The USGA accepted a record number of entries for both championships in 2023.
The USGA announced Wednesday qualifying sites for the 124th U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Amateur, to be held at Southern Hills Country Club, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from Aug. 5-11, and Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, from Aug. 12-18, respectively.
U.S. Amateur local qualifying will be held between June 4 and July 3, with final qualifying between July 15 and July 31. U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifying will be held between June 17 and July 18.
Online entry applications for both championships, as well as the full list of qualifying sites, are available at champ-admin.usga.org. U.S. Amateur entries will close Wednesday, May 29, at 5 p.m. EDT and U.S. Women’s Amateur entries will close Wednesday, June 12, at 5 p.m. EDT.
The USGA accepted a record number of entries for both championships last year. The 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club received 1,679 entries, beating the previous record set in 2021 with 1,650 entries. The 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club received 8,253 entries, breaking the previous mark set in 2022 with 7,749 entries.
The USGA announced significant modifications to its amateur championship qualifying model last year for the first time in more than 20 years. These changes will allow USGA championships to retain their openness while ensuring that high-caliber players are provided with ample opportunity to earn a spot in the field, and that qualifying can be conducted at the highest level among growing entries and field sizes.
The most significant revisions are to the U.S. Amateur, which will move from a one-stage, 36-hole qualifying format to a two-stage qualifying format with 45 18-hole local qualifying sites and 19 18-hole final qualifying sites. Other adjustments included modifications to exemptions.
These modifications will result in a net reduction of 94 qualifying sites, while providing more opportunities for players to earn a spot in a USGA championship through expanded exemptions, state/AGA amateur championships and traditional qualifying.
One year after his U.S. Amateur win, Palmer won his first Tour title and began to usher in golf’s new era.
(Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in the May 9, 2014 issue of Golfweek)
ORLANDO – He was a 24-year-old paint salesman living in Cleveland, just seven months removed from a three-year stint in the Coast Guard. This was before his army of adoring fans, before his patented charges, and before he made golf cool.
Arnold Palmer, the son of a greenkeeper, entered the national sporting consciousness at the 1954 U.S. Amateur by defeating Robert Sweeny, 1 up, at the Country Club of Detroit.
Ask him to recount his earliest glory days and Palmer has been known to reach for a black hardcover copy of a 64-page book detailing the significance of this triumph. The cursive lettering of the title, written in gold-leaf, says it all: “The Turning Point.”
“That’s what it was in my life,” Palmer says all these years later seated in his office above the locker room at Bay Hill Club. “It gave me the confidence that I was ready to turn professional and play the PGA Tour.”
One year later, Palmer won the first of his 62 Tour titles and began to usher in golf’s modern era. But at the 54th U.S. Amateur, Palmer, who was as slender as wire and strong as cable, was a dark horse among the 1,278 entries that included Billy Jo Patton, Frank Stranahan, and Harvie Ward. Even that week, Palmer injected excitement into the championship with his high-wire act. Jimmy Gill, Palmer’s 16-year-old caddie, recalled the stir of fascination that Palmer’s go-for-broke style caused.
“If he missed the shot, he knew he would make it up later,” Gill said. “He had something about him. That walk of his, the way he attacked the ball.”
Palmer survived a daunting gantlet of foes on a par-70 course that had been stretched for the competition to 6,875 yards by Robert Trent Jones Sr. Palmer kidded USGA officials that they must have wanted him out of the tournament early. He edged Frank Strafaci, a seven-time Met (N.Y.) amateur champion, and John Veghte, a Florida State golfer, 1 up, in the first two rounds. Then in the fifth round, just to reach the quarterfinals, Palmer faced Stranahan. “Nemesis is a good word to describe our relationship on the course,” Palmer said.
Indeed, Stranahan, 32, had Palmer’s number. Previously, he smoked Palmer 12 and 11, in the 36-hole semifinal at the North and South Amateur and at the 1950 Amateur by a 4- and-3 margin. This time Palmer settled things, 3 and 1. As the golfers walked off the green, Stranahan said to Palmer, “That’s it. I’m turning pro tomorrow.”
Next, Palmer faced Don Cherry, the 1953 Canadian Amateur champ and a crooner, who had performed the night before at the nearby Dakota Inn. As Jimmy Demaret once said to him, “Don, the golfers say you’re a singer and the singers say you’re a golfer. So what the hell are you?” On this occasion, he was another tough out for Palmer. Cherry held a 2-up lead with seven holes to go but lost his rhythm and the match, 1 up. Afterward, Palmer phoned his parents in Latrobe, Pa., to tell them he had reached the 36-hole semifinal. They hopped into their car and drove eight hours to be there.
“That meant more to me than you can imagine,” Palmer said.
Arnold Palmer holds a picture of himself from the 1954 U.S. Amateur. (Photo by Tracy Wilcox/Golfweek)
His parents arrived in time to see the longest semifinal match in the history of the Amateur at the time. Palmer had defeated Ed Meister, a 38-year-old magazine publisher, in the Ohio Amateur just a few weeks earlier. The rematch was a seesaw affair in which Meister and Palmer traded the lead on seven occasions. All square on the 36th hole, Palmer overshot the green and faced looming disaster. Never fear because Palmer floated a sand wedge that halted within 5 feet of the hole. How good was it? The club placed a plaque on the spot where the ball lay buried and Palmer called it “the shot of my tournament.” Still, he crouched over a touchy, downhill slider in his pigeon-toed stance needing to make the putt to force extra holes.
“If I had missed it, I’d be gone,” Palmer said. “Who knows what would have happened in my life? I probably would have continued on playing amateur golf, and then I don’t know.”
But Palmer sank the putt, and the match continued at the first hole, where Meister had a 4-foot putt for victory. Did Palmer think his run was over?
“I never think that way,” Palmer said. “If he had had me, we wouldn’t be talking here now.”
On the third extra hole, Palmer closed out the match, muscling a 300-yard drive, reaching the par 5 in two and making birdie. That set up Palmer against Sweeny, the 1937 British Amateur champion, in the final.
“To look at us side by side,” Palmer wrote in “A Golfer’s Life,” “you might well have thought we hailed from different galaxies.”
Sweeny, 43, was a millionaire investment banker, the quintessential American playboy splitting time between Palm Beach, Florida, New York, and London. As a member at Seminole Golf Club, Sweeny played matches with Ben Hogan each winter as the future Hall of Famer tuned up for the Masters, and famously offered Hogan a stroke per side.
Thanks to a red-hot putter, Sweeny jumped out to an early 3-up lead on Palmer. As they departed the fourth green, Sweeny threw an arm around Palmer’s shoulder and, attempting to lighten the mood, said to him, “You can be sure of one thing: I can’t go on like this much longer.”
Arnold Palmer watches the flight of his tee shot on the first hole at The Country Club during the 1963 U.S. Open. (AP Photo)
Palmer pulled ahead at the 32nd hole, stretched the lead to 2 up a hole later but 3-putted the 35th hole to prolong the match. When Sweeny’s drive at the last disappeared into the trees and thick rough right, he couldn’t recover and conceded the match on the green. Moments later, James D. Standish Jr., the tournament’s general chairman, gave the signal and a 12-piece brass band located on the clubhouse terrace played “Hail to the Chief.”
Tears streamed down the face of Palmer’s mother, Doris, and he hugged her. “Where’s Pap?” Palmer asked. Deacon Palmer was lingering by the scoreboard. Six decades later, Palmer still remembers his father’s long level gaze and the way his voice went soft as he mouthed these words: “You did pretty good, boy.”
Palmer’s victory set a chain of events in motion. Instead of returning to selling paint – “That might have ruined my life if I had been any good at it,” he said – Palmer played the next week in bandleader Fred Waring’s invitational, the Waite Memorial, in Shawnee-on-the-Delaware, Pennsylvania. His boss gave him time off to play the tournament only because he’d won the Amateur. There, Palmer met Winifred Walzer, who would become his wife of 45 years until her death in 1999.
“I thought she was a rich socialite and that if I married her, I’d just be able to play golf all the time. She thought I was a rich, young executive that could give her the lifestyle she wanted. We were both wrong,” Palmer wrote in “The Turning Point.”
Soon, the young couple were engaged. Almost three months after the championship on Nov. 17, 1954, Palmer announced his intentions to turn pro. “I can’t overlook my life ambition to follow in the footsteps of my father,” Palmer wrote to the USGA. “We both have counted on this since I first started playing golf 14 years ago. My good fortune in competition this year indicates it is time to turn to my chosen profession.”
A day later, he signed an endorsement contract with Wilson Sporting Goods for $5,000 plus a $2,000 signing bonus. Palmer heeded the advice of his father. “Go and play the way you know how and you’ll be all right,” he said.
The next spring, Palmer made his debut at the Masters, where soldiers from Fort Gordon in Augusta discovered an American original, and golf would never be the same.
Here are the key events on the amateur schedule in 2024.
What a year it was for amateur golf in 2023.
The best female amateur of all-time, Rose Zhang, capped her career in as strong of fashion as possible, winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and her second straight NCAA Championship. Nick Dunlap won the U.S. Amateur and in the process accomplished something only Tiger Woods had ever done before him: win a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Junior.
Then there were the American men, which included Dunlap, winning a Walker Cup at St. Andrews and the World Amateur Team Championship in Abu Dhabi.
Amateur golf has never been stronger, and the schedule is looking great for another spectacular year in 2024.
Here are the key events on the amateur schedule in 2024.
The 2045 U.S. Women’s Open will be the first ever held at The Country Club.
The slate of USGA championships headed to The Country Club just about has something for everyone. On Thursday, the game’s governing body announced that the historic club in Brookline, Massachusetts, will host four upcoming championships: 2030 U.S. Girls’ Junior, 2034 U.S. Amateur, 2038 U.S. Open and 2045 U.S. Women’s Open.
The Country Club has previously hosted 17 USGA championships, second only to Merion with 18. Last year, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Open at The Country Club nine years after winning the U.S. Amateur there.
When the U.S. Open returns in 2038, it will mark the 125th anniversary of Francis Ouimet’s celebrated win. Ouimet became the first amateur to win the U.S. Open in 1913.
Jun 19, 2022; Brookline, Massachusetts, USA; Matthew Fitzpatrick poses with the US Open Championship Trophy after the final round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
Founded in 1882, The Country Club was one of five founding member clubs of the USGA. The 1902 U.S. Women’s Amateur was its first national championship. Other USGA championships played at the club include six U.S. Amateurs (1910, 1922, 1934, 1957,1982 and 2013) as well as the 1941 and 1995 U.S. Women’s Amateurs, the 1932 and 1973 Walker Cup Matches, the 1953 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 1968 U.S. Junior Amateur. Additionally, the club was the site of the 1999 Ryder Cup.
The 2045 U.S. Women’s Open will be the first ever held at The Country Club. Earlier this year, Allisen Corpuz won the first USWO ever held at Pebble Beach.
The U.S. Amateur Championship is the oldest USGA championship.
The U.S. Golf Association was founded on Dec. 22, 1894, and in 1895, the U.S. Amateur Championship debuted. It’s the oldest USGA championship.
The U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Amateur weren’t far behind.
The distinguished list of winners of the U.S. Amateur includes Bobby Jones, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods.
In 1930, Jones completed his Grand Slam by winning the U.S. Am at Merion. He won the title five times. In 1996, Woods became the first to win three in a row.
“I think it’s only a third of what he’s actually done,” Dunlap joked. “But just to be in the same conversation as Tiger is a dream come true and something that I’ve worked my entire life for.”
Woods won the U.S. Junior Am from 1991-93 and the U.S. Amateur from 1994-96.
“It’s the hours and hours that nobody sees to try to get to this point and even have a chance to win this trophy, it’s unbelievable,” Dunlap said. “Can’t put it into words.”
CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. — The date was June 10, 2014. Jeff Curl was on the range practicing at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama, when some heavy rains blew through. Curl, then on the now-named Korn Ferry Tour, was hitting balls and getting practice in. Next to him was a 10-year-old Nick Dunlap.
It didn’t matter how heavy the rain was, Dunlap stuck next to Curl, mimicking the professional. Dunlap striped shots in the rain over and over again.
Curl stepped back, took a photo and posted it on social media. The caption said, “Practicing on this soggy day with future tour star Nick Dunlap. #KidIsLegit.”
Nearly a decade later, Curl’s prediction seems well on its way to being true.
Dunlap capped an incredible summer Sunday, winning the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club. He defeated Neal Shipley, 4 and 3, in the 36-hole final. The duo was tied after the 18-hole mark, but Dunlap was relentless during the second 18 holes and lights out with his putter.
“I truly believe by the time he’s 25, he’ll be the No. 1 player in the world,” Curl said on the 15th green after Dunlap clinched his match. “He’s got it.”
@greystonegcc Practicing on this soggy day with future tour star Nick Dunlap. #KidIsLegit http://t.co/kDzKYAETvv
With the victory, Dunlap is the second male amateur to win the U.S. Junior, which he captured two years ago, and the U.S. Amateur. The other is Tiger Woods.
Coming into the week, the 19-year-old rising sophomore at Alabama was one of the favorites. He had been the best male amateur in golf this summer, with his counterpart Shipley being the second best. Dunlap had captured the Northeast Amateur and the North & South Amateur.
However, his U.S. Amateur campaign got off to a rough start. He was 5 over after seven holes at stroke-play co-host Colorado Golf Club in a stretch that included playing the wrong ball on the third hole and four putting on the fifth.
But Curl, who was on the bag for his U.S. Junior win, as well, wrote something down in his yardage book. “This can be an AMAZING story if you let go and LET IT HAPPEN!!!”
“I was honestly just trying to give myself a chance with nine holes to play to try to make the cut,” Dunlap said.
Dunlap, who was ninth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, fought back and ended shooting up even-par the rest of the day. He finished T-38 after stroke play and got the 41st seed in match play.
His opening matchup? World No. 1 Gordon Sargent.
He dispatched his future Walker Cup teammate and then beat Denver native Connor Jones 4 and 2. He needed 19 holes in his quarterfinal to advance against incoming Auburn freshman Jackson Koivun, overcoming a cold putter. Then in the semifinals and championship match, that same putter took over.
“I’m stoked with how I played,” Dunlap said. “I executed exactly what I was trying to do.”
Nick Dunlap reacts to making his putt on hole 28 during the final match of the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills C.C. in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)
Dunlap was 1 up thru 17 holes in the morning wave before Shipley hit one tight on the 18th and made birdie. Shipley, a 22-year-old graduate student from Ohio State, became a fan favorite during the weeks thanks to his long hair and interactions with the crowd.
Dunlap received cheers, but when Shipley did something well, the crowd of nearly 4,000 roared.
“I just never thought that would happen ever,” Shipley said. “This is going to be a special place because of that.”
Dunlap said the turning point came on the par-4 ninth, the 27th hole, when he made a long birdie putt when Shipley was in tight. He said that stopped Shipley trying to gain back momentum and kept him at arm’s length.
Even late in the round as Dunlap led 4-up with six to play, Shipley threw a shot to 5 feet on the par-4 13th, bringing the electric crowd to its feet with thunderous applause. Dunlap was long and in the rough and took two shots to get out, conceding the hole.
Both players found the fairway with their tee shots on the par-4 14th, but Shipley pulled his approach to a front left pin and was nearly in the water. With an open green, Dunlap’s approach also went left but not as far. Shipley had to hack at it ball, and it skirted across the green.
With a chance to close the door, Dunlap left his first chip short but then used a Texas wedge to get a conceded bogey. Shipley had a chance to match but missed a 4-footer, the victim of a cold putter during the afternoon round.
Nick Dunlap and his caddie Jeff Curl embrace after winning the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills C.C. in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)
Then on 15, the closing par 3, Dunlap two putted for par and Shipley missed his birdie chance, ending the match.
“The nerves, I couldn’t feel my hands, I couldn’t feel my legs,” Dunlap said. “Couldn’t feel anything.”
Dunlap’s Alabama teammates flew in early Sunday morning and were there for a majority of the championship match. Coach Jay Seawell was there since Saturday and had a celebratory milkshake after the small ceremony on the 15th green.
“I’m just so proud of him,” said Seawell, who Saturday said Dunlap was as talented as any player he had coached. “All I told him was thank you, there’s a lot of people you’ve allowed to come alongside of you.”
Dunlap’s parents also arrived Saturday, so there were plenty of photos and hugs following his win.
Even with his poor start, Dunlap found a way to get into match play. Then he slowly and methodically took apart each opponent, creeping closer to the championship match.
After Sunday, Dunlap’s record in match play dating to July 2021 is 30-2. It was the first time in four appearances he made match play at the U.S. Amateur.
“I just learned that I could do it,” Dunlap said. “I always thought I could, but when you’re 5 over thru seven, your mind is spinning, you can’t see straight and all you see is red.
“I just learned that anything is possible as long as you put your mind to it.”
The best amateur in the world won the best amateur championship in the world. And he made history doing so.
The first name the champ looked for on the Havemeyer Trophy when he got it? Tiger Woods. A name Dunlap is paired with in the annals of the sport forever.
CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. — Anytime your name is mentioned with Tiger Woods in the world of golf, you must be doing something right.
Nick Dunlap has a chance to achieve something only Woods has done Sunday in the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club. Win both the U.S. Junior and U.S. Amateur.
Woods is the only male amateur to win the U.S. Junior and U.S. Amateur. He won three U.S. Juniors from 1991-93 and then three straight U.S. Amateurs from 1994-96.
“It’s pretty good,” Dunlap said of possibly matching Woods. “It would be pretty cool company. It’s something that’s been a goal of mine for a long, long time. It’s the same thing, 36 holes; it’s a marathon tomorrow. It’s a lot of golf.”
Tiger Woods kisses the U.S. Amateur trophy after winning an unprecedented third U.S. Amateur championship, Sunday, Aug. 25, 1996, at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore. Woods won the title on the 38th hole.
Although Dunlap, a rising sophomore at Alabama, would be the second to do it on the men’s side, eight women have pulled off the USGA double, most recently Rose Zhang. And she is the only one to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur (2020) before the U.S. Girls’ Junior (2021).
Dunlap’s run to the championship should be no surprise. He has been the best male amateur this summer. He won twice, at the Northeast Amateur and North & South Amateur. He is 29-2 in match play since July 2021.
His partnership with Jeff Curl, Dunlap’s 44-year-old caddie who is a former pro, is another reason for Dunlap’s dominance. Curl was on the bag for his U.S. Junior win, too.
Alabama coach Jay Seawell said he’s not surprised by Dunlap’s run of success. And he has seen his fair share of strong golfers come through the Crimson Tide program, including two-time major winner Justin Thomas and recent Tour winner Lee Hodges.
“He’s as good as anybody that has walked through the doors at Alabama since I’ve been there,” Seawell said. “He’s as talented as anyone we’ve ever had.”
Dunlap’s Alabama teammates will be at Cherry Hills on Sunday for the championship match. So will Seawell, who followed along with his star 19-year-old for the majority of his semifinal match.
Seawell credits Dunlap’s match-play prowess to his killer instinct. He said Dunlap has a perfect mindset for match play, always understanding what he needs to do and what a certain shot or putt can do to his chances to win.
“He has an assassin’s mentality,” Seawell said.
Nick Dunlap chats with NFL quarterback legend Peyton Manning after Dunlap won his match 3 and 2 during the semifinals of the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills C.C. in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)
Dunlap has also been in control of his emotions all week, never getting too high or too low. Even with a few thousand spectators strolling the grounds of Cherry Hills on Saturday, Dunlap was so locked in he didn’t notice Peyton Manning, a member at the course outside of Denver, standing feet from him during the final holes of his match.
Come Sunday, Dunlap has a chance at history. And he’s in for the long haul.
“There’s going to be ups and downs, there’s going to be changes in momentum, there’s going to be … I don’t know what’s going to be thrown at me, but I’m ready for it,” Dunlap said.
CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. — Nick Dunlap and Neal Shipley have been the two best amateur golfers this summer.
Dunlap finished second in the Elite Amateur Series standings with two wins at the Northeast Amateur and the North & South Amateur. Shipley finished fourth, with two runner-up finishes and a T-3 in the Elite Amateur Series. He also had another runner-up at the Dogwood Invitational.
That’s why it’s no surprise they’re the final two golfers standing in the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club.
The duo each locked up 2024 Masters and 2024 U.S. Open invites next summer, but the first thing on their minds heading to Sunday will be hoisting the Havemeyer Trophy in the Mile High City.
CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. — Parker Bell has come a long way in the last few months.
The rising sophomore at Florida was told he wasn’t qualifying for the Gators last event of the season. Coach J.C. Deacon wanted Parker to work on his game. He had qualified for only one event his freshman season, and the rest of it was a struggle.
“It was definitely very humbling,” Bell said. “But I kind of deserved it. Like I played bad — my spring was really, really disappointing.”
Bell went from being told he couldn’t qualify at the end of his freshman season to earning a spot in the 2023 U.S. Amateur semifinals, where he’ll face Alabama sophomore Nick Dunlap at 2 p.m. ET Saturday. Plenty has changed in the past few months, but it all started with the conversation with Deacon.
“This summer I’ve played in some bigger events and put myself in positions where you’ve just got to step up there and hit it,” Bell said. “You can’t let the nerves get in the way.”
On Friday, Bell knocked off Ben James, the reigning Phil Mickelson Award winner at Virginia as the nation’s top freshman. James is ranked sixth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Dunlap is ninth.
Bell? He’s 534th.
“I knew I had the game coming into this. I always felt like I was maybe a little bit overlooked before.”@GatorsGolf’s Parker Bell is riding momentum and confidence into the semifinals. 💪 #USAmateur
He qualified for one tournament in the fall, and he thought it would be the turning point of his season. However, it was the opposite.
“I was not ready,” Bell said. “Hadn’t played in a lot of big tournaments until then, and my nerves just got the best of me, and I guess ever since then, the rest of the season, it just never really got any better.”
After being told he wasn’t qualifying for Florida’s final tournament in the spring, Bell went to see his swing coach, Jeff Smith, in Tennessee. They worked out the kinks of what was wrong. He watched as the Gators went to Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona and won the national championship. That only added motivation.
Slowly but surely, Bell started to figure his game out. Although he hasn’t had a dominant summer, he wasn’t deterred.
Parker Bell watches his tee shot on hole three during the quarterfinals of the 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills C.C. in Cherry Hills Village, Colo. on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)
“I knew I had the game coming into this,” Bell said. “I always felt like I was maybe a little bit overlooked before going into this tournament. I knew I had the game to make the match play. That was my goal going in was just get to the match play because I know that anything can happen.
“It’s always been something that’s held me back. It’s been either the putter or I make a double here or a double there. I’m glad this week it’s kind of all come together.”
Bell led 2 up with three to play Friday against James, and the latter fought back in a big way. James drained two long putts to win consecutive holes and tie the match heading to 18. Then, James had a 3-footer to win the match on 18 before it slid by.
“I really thought it was over,” Bell said. “He was steady all day putting. When he missed it, it felt like new life, and I’m sure he was pretty boggled by that.”
The duo marched to the first tee, where Bell striped a 5-wood and barely missed the green, but he got up and down for birdie, winning the hole for the second time Friday and punching his ticket to the semifinal.
He said the emotion when the birdie putt dropped was unlike anything he has ever felt.
“Just where I was 15 minutes before then, like head in my hands, thinking my tournament is over, to all of a sudden I have a chance to win tomorrow and play in the Masters,” Bell said. “Just a huge, huge emotion, and I kind of let it all out with the fist pump. But I had to.”
Regardless of Saturday’s result, it’s safe to say Bell won’t be worried about qualifiers anymore.
