AUGUSTA, Ga. – Harrison Crowe might be best known for hitting a shot off the concrete sidewalk near the famous Dunvegan pub onto the 18th green at the Old Course. Harrison likely won’t be hitting any trick shots onto Augusta National property from the Waffle House this week, but the 21-year-old amateur would like to get another crack at skipping the ball on the par-3 16th after plopping one in the middle of the lake.
When filmmaker Erik Anders Lang went into the Dunvegan in search of someone who could recreate the shot he’d heard Ernie Els once hit in the wee hours of the morning, Crowe answered the call.
After his first shot off a tee went long, Crowe opted to hit another bright red ball directly off the paving stone, aiming over a chimney at the end of the block. His second shot found the green, and Crowe’s St. Andrews stunt now has nearly 300,000 views on YouTube.
The reaction since then, he said, has been mostly positive.
“A lot of people have really come to me, especially when I played the Australian Open at the end of last year,” he said. “I couldn’t believe the crowd support I had amongst playing with Cameron Davis and Adam Scott.”
Crowe, one of seven amateurs in the field at the 87th Masters, played his way into the field at Augusta National by winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship last fall by one shot over Bo Jin at Amata Spring Country Club in Thailand. Crowe trailed Jin by three at the turn but made four birdies in a five-hole span starting on No. 11 to turn the tide.
The victory also gave Crowe a start in the 151st British Open at Royal Liverpool.
Crowe spent Monday playing alongside fellow Aussies Jason Day and Min Woo Lee and was grateful for the advice. On Tuesday, he’ll tee it up with Adam Scott, Cameron Smith and Lee. It’s been 10 years since Scott became the first Aussie to win the Masters.
Day looks at the technology that’s now available to young players and finds the process of getting better to be much more efficient than his era.
“I think through just the accessibility of like social media and other forms of that,” said Day, “you’re able to view professionals and hit golf shots on the range and seeing what they are doing, how they are good, and then obviously that actually helps with the coaching as well, and that coaching aspect as well.
“Back in the day, when I was growing up, you couldn’t FaceTime your coach. It was non-existent. We had, like, handheld camcorders that would take videos or cameras that would take videos. These days you can take a video on your phone and send it to your coach and jump on FaceTime.”
Crowe comes into this week not simply looking to make the cut, but to make serious noise, telling the Australian Associated Press that it’s setting the bar too low “if you don’t believe you can win.”
He’s certainly not afraid to put on a show, as demonstrated on the streets of St. Andrews.
“I think hitting that shot just kind of shows the person that I am,” said Crowe. “That I’m not really afraid to give everything a shot, and kind of shows a little bit more of the Aussie culture a little bit, as well; that we are pretty laid back and we are ready to do things.”
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