike Golf Collegiate and Crooked Stick. His experience not only at the U.S. Amateur, but also at last year’s NCAA Championship, will be key for No. 34 Vanderbilt if they have any shot at making a run at a title.
Cole Hammer, Texas
The highlight of the fall for the former No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (now No. 2) came with an appearance at the Houston Open in October. In no way is that a knock on Hammer’s college season, which features two top 10s in four events. Instead, expect to see a lot more this spring from the sophomore star, who earned consecutive T-1 finishes around this time last year as a freshman. In fact, Hammer and the Longhorns return to the site of the first of those top finishes at the Southern Highlands Collegiate, March 1-3 in Las Vegas.
Jonathan Brightwell, UNCG
The senior from Charlotte, North Carolina started the season on fire with a T-4 finish at the Badger Invitational and followed that with consecutive wins at the Rod Myers Invitational and Wolfpack Fall Intercollegiate. He cooled off towards the end of the fall with T-10/T-11 finishes, but Brightwell has proven he belongs in the conversation as one of the best players in the country.
The following names are likely to appear in amateur golf headlines in 2020. Their path to the top of amateur golf is worth following.
In most cases, players have a limited window in which to make waves in amateur golf. Juniors and college players generally use amateur events – from the Western Amateur to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur to the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur – as a platform to launch them into long and successful professional careers.
Even if amateur golf is transient for the top players, there’s still time to develop a rooting interest for these men and women. The following names – some highlighted individually, and some highlighted in clusters – are likely to appear in headlines on the biggest stages in 2020. Their growth and their path to the top of amateur golf is worth following. Here’s the background.
Emilia Migliaccio, top-ranked U.S. female
Emilia Migliaccio during a Curtis Cup practice session in December. (Photo: USGA/Steven Gibbons)
Migliaccio’s last act before returning to Wake Forest for her junior season was to represent the U.S. at the Pan-American Games. The team won gold that week in Lima, Peru, and so did Migliaccio, which made her the first American, male or female, to win a gold medal in golf at either the Pan American Games or the Olympics since the event was reintroduced to the games in 2015.
It’s fitting that Migliaccio is the top-ranked American in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (at No. 7) entering 2020. It’s also fitting that it’s a Curtis Cup year. Someone like Migliaccio, who shines in a team setting, would be an excellent leader for a U.S. squad looking to win on foreign soil. Migliaccio stands to figure in to all conversations surrounding women’s golf in 2020, from college golf to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
