Tag: Frank Strafaci

Masters: Tyler Strafaci follows in family’s footsteps at Augusta National

U.S. Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci is following in his family’s footsteps at the Masters this week at Augusta National Golf Club.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Eighty-three years after his grandfather, Frank Sr., played in the Masters, Tyler Strafaci will continue to try to do him one better while extending the family’s impressive amateur golf legacy.

“My grandfather was a greater than life character,” Strafaci said. “He was a small guy with a big personality and people just gravitated towards him. I never met him but I feel like I met him.”

Strafaci, 22, experienced his own magical summer on the amateur circuit in 2020, claiming the North & South Amateur and Palmetto Amateur before bagging the U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes. The latter was the “Holy Grail” of the Strafaci family, and it earned him an invitation to his first Masters, one of only three amateurs to play in the 85th Masters, as well as a spot on the U.S. Walker Cup team that will compete at Seminole Golf Club in May.

“Winning (the U.S. Amateur) for me was the first time I felt a connection to my grandfather,” Strafaci said.

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Strafaci’s grandfather, the late Frank Strafaci Sr., cast a big shadow. He also was a former USGA champion, having won the 1935 U.S. Amateur Public Links title in addition to back-to-back North & South Amateur titles, in 1938 and 1939. After his family immigrated from Italy, he grew up in Brooklyn and won 27 amateur tournaments, including a seven-time Met (N.Y.) Amateur champion, finishing ninth in the 1938 U.S. Open and 58th in the 1950 Masters. In his inaugural appearance at Augusta National in 1938, he withdrew from the Masters after one round to go and defend his title at the North & South, which he won.

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“If I did that, I don’t think I would ever be invited back,” Strafaci cracked.

But the family has long treasured his bronze 1950 contestant, which Frank Jr., keeps in his office.

“He hasn’t let me touch it pretty much my whole life, but I’ve gone there and touched it a few times,” Strafaci said. “It’s really cool just seeing that part of history in his office and where he came from. That just shows how important that golf tournament was to him.”

Strafaci never wanted to play Augusta National until he followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and qualified for the tournament, but he eventually loosened that rule after committing to play golf at Georgia Tech since the golf team played there annually. He’s played the course 10 times in the lead up to the Masters, including a round with his father last week.

“That was probably as cool of an experience as I’ll ever have in my life,” the junior Strafaci said.

Strafaci, a fifth-year senior who earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in the fall, skipped his final semester of eligibility at Georgia Tech and plans to turn pro shortly after the Walker Cup. He displaced a few ribs and sprained his SC joint, where the collarbone and sternum meet, at the Genesis Invitational in February, but said it has healed.

“It hurt a lot. I couldn’t really extend probably more than a couple feet past the ball and I couldn’t really hit the ball very far,” he said. “I’ve been having kind of a pitch count.  I’ve been hitting maybe 20, 30 balls a day for the last two or three weeks. But I’m hitting it really good.  I feel healthy.  My mind is clear, and so there’s no excuses for playing bad golf this week.”

Strafaci planned to spend Monday night in the Crow’s Nest, and he’s already introduced himself to Dustin Johnson in advance of the traditional pairing of the U.S. Amateur champion and defending champion of the Masters for the first two rounds. Other than that, his game plan is simple: Have fun.

“I’m competing for the love of the game this week, which is great.  I’m an amateur.  That’s a great thing about the Masters,” Strafaci said. “It’s probably going to be the last time that’s going to happen for quite some time other than the Walker Cup where it’s just for the purity and love of the game.”

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Tyler Strafaci on North & South title: ‘It’s been my dream since I was a kid’

Finally, there’s another Strafaci on the wall at Pinehurst after Tyler Strafaci cruised through the match-play bracket at Pinehurst No. 2.

At one point, Tyler Strafaci wondered if he’d ever have his day at Pinehurst – like his grandfather did all those years ago.

Strafaci, 21, has been playing the North & South since he was a junior in high school. Until last week, he was 0-for-4. When there’s history on the line, there’s also pressure.

Frank Strafaci, Tyler’s grandfather, won the North & South in 1938 and 1939, the same decade in which he won the U.S. Amateur Public Links (1935) and was ninth at the U.S. Open (1937). He was a multiple-time champion of the Metropolitan Golf Association Amateur and Long Island Amateur, too.

Finally, there’s another Strafaci on the winner’s wall at Pinehurst after Tyler cruised through the 32-man match-play bracket at Pinehurst No. 2 to come up with a win on July 4.

The North & South title kicked off a solid stretch of golf for the remainder of the summer as Tyler Strafaci heads to the Palmetto Amateur this week, then on to the Sunnehanna Amateur, Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur. He’ll return to Georgia Tech for a fifth year this fall.

Strafaci gave Golfweek some insight on his North & South win recently, and what it means for his family. (His answers below have been edited slightly for brevity.)

What do you know about the way your grandpa played the game? What have you been told?

The stuff I’ve heard from my father and people that knew him personally, the one thing that my dad said stuck out about him was his short game, mostly his bunker play. It’s a little random but  my dad always talked about how good of a bunker player he was and he had such good hands around the green, stuff like that. One of the things that everyone has said about my grandfather was he was the toughest competitor they’ve ever met. He kind of came from a very poor background, he was an Italian immigrant, came to America trying to make a name for himself. He was very gritty, very hard-working and people respected him. I’ve never met someone that didn’t say he was a great human being.

Arnold Palmer wrote something in his book about his match at the U.S. Am that he won. I’ve read it – my dad showed me – it’s pretty cool. He talked about how my grandfather was the toughest match that he played in amateur golf and the U.S. Am. … That’s what kind of what stuck to me was how much of a competitor he was.

And if someone were to describe your swing and the way you play, what would they say?

Ironically enough, everyone always talks about my bunker game. I give everyone on my team lessons about that but I would say the one thing about my game that’s always been my strength is my iron play. My iron play is very solid, I work really hard on it and it’s at a level where I can compete very highly. My course management is really good. I know how to get my way around the course.

I feel like I’m very consistent because I’m a good iron player and I play the courses how they should be played. Sometimes I don’t overpower them. I’m relatively long but I try to play the course conservative aggressive and I give myself a lot of chances for birdie during the round. I make a lot of birdies and don’t make a lot of bogeys.

What part of your game did you think Pinehurst No. 2 put the most stress on? Or what part of your game helped you win there?

I would describe No. 2 very much as a second-shot golf course. I think it really fit my game to my irons. I would say I drove the ball, for the most part, not great during the whole week. I hit driver pretty much every hole in match play. The opportunities I had from the fairway with my irons, I took advantage and hit them really close.

Pinehurst No. 2 just stresses shots around the greens. If you don’t hit it in the right spot, it will kind of funnel off into the wrong spot so you really can’t make par. That really fit my game this week. In years past, I haven’t really hit the ball well on the course.

What was the first thing your dad said to you after you won at Pinehurst?

All I remember from after I made my putt, I looked over to my dad and he had his hands raised and he had tears coming down his face. He hugged me and he said, ‘You did it, bud. Just yourself, you did it. You worked so hard for this opportunity and you did it. Grandpa Frank would be proud.’ I remember looking out of the corner of my eye as I was walking off the green to see my friends and my dad pointed up to the sky with both of his hands. You could tell this meant a lot to him.

He played in the North & South a lot but he’s told me in the past, with his dad winning it put a lot of pressure on him and he felt like he never performed to the ability he could in the tournament. For the first couple years playing Pinehurst, I felt pressure too. … This year, I’ve gotten pretty comfortable in my own skin the last year or so and kind of gotten my own identity.

Where does the North & South rank on your all-time golf accomplishments?

I think I’d put it ahead of making the U.S. Open at Shinnecock only because that was really cool in the moment, being a teenager playing the national championship, but I’ve been so close to winning the last couple years and I’ve been getting really frustrated and kind of questioning what I’ve been doing. I’ve always worked hard but just not winning for three years has put a toll on me. Thinking, ‘When am I going to win again? When is it going to be my time?’ … After this, it really shows that all the hard work I’ve put in, worked my butt off, all the late hours putting and chipping and doing competitions with my teammates has all paid off. It was more satisfying to see all that groundwork. And to do it at the North & South. It’s been my dream since I was a kid to win that golf tournament.

Considering that your grandfather never made a Walker Cup team, how big of a goal is that for you?

He had a really good chance that year that he finished (ninth) in the U.S. Open, won the North & South and won the Met Am. He was regarded as the best amateur player in that four-to-five-year stretch in the world. The fact that he didn’t make it, it really upset my grandfather. Kind of put a bad taste in his mouth. My dad told me it took him a very long time to get over the fact that he wasn’t picked. I’m sure the other people were very deserving, but my grandfather took it to heart.

Ever since hearing that, it’s been a goal to be the first Strafaci to make the Walker Cup. I had a really good chance at making it last year. I made the practice squad, I just didn’t play great over the summer. Obviously Seminole, it’s a dream to play there in my home state, an hour away from my house but I’m just focused on, for the next year, getting better, working hard, competing in tournaments and winning a national championship. If I get picked by the committee, I get picked. If I don’t, I won’t be too upset. The only thing I can control is just doing my best and let the stuff play out.

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