(USGA/John Mummert)
The USGA added 13 players to its roster of
national champions in 2013, but some of our
favorite stories of the year weren’t necessarily
about the winning putt or the turning point in a
match. This is the fifth in a six-part series that
reviews some of the compelling stories that
you might have missed in our 2013
championship coverage.
TRUE MATE WATT TOILS FOR GOSS AFTER
LOSING TO HIM
Brady Watt of Australia had just suffered a
tough semifinal defeat last August in the U.S.
Amateur Championship, when a victory not
only would have given him a shot at the
Havemeyer Trophy, but also a guaranteed
berth in the 2014 U.S. Open and a likely spot
in the 2014 Masters Tournament.
Oliver Goss, his opponent and a fellow Aussie,
had holed several long putts, including an 18-
foot birdie to take the lead for good and an
unlikely 30-footer for another birdie and a half
when it seemed that Watt would square the
match. So what did Watt do after Goss had
finished him off, 2 up? He agreed to caddie for
his countryman in the next day’s championship
match at The Country Club.
READ MORE »
INSPIRED SCHEFFLER WINS U.S. JUNIOR
AMATEUR
Scottie Scheffler’s eyes welled with tears and
he struggled to get the words out.
Moments earlier, the 17-year-old Texan had
been handed the large silver cup as the new
U.S. Junior Amateur champion. But the 3-and-
2 final-match victory over Davis Riley at
Martis
Camp Club in Truckee, Calif., in which he
overcame a late 2-hole deficit, wasn’t the sole
cause of this outpouring of emotion.
As a national audience looked on, Golf
Channel
reporter Steve Burkowski finished his on-
camera interview with the new champion by
asking Scheffler about James Ragan, his 20-
year-old friend back in Houston.
READ MORE »
SENIOR OPEN FANS RALLY AROUND
UNDERDOG
PETER HORROBIN
There was no debate in July over who had
endured the most hardscrabble, circuitous
route to the 2013 U.S. Senior Open in Omaha,
Neb.
Peter Horrobin survived a playoff in sectional
qualifying to become the first Jamaican to
play
in the championship. However, that distinction
does not begin to describe the hardships
overcome by the 52-year-old, who started
playing golf as a child in Kingston using a
broken club affixed to a PVC pipe.
After an opening round highlighted by a birdie-
eagle combination that briefly gave him a
share
of the lead, Horrobin admitted that he had
battled his emotions all day. “I’m just a
crybaby. I still can’t believe I’m here playing
alongside the best senior players in the world.
I played 18 holes today, drying my eyes from
tears.”
READ MORE »
NATIVE AMERICAN PLAYERS FIND FAMILY
CONNECTIONS IN OKLAHOMA
The U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in
June
was much more than a national championship
for at least two contestants in the field.
The WAPL, which was played at Jimmie Austin
OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla., provided both
Shawnee Martinez, 19, of Modesto, Calif., and
Erika Salinas, 23, of Sacramento, Calif., with
an opportunity to meet and spend time with
their respective Native American families, and
to gain a sense of community through their
family heritage.
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FISCHER GOES OVERTIME TO QUALIFY
FOR
U.S. OPEN
It has earned the moniker “Golf’s Longest
Day”
for a reason.
U.S. Open sectional qualifying is 36 holes of
grueling, pressure-packed competition with
only a handful of available spots into the
championship field.
It’s as arduous as it is agonizing.
But Zack Fischer and Ryan Palmer added a
new
level to the proceedings when they dueled for
the fourth and final qualifying spot among 68
players at Lakewood Country Club in Dallas on
June 3 – and June 4.
READ MORE »