Storylines heading into the U.S. Amateur

WHO’S HERE – Among the 312 golfers in the 2013 U.S. Amateur field, there are: Oldest Competitors: David Szewcul (59, born 12-16-53), Randal Lewis (56, born 5-8-57), Curtis Skinner (56, born 6-21-57) Youngest Competitors: Andrew Walker (14, born 10-23-98), David Snyder (15, born 10-17-97), Brad Dalke (15, born 8-19-97) Average Age of Field: 22.17 USGA champions (7): Steven Fox (2012 Amateur), Randal Lewis (2011 Mid-Amateur), Jim Liu (2010 Junior Amateur), Jordan Niebrugge (2013 Amateur Public Links), Scottie Scheffler (2013 Junior Amateur), Nathan Smith (2003, 2009, 2010, 2012 Mid-Amateur), Cory Whitsett (2007 Junior Amateur) USGA Runners-Up (10): Chelso Barrett (2011 Junior Amateur), Evan Beck (2008 Junior Amateur), Michael Kim (2013 Amateur Public Links), Randal Lewis (1996 Mid-Amateur), Jim Liu (2012 Junior Amateur), Garrett Rank (2012 Mid-Amateur), Davis Riley (2013 Junior Amateur), Curtis Skinner (2012 Senior Amateur), Justin Thomas (2010 Junior Amateur), Michael Weaver (2012 Amateur) Number Who Played in 2012 U.S. Amateur: 64 Number Who Played in 2013 U.S. Open: 8 (Steven Fox, Gavin Hall, Max Homa, Michael Kim, Cory McElyea, Grayson Murray, Cheng-Tsung Pan, Michael Weaver) Number Who Played in 2013 U.S. Senior Open: 2 (Michael McCoy, Curtis Skinner) Number Who Played in 2013 U.S. Amateur Public Links: 28 Number Who Played in 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur: 9 PLAYER NOTES: Max Adler, 31, of Norwalk, Conn., earned medalist honors out of the East Norwalk, Conn., Sectional. This will be his second USGA event. Previously, he competedin the 2012 U.S. Amateur Public Links. He played collegiate golf at Washington and Lee University and recently qualified for the 2013 Met Amateur. Adler is a journalist at Golf Digest. Andy Aduddell, 38, of Avondale, Ariz., earned medalist honors out of the Litchfield Park, Ariz., sectional. This will be his fifth U.S. Amateur. Previously, he competed in four consecutive championships from 1993-96. In 2012, he won the Arizona Amateur, Arizona Mid-Amateur, Arizona Player of the Year and the All-Armed Services Championship. Aduddell is a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. Shintaro Ban, 17, of San Jose, Calif., qualified through sectional play in Modesto, Calif.. This will be his second USGA event. His first was the 2012 U.S. Junior Amateur at The Golf Club of New England, when he shot 141 in stroke play to tie for medalist honors with Jim Liu and Nicholas Echavarria. Ban is a rising senior at Archbishop Mitty High School and has verbally committed to UNLV. Chelso Barrett, 18, of Surry, N.H., earned medalist honors out of the Tyngsboro, Mass., sectional. This will be his third consecutive U.S. Amateur. He competed in the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Barrett also competed in the 2010 and 2011 U.S. Junior Amateurs, finishing as the runner-up to Jordan Spieth in 2011. Evan Beck, 22, of Virginia Beach, Va.,earned medalist honors out of the Midlothian, Va., sectional. This will be his third U.S. Amateur; he previously competed in 2008 and 2011. Beck also competed in the 2007 and 2008 U.S. Junior Amateur, finishing as the runner-up to Cameron Peck in his second attempt. He plays for Wake Forest, twice earning honorable mention All-American honors. Sam Bernstein, 21, of New York, plays at Yale University and was named 2012-13 Ivy League Player of the Year. Bernstein founded the Harlem Children’s Zone Golf Program, an after-school enrichment program that unites high school golfers and underprivileged children from the New York City area in an effort to expand appreciation for the game of golf. His younger brother, Will, also works with the program and competed in the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur. Julien Brun, 21, of France, will be competing in his second consecutive U.S. Amateur after receiving an exemption for his fourth-place finish at the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship. Brun has been a first-team All-American selection in his two seasons at Texas Christian University, and tied for runner-up honors at the 2012 NCAA Men’s Division I Championships. He was a finalist for the 2013 Ben Hogan Award, and a semifinalist in 2012. Brun is also a two-time Team Europe Palmer Cup selection. Sebastian Cappelen, 23, of Denmark, will play in his second consecutive U.S. Amateur after receiving an exemption for his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Cappelen plays for the University of Arkansas and is a three-time All-American selection. He won the 2013 SEC Championship. Cappelen is also a two-time Team Europe Palmer Cup selection Rodolfo Cazaubon, of Mexico, who will turn 24 on Aug. 15, will be competing in his first USGA championship. He recently finished his final season with the University of Northern Texas golf team, receiving an All-American honorable mention for 2012-13. Cazaubon is exempt into the championship based on his top 50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Wyndham Clark, 19, of Greenwood Village, Colo., will be competing in his third U.S. Amateur, earning medalist honors by eight strokes at the Columbine Valley, Colo., sectional. He failed to qualify for match play in the 2010 and 2011 U.S. Amateurs, losing in a playoff in 2010. Mario Clemens, 22, of Dallas, Texas, won the 2013 Mexican Amateur and broke the tournament scoring record at 19 under par for 72 holes. The win earned him an exemption into this year’s U.S. Amateur. He plays for Southern Methodist University and finished 16th at this year’s NCAA Men’s Division I Championships, earning honorable mention All-America honors.. Corey Conners, 21, of Canada, will be competing in his second consecutive U.S. Amateur, having received an exemption for his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. In 2012, he finished fourth at the NCAA Men’s Division I Championships, earning honorable mention All-America honors. Conners also competed for Canada in the 2012 World Team Amateur Championship. Timothy Crouch, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, who will turn 22 on Aug. 12, will be playing in his second consecutive U.S. Amateur. He also played in the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur and the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. Crouch plays at Florida Southern College and won the 2013 Division II NCAA Championship. Sean Dale, 23, of Jacksonville, Fla., will be competing in his third U.S. Amateur, having received an exemption for his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Dale was a semifinalist for the 2013 Ben Hogan Award after an outstanding senior season at the University of Northern Florida. He also played for Team USA in the 2013 Palmer Cup and was the runner-up at the 2013 Western Amateur. Brad Dalke, 15, of Hobart, Okla., is the youngest of seven children and comes from an athletic family. His mother, Kay (Pryor), played on the first University of Oklahoma women’s golf team. His father, Bill, was a linebacker on Oklahoma’s 1975 national championship team. His grandfather, Ken (Pryor) played on the Sooners basketball team. Dalke, a two-time Rolex Junior All-American, reached match play at last year’s U.S. Junior Amateur. Charles Danielson, 19, of Osceola, Wis., earned medalist honors at the Blaine, Minn. sectional. This will be his second consecutive U.S. Amateur appearance. Danielson earned honorable mention All-America honors for 2012-13, his freshman season at the University of Illinois. His sister, Casey, is one of the top ranked juniors in the U.S. and competed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Brett Drewitt, 22, of Australia, will be competing in his second consecutive U.S. Amateur, having received an exemption for his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He recently finished tied for fifth in stroke play at the 2013 British Amateur Championship and won the 2012 New South Wales Amateur. Drewitt also plays cricket competitively. Greg Eason, 21, of England, earned an exemption for the 2013 U.S. Amateur based on his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He was an honorable mention All-America selection for the 2011-12 season, and won first-team honors in 2012-13, while competing for the University of Central Florida. He also finished eighth in the 2013 NCAA Division I Championships and competed for Team Europe in the Palmer Cup. James Erkenbeck, 23, of San Diego, Calif., plays for the University of New Mexico, and earned first-team All-America honors for the 2012-13 season. He reached the semifinals in the 2013 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, losing to eventual champion Jordan Niebrugge. Erkenbeck also represented the USA in the 2013 Palmer Cup. He earned an exemption into the 2013 U.S. Amateur based on his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Scott Fernandez, 20, of Spain, will be competing in his first U.S. Amateur after earning an exemption for his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He plays collegiate golf for Iowa State University and was named a second-team All-American for the 2012-13 season. Fernandez represented Europe in the 2013 Palmer Cup and Spain in the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship. He is also an accomplished ski racer. Artie Fink Jr., 43, of Altoona, Pa., was a standout baseball player in high school, who later became one of Western Pennsylvania’s top professional bowlers before turning to golf. He recorded three top-10 finishes in 2012, at the Pennsylvania Mid-Amateur (9th), the Western Pennsylvania Amateur (7th) and the George Dressler Amateur Public Links (4th). Matthew Fitzpatrick, 18, of England, was the low amateur at the 2013 British Open and won the 2012 Boys British Amateur. This will be his first U.S. Amateur after earning an exemption for his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Fitzpatrick will play collegiate golf at Northwestern University in the fall. Steven Fox, 22, of Hendersonville, Tenn., is the defending U.S. Amateur champion. He defeated Michael Weaver in 37 holes last year to claim the title in his first U.S. Amateur appearance. He competed for the USA at the 2012 World Team Amateur Championship, helping the USA take home the Eisenhower Trophy, and finished tied for ninth as an individual at the 2013 Copa de las Americas. Oliver Goss, 19, of Australia, will play in his second consecutive U.S. Amateur after reaching the quarterfinals last year. Goss plays collegiate golf for the University of Tennessee and was named a third-team All-American for the 2012-13 season. He also won the 2012 Western Australia Amateur. Ricardo Gouveia, 21, of Portugal, was a quarterfinalist in the 2012 U.S. Amateur, losing to runner-up Michael Weaver. He also advanced to the Round of 16 in the 2012 British Amateur and received honorable mention All-America honors for the 2011-12 season as a competitor for the University of Central Florida. Gavin Green, 19, of Malaysia, earned an exemption into the 2013 U.S. Amateur based on his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He earned third-team All-American honors for the 2012-13 season playing for the University of New Mexico. This will be Green’s second consecutive U.S. Amateur. He advanced to the second round of match play in 2012.. Brandon Hagy, 22, of Westlake Village, Calif., was a semifinalist in the 2012 U.S. Amateur, and was defeated by eventual champion Steven Fox. He received honorable mention All-America honors for 2011-12, and was named second team All-Pac 12 for 2012-13. Additionally this season, Hagy was a tri-captain for University of California-Berkeley, with fellow U.S. Amateur competitors Max Homa and Michael Weaver. Max Homa, 22, of Valencia, Calif., played collegiate golf for the University of California-Berkeley and won the 2013 Pac-12 Conference Championship and the NCAA Men’s Division I Championship in his senior season. He is a member of the 2013 USA Walker Cup Team. He was also named a first-team All-American and to the All-Nicklaus Team. In June, Homa competed in the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, missing the cut by three strokes. This will be his fourth consecutive U.S. Amateur, his best finish coming in 2010 when he advanced to the quarterfinals. Michael Kim, 20, of Del Mar, Calif., was honored as the 2012-13 Golfweek/Sagarin Player of the Year and the Pac-12 Conference Golfer of the Year. Playing for California-Berkeley, he was also named a first-team All-American, All-Nicklaus Team, and Palmer Cup team. Kim won the 2013 Golfstat Cup, the Jack Nicklaus Award and the Fred Haskins Award. He was also a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. He finished as the low amateur by five strokes at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, tying for 17th place. He is a member of the 2013 USA Walker Cup Team. Nathan Kimsey, 20, of England,won the 2013 Terra Cotta Invitational and was a member of the victorious English team at the 2013 European Men’s Team Championship. He earned an exemption into the 2013 U.S. Amateur based on his top-50 status in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Kimsey is active in Sport Relief, a joint charitable effort between BBC Sport and Comic Relief. He recently played a round of 18 holes in 32 minutes to raise nearly $2,500 for the charity, still managing to shoot a 4-over 76. Randal Lewis, 56, of Alma, Mich., will be competing in his 22nd USGA championship, including eight U.S. Amateurs and nine U.S. Mid-Amateurs. He won the 2011 U.S. Mid-Amateur in Lake Forest, Ill. He was named the Michigan Golf Association’s Player of the Decade for the 1990s and was inducted in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 2009. Jim Liu, of Smithtown, N.Y., became the youngest U.S. Junior Amateur champion (eclipsing the record held by Tiger Woods) when he won in 2010 at age 14. He also advanced to the 2012 Junior Amateur championship match and was defeated by Andy Hyeon Bo Shim, 4 and 3. Liu has played in nine USGA championships, including four Junior Amateurs, where he has a 14-3 match-play record. A four-time AJGA Rolex All-American, he reached the semifinals of last month’s British Amateur, held at Royal Cinque Ports in Kent, England. Liu, who turns 18 on Aug. 9., play for Stanford University in 2013-14. Mike McCoy, 50, of West Des Moines, Iowa, has played in 36 USGA championships, including 13 U.S. Amateurs, advancing to match play six times. He has also played in 13 U.S. Mid-Amateurs, advancing to match play 10 times. McCoy is a 10-time Iowa player of the year, and has competed for the Iowa in the USGA Men’s State Team Championship six times. He competed in the 2013 U.S. Senior Open and won the 2013 George C. Thomas Invitational at Los Angeles Country Club. Will McLaughlin, 27, of Bedford, N.H., grew up on a property known as “the compound” with six different households of relatives. The compound was centered on a baseball field and other athletic equipment, including a sandbox that his father, who was the general manager of a golf course, turned into a bunker. McLaughlin played collegiate golf for The College of New Jersey. Yaroslav Merkulov, 21, of Penfield, N.Y., was born in Russia and moved to the United States at a young age. He had open-heart surgery as a child, which steered him toward playing golf, and he now plays for Duke University. In 2009, he was a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Junior Amateur, losing to eventual champion Jordan Spieth, and was a Rolex first-team junior All-American. Jordan Niebrugge, 19, of Mequon, Wis., was the 2013 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, defeating Michael Kim, 1 up, at Laurel Hill Golf Club in Lorton, Va. He plays for Oklahoma State University and earned honorable mention All-America honors for the 2012-13 season. In addition to the Public Links, he has won the 2013 Western Amateur, 2013 Wisconsin State Amateur and the 2013 Wisconsin State Match Play championships. Niebrugge advanced to the national finals in the Drive, Chip and Putt contest as well as the MLB’s Pitch, Hit and Run contest. Michael Muehr, 41, of Potomac Falls, Va., will be playing in his sixth U.S. Amateur, after taking a competitive golf hiatus from 2003 to 2007 following a diagnosis of skin cancer. He has also played in three U.S. Mid-Amateurs, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2011. Muehr played collegiate golf at Duke University. Cheng-Tsung Pan, 21, of Chinese Taipei, will be playing in his fourth U.S. Amateur. In his first appearance in 2007, he became the youngest U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist since Bob Jones at the age of 15. Pan plays for the University of Washington and was a first-team All American for the 2012-13 season, in addition to receiving All-Pac-12 honors and being named a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. He enters the U.S. Amateur as No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Garrick Porteous, 23, of England, is the 2013 British Amateur champion. This year, he was the stroke-play medalist at the Scottish Open and runner-up in stroke play at the Welsh Open. He placed third in the New South Wales Amateur and was sixth in both the Australia Master of the Amateurs and the European Nations Championship. He studied art in college. Garrett Rank, 25, of Canada, overcame a cancer scare at age 23, giving him a new outlook on life. He shot his career-low round of 64 at the 2010 Porter Cup, which included a hole-in-one on No. 4. He was a member of the 2012 Canada Men’s National Team and is a minor professional hockey referee. He was a finalist at the 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship and was medalist at the 2013 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship. Patrick Rodgers, 21, of Avon, Ind., is a two-time first-team All-American, first-team All-Pac 12 Conference, Palmer Cup and a 2013 USA Walker Cup Team selection. During the 2011-12 season at Stanford, Rodgers was named to the All-Freshman Team, and was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award in addition to winning the 2011 Porter Cup. He was also a quarterfinalist at the 2011 U.S. Amateur, where he lost to eventual champion Kelly Kraft. He also finished tied for 15th at the 2013 PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic. John Sawin, 28, of San Francisco, Calif., is competing in his first USGA event. He is a four-time club champion at Merion Golf Club (2005, 2006, 2007, 2010), where he holds a share of the West Course record (9-under 61 in 2005, and he has a personal best of 5-under 65 on the East Course, one stroke off the course record). A graduate of Princeton University, he is a three-time Ivy League Team Champion (2004-2006). He shot 68 in the final round of the 2007 Princeton Invitational to edge Keegan Bradley for the tournament title. Currently, he works as an investment banker for Barclays. Sawin was a nationally ranked squash player in his junior days, and is a junior board member with the First Tee of San Francisco. Xander Schauffele, 19, of San Diego, Calif., is playing in his second consecutive U.S. Amateur. His father, Stefan, is a former member of The PGA of America. He was born in Germany to a French mother who was born in Taiwan but grew up in Japan. Schauffele is a two-time runner-up at the Southern California Amateur (2012, 2013). Scottie Scheffler, 17, the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, is playing in his fourth consecutive U.S. Amateur. He has qualified for match play the past three years, twice advancing to the Round of 32. Scheffler won the Texas 4A state championship for the second year in a row in 2013 and punctuated his win with a hole in one during the final round. He also led Highland Park High School to the state’s team title. Scheffler’s older sister, Callie, is a member of the Texas A&M University golf team. Michael Schoolcraft, 21, of Denver, Colo., is competing in his second consecutive U.S. Amateur Championship (lost in first round of match play in 2012). Schoolcraft played hockey competitively until his junior year of high school, when he broke his collarbone, which required surgery. Following the injury, he decided to pursue golf instead, entering competitive events and receiving a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma one year later. Robby Shelton IV, 17, of Wilmer, Ala., lost in the quarterfinals of the 2013 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship to eventual runner-up Michael Kim. He is a three-time competitor in the U.S. Junior Amateur (2010-2012) and won the 2012 Future Masters Tournament. He was on the 2013 Junior Ryder Cup Team and won the 2013 Byron Nelson Award. Nathan Smith, 34, of Pittsburgh, is a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion and was a member of the 2009 and 2011 USA Walker Cup Teams. When he won the Mid-Amateur in 2003, he was the youngest champion. Six years later in 2009, he won the Mid-Am, 7 and 6, over Tim Spitz and repeated as champion in 2010. In 2012, he became the first player to win four U.S. Mid-Amateurs. In 2007, he became the first golfer to win the Western Pennsylvania Tournament of Champions, Mid-Amateur and Amateur in the same year. He is a financial specialist. Justin Thomas, 20, of Goshen, Ky., plays for the University of Alabama, which won the 2013 NCAA Div. I Men’s Championships. He helped the United States win the World Amateur Team Championship in Turkey in 2012 and is the third-youngest player to make a PGA Tour cut, at the 2009 Wyndham Championship. Thomas was recently named to the 2013 USA Walker Cup Team. He also caddied for and played with Michael Jordan for four years at his home course. Julio Vegas, 25, of Austin, Texas, is the younger brother of PGA Tour player Jhonattan Vegas. Vegas came to the United States from Venezuela at age 16. He spoke no English and lived in an apartment in Austin with his brother, then enrolled at the University of Texas after 18 months in the U.S. Vegas was a member of the 2012 NCAA Division I Championship team. Andrew Walker, 14, of Battle Creek, Mich., is the fifth-youngest competitor to qualify for the U.S. Amateur. He has competed in several AJGA championships, earning two wins and 10 top-10 finishes. Walker plays the violin and practices Goju-Ryu karate, in which he earned two gold medals at the U.S. Karate Championships. Sean Walsh, 20, of Keller, Texas, plays at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. In high school, he was very active in Play It Forward, a high school organization dedicated to collecting sports equipment to provide to children who are less fortunate. Brady Watt, 23, of Australia, had an outstanding 2012 season that saw him record four victories and seven second-place finishes in Australia. He began 2013 with a runner-up finish in the Australian Master of the Amateurs, was the leading qualifier in the Australian Amateur and placed fifth in the Lake Macquarie International, which he won in 2011. Most recently, he finished third in the 2013 Porter Cup. Michael Weaver, 22, of Fresno, Calif., is a five-time U.S. Amateur qualifier and was the runner-up at the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship, with his father, Bill, caddieing for him. With that performance, he earned exemptions to the 2013 Masters Tournament and the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, where he finished 64th. Weaver raced go-carts competitively until age 12, when he gave up racing to focus more on golf. Richy Werenski, 21, of Springfield, Mass., was the 2012 Porter Cup champion, where his four-day total was the second-lowest in the 53-year history of the event. This will be his fourth U.S. Amateur, and he is one of six players from Georgia Tech University’s golf team to qualify for the 2013 U.S. Amateur. He has a younger brother, Mickey, who plays golf at Texas A&M University. Peter Williamson, 23, of Hanover, N.H., has been a self-taught golfer since his grandmother put a club in his hands at age 2. He has competed in four U.S. Amateur Championships, four U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships and one U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. As a youngster, Williamson built golf holes out of snow to work on his game during the winter. He chose to attend Dartmouth so he could help to improve the golf program while succeeding academically, and is a three-time Ivy League champion. Cameron Wilson, 20, of Rowayton, Conn., is a senior at Stanford University. He made headlines in June by becoming only the eighth man to repeat as the Metropolitan Golf Association’s Ike Championship winner. He is the youngest-ever Met Amateur champion (2009) and was the 2009 Metropolitan Golf Association Player of the Year. Bobby Wyatt, 21, of Mobile, Ala., turned heads when he shot a 57 at the 2010 Alabama State Junior Championship. Wyatt was a member of the 2013 NCAA Division I National Championship-winning team at the University of Alabama. He posted a 3-0-1 record while playing on the Palmer Cup team that defeated Europe, 20½-9½ in June, where he played under his collegiate coach, Jay Seawell. Cameron Young, 16, is the son of Sleepy Hollow Country Club (Scarborough, N.Y.) head professional David Young, and his mother, Barbara, is also a former golf pro. Young won the 2013 Metropolitan Golf Association Junior Championship and also the 2011 MGA Carter Cup, held at Baltusrol Golf Club. A rising junior at Fordham Prep in the Bronx, N.Y., Young plays on the golf and hockey teams.