ASU golf coach Matt Thurmond will caddie for his student, No. 3-ranked amateur Chun An Yu, at the 2020 U.S. Open.
When Arizona State men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond accepted an offer from his top player, Chun An Yu, to caddie at the U.S. Open this week, it was with only one condition.
No using a big, heavy Tour golf bag.
“That’s not happening with me as the caddie,” Thurmond said.
Yu agreed and their deal was done.
Arizona State men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond (left) will caddie for one of his Sun Devils, Chun An Yu, at the U.S. Open this week. Sun Devil Athletics
So Yu, a senior from Taiwan, is not only playing in his third consecutive Open as an amateur, he also should be the envy of every collegiate athlete.
Because for this one week, the player, not the coach, is giving the orders. Thurmond made that clear before they left Tempe for the tournament at Winged Foot in Westchester County, just outside New York City.
“I said, ‘I’m your servant. You’re my boss. You can tell me anything you want. You want to arrive four hours early? I’ll be there four and half hours early. You want to stay all day. I’ll be there. You want me to carry seven umbrellas and four sets of rain gear? I’m carrying all those things.’”
These were not empty promises. Reached Tuesday morning, Thurmond said he was finishing up a meal in the dining room for caddies. Work awaited.
“I’m getting pin sheets, range balls, wet towels,” Thurmond said. “I’m happy to do it; he’s treating me great.”
Yu, who also adopted the American name “Kevin,” doesn’t seem the type that requires a lot of maintenance. And part of the reason Yu asked Thurmond to caddie is that Yu is hoping to play better than he did in his previous two Opens, in which he failed to make the cut.
“He’s coached me four years already,” Yu said. “He knows me so well. On the course, he knows how to calm me down. If I do something that’s not me, he can say, ‘Hey, hey, Kevin, you should do this.’”
Thurmond has caddied many times before and attended several U.S. Opens. He knows the drill. The courses are difficult with fairways that are narrow, rough that is thick and long and greens that are quick.
Inevitably, players will complain. His advice to Yu: don’t participate.
“Look, it’s going to be really hard,” Thurmond said. “We know it. Let other people worry about that. We’re just going to try to make pars and some birdies when we can.
“You have to recalibrate your expectations. Kevin comes out on pretty much any course we play and shoots mid-60s, every day. Just knowing that you might go and shoot 74, 75 and have it be a great round, being OK with that, will be a vital, vital skill.”
The No. 3-ranked amateur in the world, Yu’s original plan was to turn pro after the collegiate season, but that was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A senior, Yu accepted when the NCAA offered an additional year of eligibility to seniors whose seasons were cut short by the pandemic.
“Give me another year to play as a Sun Devil,” he said. “Never say no to that.”
ASU golfer Chun An Yu will carry a special Sun Devils bag with PT 42 on the side during the U.S. Open this week. Courtesy of Arizona State University
Yu hasn’t played a competitive round since March. While back home, he tried to stay sharp by making rounds with friends as competitive as possible. He did the same thing with teammates after recently returning to Tempe for classes.
Despite the time away from competitive golf, Yu hopes he’s less nervous when he tees off Thursday at 5:40 a.m., than he was during his previous Open experiences.
His coach, however, is experiencing some stomach flutters.
“I’m just carrying the clubs, so it doesn’t really matter if I’m nervous,” Thurmond said. “But it does speak to what a big deal this is, what an exciting time this is for Kevin and our program.”
Seven golfers with ASU ties are playing this week, ranging from 50-year-old Phil Mickelson to the 22-year-old Yu. That’s tied with Georgia for the most of any school.
Three ASU alums — Mickelson, Paul Casey and Jon Rahm — play together in the first two rounds. (Tee times: 10:27 a.m. Thursday and 5:07 a.m. Friday.)
“It’s pretty cool to see that the legacy continues,” Thurmond said.
Oh, and the bag Thurmond will be carrying? It will be Yu’s Arizona State camouflage bag with “PT 42” on the side.
After 41 years as coach, Kent State had captured 23 MAC titles and he’d been named the league’s coach of the year 23 times.
One of his friends has gotten out of the car, hastily walked away, then turned around and come back for fear of pulling a Herb.
That wouldn’t be the case if former Kent State University golf coach Herb Page wasn’t so unabashedly honest. He continues to tell the story of the day he flew out to follow 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis at a PGA Tour event, failed to hit the starter before he boarded the airport shuttle and left the engine in his car running. It wasn’t until he returned to a vehicle drained of gas that he realized what he’d done.
“It was a push-button car. They’re so smooth and so quiet,” Page said. “People can’t believe it; I tell it on myself. I’m famous for one thing.”
Page, 69, is famous for more than that. When he retired — or as he says “semi-retired” — on July 1 after 41 years as coach and 47 with the program, Kent State had captured 23 Mid-American Conference titles since 1984 and he’d been named the league’s coach of the year 23 times. His teams went to 28 NCAA regionals, winning three, and finished in the nation’s top 10 four times in 17 NCAA Championship appearances.
Last June 4, he became the only coach inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.
Page still co-owns Windmill Lakes Golf Club in Ravenna and Windmill Golf Center in Macedonia. But some of his post-Kent State plans have been changed by COVID-19.
He talked on April 6 from his home in Kiawah Island, S.C., where he and wife Paula had been since Dec. 28. His brother-in-law and nephew, both doctors in Toronto, told them not to return to Kent as Ohio braced for the pandemic’s surge.
Longtime Kent State University men’s golf coach Herb Page announces his retirement at the end of the 2019 season. He’s been enjoying “semi-retirement” ever since.. Photo: Kevin Graff/Record-Courier
Page and his wife headed north on Saturday because he felt guilty abandoning his staff at Windmill Lakes. It’s no longer enough for the self-described “Energizer Bunny” to walk their rescued West Highland White Terrier “Putter” three or four times a day.
“I think I tire him out. My calf muscles at least are in good shape,” Page said. “It’s time to get back to work.”
Even with social distancing and the restrictions required at golf courses allowed to remain open during the pandemic, Page’s wild, fun ride through life will continue.
Perhaps not as wild as the one David Griffith, executive director of the Northern Ohio PGA, remembers when he was a member of the KSU golf team from 1992-96.
Lights out
Griffith’s favorite printable story about Page came from a spring-break tournament trip to Tanglewood Resort in Pottsboro, Texas, about an hour north of Dallas. Page was driving the team van back from dinner when they found themselves on a straight road in a thickly wooded area.
“It was way out in the middle of nowhere,” Griffith recalled. “It was pitch black. We started talking about how dark it was and he turned the [headlights] off. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and we were all screaming telling him to turn the lights back on. He was just trying to freak us out.”
At least Griffith had a ride. Steve Parker, director of golf at Portage Country Club, recalled a trip to a tournament at Kiawah Island during his 1986-90 stint on the Kent State team.
“We played bad and he yelled and screamed at us and said, ‘You guys are on your own for dinner,’ ” Parker said. “There was only a little store on the island at the time. We had to walk about a mile to get whatever snacks and food we could while he and Dr. Ed, who sometimes traveled with us, went out and had dinner.
“He was a hockey player and field-goal kicker, hung around with football players, that was the way. It wasn’t a bad thing. Times have changed. I commend him for adapting.”
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Page admitted he found it hard to keep his temper in check when he started. He was 28 when he took over the Golden Flashes’ program.
“Even when you don’t hit a shot, you can say the right thing. I used to say the wrong thing all the time when I’d bitch at them. But I think I learned,” Page said.
Griffith said Page’s tough-love approach made a huge impact on him. Griffith’s teams often had 15 members and they would have to play Friday-Saturday qualifiers to see who would make the five-man travel lineup. Griffith said he often prepared a list of reasons why he deserved to go despite his scores.
“The qualifiers were almost more nerve-wracking than the actual tournament,” Griffith said. “He wouldn’t pick me, but he would not only make me forget about how I thought, but agree with how he’s thinking.
“He was an old-school coach. He would tell you what you didn’t want to hear. He would rip you down and make you feel small and then build you back up until you felt you could run through a wall for him. I look back now and his ability to motivate people was the reason he got every ounce of ability out of them. He turned average players into All-Americans because he had a unique ability to convince you that you’re better than what you are.”
When he retired — or as he says “semi-retired” — on July 1 after 41 years as coach and 47 with the program, Kent State had captured 23 Mid-American Conference titles since 1984 and he’d been named the league’s coach of the year 23 times. His teams went to 28 NCAA regionals, winning three, and finished in the nation’s top 10 four times in 17 NCAA Championship appearances.
Some of Page’s grit and fight comes from his days as a three-sport athlete from 1971-74 at Kent State, where he earned eight letters — four in golf, two in football, two in hockey. Page was the kicker on the Flashes’ 1972 football team coached by Don James. That Tangerine Bowl team included NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert and Alabama coach Nick Saban.
“Don James said, ‘It’s putting your players in the position where they can be champions,’ ” Page said. “When I hear Nick [Saban] say this I go, ‘Man, I’m doing it the right way.’ ”
Page feels fortunate he was allowed to pick his successor, Jon Mills, a two-time All-America when he played at KSU from 1998-02 and associate head coach since 2016. A product of Page’s Canada recruiting pipeline from Corbyville, Ontario, Mills played on the PGA Tour from 2006-08 and won twice on the Web.com Tour. Ryan Yip, a former Web.com player from Calgary, Alberta, who played at KSU from 2003-06, is Mills’ new assistant.
That’s not the only reason Page believes he’s a lucky man. In 2016, he underwent a quintuple heart bypass — “the widow-maker,” he says proudly, admitting he drove himself to the hospital. He had a total knee replacement in November 2018.
“I’m on the table for nine hours and here I stand,” he said of the heart operation. “I’ve got better plumbing than anybody. I’ve got a new knee. I’ve been lucky my whole life. The luckiest thing is I have Paula, she’s had to take care of me the last four years.”
Missing the job
While Page remains active in fundraising for the program, it wasn’t until last month that his departure really hit him. He drove to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to watch the Golden Flashes compete in the General Hackler tournament March 9-10.
“I was on the course, that’s what I miss. I miss the preparation and I miss the competition,” he said. “You learn from Don James, you start on Monday and gameday is Saturday. The preparation, the practice rounds … I really loved that and without sounding real punk I think I was real good at it.
“Once I got to that golf course with my pin sheet and my notebook, I’d be out there for eight to 10 hours a day, walking my six or eight miles. Nobody knows what a good college golf coach does and back in the old days I was the only one out there, or a couple. I don’t miss the travel. I don’t miss the recruiting. A year ago in August, I was up in the middle of nowhere in Alberta, fly into Calgary and drive three hours. I don’t miss that.”
Other than his trip to Myrtle Beach, Page said his highlights of 2020 have been his March 2 speech at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club, which he flew in to attend and was introduced by Curtis, and watching the April 5 CBS replay of the 2019 Valero Texas Open, won by Kent State grad Corey Conners. A year ago, Page was in the Houston airport, flying back from Texas A&M, when Conners became the first Monday qualifier to win on tour since 2010.
“That was probably the second highlight of my winter, watching Corey Conners make [10] birdies [in the final round],” Page said, noting that former Golden Flash Mackenzie Hughes, who captured the RSM Classic in 2016, was waiting to douse Conners with a beer. “They missed the whole story. There was my guy Mackenzie, who’s won. Guess who won the Texas Open in 2012? Ben Curtis.
“I had never seen that back nine. I tell you what, I had goosebumps and I was actually nervous watching the replay.”
The feelings Page had that Sunday and the camaraderie he fostered among his former players is what they say makes Page special. He has an engaging personality and a gift of gab, all knowing that a quick five-minute phone conversation might last 30.
Ben Curtis signed on as a volunteer assistant coach to help out the Kent State men’s golf team when Herb Page recovered from heart surgery.
Kent State threw Page a retirement party last summer at The Fairways at Twin Lakes in Kent and former members of his teams had another. Parker said about 70 turned out for the latter, and some from Page’s 1970s teams came.
“I know other players who have gone to other universities and they’ve had little to do with their golf program. They don’t have that friendship and that fraternity,” Parker said. “That’s really what I think his lasting legacy is, not only the success he had in the golf program, but the fraternity of players that he has developed.”
Griffith said Page also takes pride in his former players’ families. He continues to be amazed that Page remembers the names of their children. Of the Conners’ replay, Page said, “Of course, Malory was the star,” referring to Conners’ wife’s reaction.
“It’s amazing how close we all have come to be with Herb now that we’ve graduated,” Griffith said. “He’s kept us all close to the program and together. He’s a people person. He engages people, he makes people feel good about themselves and that’s how he’s built his program.
“I would never be where I am today without Herb Page. I think most of us that played for him could say that.”
Marla Ridenour is a staffer for the Akron Beacon-Journal. She can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.
