James Piot will be playing alongside a golfing legend for the 2023 LIV season:
James Piot has been a standout amateur golfer representing Michigan State. In East Lansing, Piot secured honors of Big Ten Freshman of the Year, All-Big Ten and All-American, but the biggest honor was winning the 2021 US Amateur Open.
Now, Piot has turned pro and has opted to compete on the LIV golf league.
LIV is known for bringing a team concept to professional golf, and the league has set the teams for the upcoming 2023 season.
For the 2023 season, Piot will be competing alongside the golfing legend Phil Mickelson on the ‘Hyflyers’, a team that will be captained by Mickelson.
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Ever wonder which professional golfers cheer for which college football teams?
College football season is officially here!
The long wait is over. The next 19 weeks will feature some sort of college football on your television and it will be glorious.
Our friends at USA Today undertake one of the most important facets of college football – the Coaches Poll. Every week coaches across the country take time to vote among their peers as to who is the best in the country.
Ever wonder where some of the best golfers in the world spent their collegiate years? Or maybe you want to know if you’ll ever run into your favorite Saturday superhero at your alma mater’s university course. Look below to find out!
Take a look at the best pictures from James Piot’s first round at the US Open
James Piot started the 122nd US Open strong on Thursday, finishing in red figures and in serious contention to make the cut or threaten to push himself into the top ten. Piot will look to continue the momentum of shooting a 69 on Thursday into Friday and to find his first real success in professional golf.
While we wait for what Piot will do on Friday, let’s take a look at some of the best photo’s from Piot’s first round at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.
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James Piot found himself in red figures in the first round of the US Open on Thursday
Michigan State has some representation in the 2022 United States Open Championship in the form of James Piot. Piot is the reigning United States Amateur Champion and is coming off of his senior season in East Lansing and is looking to make an impact on the professional scene. Piot will get his chance after shooting in red numbers on Thursday at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.
En route to his one-under 69 in round one, Piot finished with three birdies and two bogies.
He will have a solid chance to stay in contention, as well as making the cut, during the second round on Friday.
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(Editor’s note: AmateurGolf.com and Golfweek have teamed up to cover the amateur game from top to bottom.)
Amateurs have always held a special place in the history of The Masters, in part because one of the founders of Augusta National Golf Club, the immortal Bobby Jones, is regarded as the greatest amateur of all time.
The amateurs who qualify for The Masters stay in the clubhouse during the week, attend the opening dinner and play the first two rounds with former champions.
While no amateur has won The Masters, Frank Stranahan tied for second in 1947, two shots behind Jimmy Demaret and Ken Venturi held a four-shot lead going into the final round only to finish second, one stroke behind champion Jackie Burke, Jr.. Augusta member Charlie Coe played in The Masters 19 times as an amateur and finished in the top 25 on nine occasions, including 1961, when he tied for second.
Ryan Moore, winner of the NCAA Championship, the US Amateur, US Public Links and Western Amateur in 2004, was the last amateur to finish in the top 20 at Augusta, tying for 13th in 2005.
After the pandemic limited the number of amateurs in last year’s field to just three, the list of participants has doubled this year. Austin Greaser, Stewart Hagestad, Aaron Jarvis, Keita Nakajima, James Piot and Laird Shepherd will all be aiming to win the prestigious Silver Cup, awarded each year to the low amateur in the field.
Hailing from the United States, England, Japan and for the first time ever, the Cayman Islands, all amateurs took their own distinctive paths to Augusta National.
Here’s a look at the six amateurs who will be competing for this year’s Silver Cup:
James Piot is in a star-studded group at the Masters. Check out when the Spartan golf star will be teeing it up at Augusta National:
Michigan State’s own James Piot won the 2021 United States Amateur Championship. One of the perks that came along with winning the U.S. Amateur is getting an exemption into the Masters Tournament. Piot is looking to place well in the tournament amongst the game’s best players but is also looking to receive the highest honors an amateur can receive at the Masters by scoring the best amongst the amateurs.
Piot’s tee time has been announced for the Thursday round at the Masters. Piot will be teeing off at 10:45 a.m. in group 15 alongside defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and the world’s No. 7 player Justin Thomas.
Michigan State golfer James Piot wins Georgia Cup ahead of The Masters Tournament
The Georgia Cup is an event that takes place annually before The Masters Tournament and pits the reigning American and British amateur golf champions against each other. That event took place over the weekend, and Michigan State golfer James Piot took home the win.
Piot was up against British Amatuer Champion Laird Shepard and one with a one-stroke victory.
Established at The Golf Club of Georgia in 1998, The Georgia Cup is an 18-hole charity match that annually brings together the reigning United States and British Amateur Champions in advance of the Masters. Georgia Tech player Matt Kuchar won the 1997 United States Amateur Championship and in the Spring of 1998 a new tradition was born, with the Georgia Cup hosted at The Golf Club of Georgia. Kuchar defeated Craig Watson in 1998 to win the first Georgia Cup match. This tradition continues today with a reception following play before the Amateurs head to Augusta to compete in the Masters Tournament.
The Georgia Cup presents a special opportunity for galleries attending at The Golf Club of Georgia. Entry is complimentary as spectators are invited to spend the day with the two finest amateur golfers in the world. In the spirit and intimacy of the Walker Cup matches, fans can walk with the players, unhindered by gallery ropes and able to enjoy a unique perspective. Over the years, The Georgia Cup has grown from an intimate Club event to a unique amateur championship known on both sides of the Atlantic.
Out of a field of 120 players, 78 will continue on this weekend at Bay Hill with a chance to take home the title.
An unusually large number of players survived the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Out of a field of 120 players, 78 will continue on this weekend with a chance to take home the title. It took a 36-hole aggregate of 3-over 147 to tie for 63rd place. Among those to squeak through include newly named U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, 2021 European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington and Tommy Fleetwood.
Those who weren’t so lucky include Patrick Reed, Brandt Snedeker, Justin Rose and Kevin Na, who shot a disastrous 81 on Thursday. Both of the amateurs in the field in Texas A&M star Sam Bennett, who ranks first in PGA Tour U, and U.S. Amateur champion James Piot, were sent packing.
James Piot will be making his PGA Tour debut this weekend
James Piot made history when he took home the 2021 United States Amateur Championship trophy, the first time a Michigan State golfer had taken home the trophy. Piot was also the first Michigan-born player to win the United States Amateur as well.
Now, Piot will be making his PGA Tour debut this week, as he will be playing in this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida.
U.S. Amateur champion James Piot of Michigan State to make PGA Tour debut this week https://t.co/CFOzUN2c4G
TRINITY, Texas – During a timeout between the first and second quarters of the Michigan-Michigan State football game at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan, James Piot stepped on to the field, waved to the crowd and received a standing ovation. In the aftermath of the Spartans’ victory in a come-from-behind thriller over its in-state rival on October 28, the fifth-year Michigan State senior was stopped on the street on more than one occasion by fans asking if he was the guy they’d seen on the Jumbotron.
“Yeah, yeah, I was on it,” Piot said nonchalantly.
“For what?” one of attendees at the game wondered.
“I won some golf tournament,” he said as if it was no big deal.
But Piot didn’t win just any golf tournament. It was the 121st U.S. Amateur, the most prestigious championship in amateur golf and one that earned him exemptions into the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open in 2022.
Hoisting the Havemeyer Trophy in front of a stadium of more than 75,000 rabid fans was only part of a memorable day. First, Piot appeared on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff pregame, chipping whiffle balls into trash cans against former Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush.
“I felt like a celebrity for a day,” Piot said last weekend at the Spirit International Amateur Championship, where he won gold and silver medals representing Team USA. “I walk around campus and people know who I am now. It’s pretty funny.”
It’s been a whirlwind 12 weeks for Piot, 22, ever since he rallied from 3 down with nine to play to beat University of North Carolina’s Austin Greaser, 2 and 1, in the 36-hole scheduled finale of the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“It’s really quite overwhelming,” said Piot’s mom Judy. “It’s like what decision do we have to make today.”
Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center hung a banner to congratulate James Piot, who honed his game there, for winning the 2021 U.S. Amateur. (Courtesy Piot family)
Winning the U.S. Amateur can be life-changing for its champion. All of a sudden, Piot was throwing out the first pitch at Comerica Park before a Detroit Tigers game, heady stuff for a kid from Canton, Michigan, in the southeast corner of the state. The congratulatory messages began rolling in from the likes of former U.S. Am champ Bryson DeChambeau via social media, and Michigan State legends Magic Johnson, Coach Tom Izzo, who proclaimed, “we’re a golf school now,” and World Series hero Kirk Gibson, who invited Piot to his charity golf tournament.
“He was more pumped to meet me than I was to meet him,” Piot said, “and I was pretty pumped.”
Just days after his victory in August, Fox Hills Golf and Banquet Center, the public course in Plymouth, Michigan, where Piot honed his game and learned to play skins before he could do long division, hung a banner above its entrance that said, ‘Home of U.S. Amateur champ James Piot,’ and threw a party in his honor. Not to be outdone, Michigan State displayed several billboards congratulating him too. Piot’s Aunt Janice was the first to recognize his face staring back at her while driving along the M-14 Highway, near Interstate-275.
“My sister and I actually got in the car and drove by there and waited till the (electronic) billboard flashed James on it,” Judy Piot said. “It was crazy seeing him there.”
Piot’s mom and Aunt pulled over to snap a photo of a congratulatory billboard along the M-14 Highway. (Courtesy Piot family)
But wait, there’s more: an upcoming appearance in the 95th America’s Thanksgiving Parade in Downtown Detroit. Before that, Piot is scheduled to take his first prep trip for the Masters on November 17 thanks to a Michigan State alum, who is an Augusta National member and extended an invite. It will be Piot’s first time on the grounds of the famed layout.
Piot plans to have Michigan State’s associate head coach Dan Ellis, who was on the bag at the U.S. Amateur, reprise his caddie role at the Masters, but no word yet on who might caddie for him at Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest, nor does he have any practice rounds lined up yet.
“Reaching out to a big-name pro seems like a shot in the dark, but I might have to,” he said.
The Spirit, which is akin to golf’s Olympics for amateurs, wasn’t even on his radar before he won the Amateur. When he got the invite, he said, “So I get to miss a week of class and represent my country in golf? Sign me up!”
World No. 1 women’s amateur Rose Zhang, reigning NCAA women’s individual champ Rachel Heck and US Amateur champ James Piot show they’ve got mad skills at tricycle riding too @thespiritgolf. #GameNitepic.twitter.com/yaoIsxanIe
Admission into the world of amateur golf royalty has an array of benefits. He’s already committed to play in the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, and has possible exemptions to the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio, and Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on his radar should he choose to turn pro after completing his college eligibility sometime in May (pending how far he or his team advances at the NCAA men’s golf championship.)
“Everything that’s happened to me since the U.S. Amateur has been like, ‘Oh, my goodness, I actually get invited here? I get to do this?” Piot said.
Joining the play-for-pay ranks immediately does present one drawback: he’d have to surrender his exemption into the British Open at St. Andrews in July, which is specifically designated for the U.S. Amateur champion so long as he remains in the amateur ranks. (The USGA relented on the remaining amateur distinction beginning in 2020.)
“That will suck,” Piot said. “Right now, I’m leaning towards turning pro after college to chase points and try to earn a PGA Tour card.”
In the meantime, he’s enjoying the perks of being U.S. Amateur champ and a bonus year of college life. The Havemeyer Trophy, which he has custody of for one year, welcomed visitors to his apartment at school for a month until his roommates, who include Michigan State’s punter, suggested he find a new home for it “before it breaks.”
Mission accomplished: it’s proudly displayed inside the men’s golf team locker room, where Michigan State’s head coach Casey Lubahn keeps a watchful over it.
“My coach almost loves the trophy more than me,” Piot said.
The Havemeyer Trophy on display in Michigan State’s men’s golf locker room. (Courtesy Piot family)
