Jordan Spieth couldn’t have been more accommodating when he paid a visit to Cherry Hills Country Club in July of 2012.
He traveled to Denver to promote the 2012 U.S. Amateur, attending a press conference at the host club. Afterward, when I asked him to come out behind the 18th green for some photos and a little additional chit-chat, he quickly obliged.
There was just one stipulation. When I asked him to hold the Havemeyer Trophy, which is awarded to the U.S. Amateur champion, he said he wouldn’t touch it. He didn’t explain, so I was left to assume that he was superstitious about holding a trophy which he hadn’t yet won.
In any case, Spieth still gladly posed next to the trophy, which was placed on the ground behind the historic 18th green at Cherry Hills, not far from where Arnold Palmer’s visor landed after a victory toss following the 1960 U.S. Open.
While Spieth didn’t ever end up getting his hands on the Havemeyer Trophy, he’s certainly been handed plenty of other hardware recently. Just in his last 3 1/2 months, he’s won three times, including earlier this month in a three-hole playoff at the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship.
But Spieth certainly wasn’t the only competitor from that 2012 U.S. Amateur — hosted by Cherry Hills, with CommonGround serving as the companion course for the stroke-play portion of the event — who has hit it big in the years since.
The noteworthy part is how quickly some of these players have made the big-time. For instance, with his Valspar victory this month, Spieth became just the fourth player since 1940 to win twice on the PGA Tour before his 22nd birthday, joining Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Robert Gamez.
“I look back at the last couple of years and sometimes it’s hard to believe all this has happened,” Spieth said this week. “It certainly happened faster than I could have imagined, but I’m taking everything in stride and continuing to work hard. I have a lot of goals that I want to achieve and so far, I feel like I’m headed in the right direction.”
Three players in the 312-man field for the 2012 U.S. Amateur are currently in the top 100 in the World Golf Rankings: Spieth (sixth), Hideki Matsuyama (16th) and Justin Thomas (84th). (Spieth and Thomas are pictured together above at CommonGround in 2012.) Other 2012 U.S. Am competitors who have made some noise on the PGA Tour this season are Zac Blair (57th on the Tour money list) and Carlos Ortiz (68th). Still other current PGA Tour players who competed at Cherry Hills three years ago are Max Homa and Patrick Rodgers.
That U.S. Am field also featured the current No. 1-ranked amateur in the world (Oliver Schniederjans) and the No. 1-ranked college player (Cheng-Tsung Pan of Washington).
Here’s a rundown on some of the aforementioned players, noting what they’ve accomplished, and how they fared at that 2012 U.S. Amateur:
— Spieth. He already had an outstanding record before coming to Cherry Hills, having won two U.S. Junior Amateurs (2009 and ’11), leading Texas to an NCAA title as a freshman, and being the low amateur at the 2012 U.S. Open. But though he was arguably the favorite at Cherry Hills — and tied for seventh place in stroke play with rounds of 69-69 — Spieth (left) lost 1 up in the round of 64 of match play to 2012 NCAA champion Thomas Pieters.
After turning pro in the middle of his sophomore season at Texas, Spieth has won twice on the PGA Tour and also prevailed in the Australian Open and the Hero World Challenge, in addition to finishing second in the 2014 Masters. March 29 Update: In his last 10 events around the world, he has posted eight top-7 finishes.
— Matsuyama. Amazingly, given his golf resume, Matsuyama faltered badly at the 2012 U.S. Amateur. Considered one of the pre-tournament favorites, he shot 73-72–145 to finish 82nd in stroke play and didn’t even make the 64-man match play bracket.
But the 23-year-old from Japan has been formidable on the PGA Tour, winning the 2014 Memorial, along with the Dunlop Phoenix title in November. Overall, Matsuyama has collected six top-10s in his last 13 events worldwide.
— Thomas. Unlike many of the other players mentioned here, the former University of Alabama standout made a deep run in the 2012 U.S. Amateur. With rounds of 65-74–139, he placed 13th in stroke play, then advanced to the match play semifinals, where he lost to Michael Weaver. The 21-year-old Thomas, who hits it a long way despite weighing just 145 pounds, has made an impact in his first full season on the PGA Tour. In his last 10 events, he’s posted four top-10 finishes.
— Blair. The 24-year-old has competed more in Colorado than others on our list as his dad is two-time Colorado Open champion Jim Blair. Zac Blair himself scored low-amateur honors in the 2011 Colorado Open. In his rookie season on the PGA Tour, Blair has notched three top-12 finishes and has won $638,048. At the 2012 U.S. Amateur, Blair placed fifth in stroke play (65-71–136) then lost in the round of 64 to Weaver, who advanced to the finals.
— Ortiz. The 23-year-old native of Mexico has notched five top-21 finishes on the PGA Tour this season. (March 29 Update: That number went up to six at the Valero Texas Open.) At Cherry Hills in 2012, Ortiz placed 39th in stroke play (75-67–142), then lost in the round of 64 of match play to Adam Stephenson.
— Schniederjans. The 21-year-old senior at Georgia Tech initially ascended to the No. 1 spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings last June. At Cherry Hills, Schniederjans finished 25th in stroke play (74-67–141), then lost to Adam Schenk in a round-of-64 match.
— Pan. The 23-year-old senior at Washington is ranked No. 1 among college golfers by both Golfstat and Golfweek. He’s won three times in seven college tournaments this season. In the 2012 U.S. Am, he placed second in stroke play (69-65–134) and advanced to the quarterfinals of match play, where he lost to Brandon Hagy.
— Beau Hossler. Hossler, now 20, came to Cherry Hills as one of the biggest sensations as he had briefly held the lead during the second round of the 2012 U.S. Open. But Hossler faltered at the U.S. Amateur that year, missing a playoff for the final match-play berths by one stroke (72-72–144). Hossler, now a sophomore at Texas, has finished first, second and second in his last three college tournaments. He’s now No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
The last U.S. Amateur held in Colorado featured some of the greatest golfers of the last two decades.
Among those who competed in the 1990 Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club were champion Phil Mickelson, who’s gone on to win 40 PGA Tour events, including four majors, Jim Furyk (16 Tour wins, one major), David Duval (13 Tour wins, one major) and Justin Leonard (12 Tour wins, one major).
As the U.S. Amateur returns to Cherry Hills next week (Aug. 13-19) — with the Tom Doak-designed CommonGround Golf Course being the second site for stroke play Aug. 13-14 — it’s a good bet that several future stars of the game will be competing.
The 312-man field features 13 of the top 14 players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, including No. 1 Chris Williams, winner of the recent Western Amateur; No. 2 Hideki Matsuyama, low amateur in the 2011 Masters; and No. 3 Jordan Spieth, the top amateur in this year’s U.S. Open and a two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion.
Among the other prominent players entered are Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old who led the U.S. Open during round 2; college player of the year Justin Thomas; and NCAA Div. I champion Thomas Pieters. There’s even a son of arguably the greatest golfer of all time, Jack Nicklaus’ second-youngest, Gary.
“This is my favorite event of the year actually,” Hossler said after playing a practice round Saturday at CommonGround with Thomas, Derek Ernst and Parker Edens of Greeley. “I’m looking forward to this week, that’s for sure.”
(Hossler, the youngest player to make the cut at a U.S. Open since World World II, is pictured above at left with Spieth at CommonGround on Saturday.)
Thomas, who will be a sophomore at the University of Alabama, thinks the Amateur is the ideal way to end the summer season before returning to college golf.
“This is the coolest event of the year; I love it,” he said. “It just has a lot different feel than any of the other events. Not that we don’t try really hard at each event, but I think this one gets our attention just a little bit more. Especially this time of year, we’re trying to cap off a summer.”
Also competing next week will be nine players with strong Colorado ties: Ryan Axlund of Denver, Jeff Chapman of Denver, Edens, Eric Hallberg of Castle Rock, Bryan Kruse of Wesminster, Michael Schoolcraft of Englewood, Matt Schovee of Cherry Hills Village, former Colorado Springs resident Justin Spray, and University of Denver golfer Andy Yang.
This will mark the ninth USGA championship held at Cherry Hills, and the second U.S. Amateur, which is the oldest USGA championship.
“I loved the golf course; I thought it was spectacular,” Mickelson recently told USGA.org. “I think that there is so much history there from (Arnold) Palmer driving the green on 1, to (Ben) Hogan backing up his wedge (into the water) on 17 (both in the 1960 U.S. Open that Palmer won). There’s been so much history that took place there that you can’t help but feel it. I’m glad that they’re having a big tournament there again. I think it’s great for the Amateur to return there.”
Cherry Hills will play at 7,409 yards and to a par-71 for the Amateur. That’s almost 300 yards longer than in 1990. CommonGround will be set at 7,378 yards, playing to a par-70.
Asked what he thought of CommonGround, which is only three years old, Hossler said, “It was good. I really like it actually. The greens are really good and firm and pretty fast, so it will be nice. You have to definitely drive it well because of the fescue and everything off the fairway. It’s a good track. This is definitely a challenge, especially if it gets windy like it did today.”
Nicklaus knows that CommonGround’s main defense is its green complexes.
“It’s interesting,” he said. “There’s a lot of room off the tee, and then there’s a lot of funkiness to the greens. Golf begins when you get to these greens.”
As for Cherry Hills, thick rough — from 3 inches to 4-5 inches — will keep many free-swinging players in check. And green speeds in the 11-11.5 range on the Stimpmeter also will put players to the test.
The Palmer tee at the par-4 first hole — where Arnold Palmer drove the first green in the final round en route to rallying to win the 1960 U.S. Open — will be utilized for the majority of match play, according to the USGA.
Tickets for the U.S. Amateur are available at King Soopers stores and at TicketsWest.com. A daily ticket runs $17.50, with a weekly package costing $85. Kids 17 and under will be admitted free with a ticketed adult.
Unlike in many professional tour events, few gallery ropes are used at the U.S. Amateur.
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U.S. Amateur: All the Essentials
What: The 112th U.S. Amateur, the oldest USGA championship.
When: Aug. 13-19. For Aug. 13 tee times, CLICK HERE.
Where: Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village (7,409 yards, par-71), and CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora (7,378 yards, par-70). Cherry Hills will be hosting its ninth USGA championship (3 U.S. Opens, 1 U.S. Women’s Open, 2 U.S. Amateurs, 1 U.S. Senior Open, 1 USGA Senior Amateur, 1 U.S. Mid-Amateur).
Format: 36 holes of stroke play Aug. 13 and 14, with each golfer playing 18 holes each at Cherry Hills and CommonGround. The top 64 players will advance to match play, which will be held exclusively at Cherry Hills. The first round of matches is Aug. 15, the second and third rounds are Aug. 16, the quarterfinals Aug. 17, the semifinals Aug. 18 and the 36-hole final is Aug. 19.
Starting Field: 312 players. (6,403 golfers originally sent in entries.)
Top Name Players Expected in Field: Jordan Spieth (2-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion, low amateur in 2012 U.S. Open), Beau Hossler (17-year-old led U.S. Open during second round), Gary Nicklaus (son of the legendary Jack Nicklaus), college player of the year Justin Thomas, 2011 Masters low amateur Hideki Matsuyama, 2012 NCAA Div. I champion Thomas Pieters.
Players in Field with Strong Colorado Ties: Ryan Axlund of Denver, Jeff Chapman of Denver, Parker Edens of Greeley, Eric Hallberg of Castle Rock, Bryan Kruse of Wesminster, Michael Schoolcraft of Englewood, Matt Schovee of Englewood, former Colorado Springs resident Justin Spray, DU golfer Andy Yang.
Winner Receives Exemptions In: 2013 Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, along with the next 10 U.S. Amateurs, providing he remains an amateur.
Tickets: Available at King Soopers stores and at TicketsWest.com. A daily ticket is $17.50. A weekly pass is $85. Kids 17 and under are admitted free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
Television: Aug. 15 2-4 p.m., Golf Channel; Aug. 16 4:30-6:30 p.m., Golf Channel; Aug. 17 6:30-8:30 p.m., Golf Channel; Aug. 18 2-4 p.m., NBC; Aug. 19 2-4 p.m., NBC.
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Other U.S. Amateur-Related Stories on COgolf.org:
Yang Joins Sister as USGA Qualifier. DU golfer advances to U.S. Amateur along with Axlund, Chapman.
Kids and Pros Alike Have a Blast. U.S. Amateur Alumni Day at CommonGround draws a few hundred fans.
CGA, CWGA Gear Up for U.S. Amateur. With CommonGround as Companion Course, associations expand role.
CommonGround Impresses USGA Executive Director. Five tees were added for U.S. Amateur.
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Later, he gladly posed with the Havemeyer Trophy behind the 18th green — on one condition: that he didn’t touch it.
But make no mistake, Spieth would dearly love to wrap his arms around the trophy in about four weeks.
“I’m extremely excited for this event,” the two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion from Dallas said. “This is one I mark off every year. This will be my fourth U.S. Amateur. I’m looking forward to making it a couple matches further (than last year, when he was a quarterfinalist) on a venue such as Cherry Hills that I’ve heard so much about, even from major champions I’ve talked to.”
Spieth, future University of Texas teammate Beau Hossler and Jack Nicklaus’ son Gary will be three of the biggest names in the 312-man U.S. Amateur field when Cherry Hills hosts the championship Aug. 13-19. CommonGround Golf Course, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA, will be the second course for the stroke-play portion of the event Aug. 13-14.
Both Spieth (pictured above on Monday) and Hossler will give the Amateur some star power this year. Hossler became a household name among golf enthusiasts when he led the U.S. Open as a 17-year-old during the second round. And Spieth ended up as the low amateur in the Open, placing 21st overall.
While both players have obviously competed on bigger stages, they have their sights set on making a run at the title in the U.S. Amateur, the oldest USGA championship, having debuted in 1895.
“It’s the biggest amateur tournament in the world, so I’m going to make sure I’m prepared and hopefully I have a good chance to win,” Hossler said via teleconference on Monday. “I couldn’t be more excited to go out there to Denver, especially playing at altitude and hitting it pretty long.
“The U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills (in Wisconsin last year) is probably one of the favorite tournaments I’ve ever played in. That was a great event. So I’m looking forward to this year’s event at Cherry Hills.”
Both Spieth and Hossler have sprinkled PGA Tour events into their 2012 schedule. In a year in which he led the University of Texas to the NCAA title as a freshman, Spieth made the cut not only in the U.S. Open but the Texas Open and the John Deere Classic. Hossler did likewise in the U.S. Open and the AT&T National.
Asked if his mindset is different in amateur tournaments than it is in Tour events, Spieth said, “I would say it is in most events other than the U.S. Amateur. In the U.S. Amateur the competition is similar to a Tour event.
“And the golf course is set up like a Tour event or harder. It’s up there with the toughest events. I thought the courses I played for the U.S. Amateur were the toughest courses I’ve ever played obviously until the U.S. Open this year. But it’s not far behind. It’s fair and set up great for match play. The preparation for the U.S. Amateur is the same as it as if I were preparing for the U.S. Open. It means that much to everyone who plays in this event.”
Ben Kimball, USGA co-director for the U.S. Amateur, believes Cherry Hills and CommonGround will be formidable despite the world’s top amateur players challenging them next month.
“The most rigorous, most difficult yet fair test in amateur golf is what awaits these men come August,” Kimball said. “An examination both physically and mentally is what we prepare for those who come to Cherry Hills and CommonGround … two remarkable venues that will help us identify the best amateur player in the world this August.”
Not surprisingly, Kimball said the Palmer tee on the first hole at Cherry Hills — where Arnold Palmer drove the green in the final round of the 1960 U.S. Open en route to rallying to win the event — will be heavily utilized during the match-play rounds at Cherry Hills.
“What a way to start off most matches — give the players the opportunity to drive the first green, just as Arnold Palmer did in the 1960 U.S. Open,” he said.
Tall, thick rough will be one of the best defenses Cherry Hills has against many ultra-long-hitting amateurs. On most holes, the first cut of rough will be 3 inches deep, with the second cut being between 4 and 5 inches. Already on Monday, things were pretty gnarly when players strayed off the fairway.
Meanwhile, the greens at Cherry Hills will Stimp out between 11 and 11.5 feet, just as they did during the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open.
As for CommonGround, it was designed by renowned course architect Tom Doak, who also did a major restoration project at Cherry Hills several years ago.
“They’re very contrasting in terms of the kind of course,” U.S. Amateur general chairman Jeff Dorsey said of CommonGround and Cherry Hills. “CommonGround is a great Doak design and I think it’s going to be a stern test for the players.”
CGA executive director Ed Mate is hoping the U.S. Amateur players leave CommonGround as impressed as USGA executive director Mike Davis was when he first visited the site.
“There’s a really good golf course out there, and we’re really excited to showcase that golf course to all these great players,” Mate said. “We couldn’t be more excited.
“Having a ‘home game’ is particularly special for us this year because not only are we the host association, but we’re the host companion course.”
As for the fans, the USGA believes they’ll get their money’s worth during U.S. Amateur week.
“This is truly a spectacular experience if you enjoy golf,” said Robbie Zalzneck, another USGA co-director of the U.S. Amateur. “The level of competition is second to none. … You’ll see something special even if the majority of the names are quite household names yet. They will be in the future.
“The neat thing about the U.S. Amateur is we don’t rope the fairways so we encourage the fans to not just watch but to walk alongside the players and really embrace this and see these guys and their talent. You’ll see something special.”
Tickets for the U.S. Amateur — which run $17.50 per day or $85 for the week — are available at area King Soopers stores and at TicketsWest.com. Youngsters 17 and under will be admitted free when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
Hossler (pictured), the 17-year-old Californian who held the outright lead in the Open during the second round in San Francisco, is a very good bet to be in the field for the 2012 U.S. Amateur, which will be played Aug. 13-19 at Cherry Hills Country Club and CommonGround Golf Course.
Any amateur who qualifies for the 2012 U.S. Open is exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Am. And considering Hossler not only earned a spot in the U.S. Open but made the cut and finished 29th overall, all he has to do to play in the national amateur is to enter by the June 27 deadline.
The same, by the way, goes for the low amateur at the Olympic Club, Jordan Spieth. It’s also the case for the other amateurs competitors in the Open, including 14-year-old Andy Zhang, the youngest player in the history of the U.S. Open.
Obviously, all of those exemptions depend on the U.S. Open qualifiers remaining amateurs for the next couple of months. Spieth, who as a freshman led the University of Texas to the NCAA title earlier this month, indicated on Sunday he plans to return to college and help the Longhorns “make another run.”
Patrick Cantlay, runner-up in the U.S. Amateur last year and low amateur at the 2012 Masters, is another matter. After completing his sophomore season at UCLA, he will make his professional debut at this week’s Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour.
The decision “was a combination of being comfortable with being a professional and taking it to the next level,” said Cantlay, who recently won the Ben Hogan Award, given to the top men’s player in college and amateur events over the previous 12 months.
Cantlay, of course, made a big splash last summer by shooting a 60 in the Travelers Championship, one of four PGA Tour events in which he finished in the top 25.
Spieth, meanwhile, was the top-ranked college golfer in the nation for much of the season and he won three college events as a freshman.
As for Hossler, whether to return to college is not a concern for the foreseeable future. You see, he still has his senior year remaining at Santa Margarita Catholic High School near Los Angeles before becoming a University of Texas golfer.
At the U.S. Open, Hossler drew considerable national TV attention, especially before dropping back with a final-round 76. The fans at the 18th hole on Sunday gave him a standing ovation.
“When he looks back” on this week, “he will get chills,” Spieth said of Hossler. “… Beau was leading the U.S. Open as a 17-year-old amateur. That’s out of this world.”
Despite being only 17, Hossler already has competed in the U.S. Amateur twice, including as a 14-year-old in 2009. He made it to the second round of match play last year, when Spieth was a quarterfinalist.
And in competing in the last two U.S. Opens, Hossler became the first high school golfer to qualify for the event in consecutive years since Mason Rudolph in 1950-51.