That’s certainly been the case with the 2012 U.S. Amateur that was hosted by Cherry Hills Country Club, with CommonGround Golf Course serving as the companion course for the stroke-play portion of the championship.

We’ve noted before how several competitors in that 312-man field have moved to the forefront in the world of golf, but the last few months have particularly reinforced the point.

And the PGA Tour’s SBS Tournament of Champions that concluded on Sunday in Maui really drove home the fact that Colorado spectators attending the U.S. Amateur 4 1/2 years ago were watching the budding of something special.

The top three finishers at the Tournament of Champions — winner Justin Thomas, runner-up Hideki Matsuyama and third-place Jordan Spieth — all competed at Cherry Hills and CommonGround in the 2012 U.S. Amateur. (Thomas is pictured above at Cherry Hills in 2012.)

But the Tournament of Champions is just the latest example of 2012 U.S. Am players thriving at the highest level of golf. In fact, four of the top eight players on this season’s PGA Tour money list competed in Colorado in August 2012: Matsuyama (No. 1 on the list), Thomas (No. 2), Cody Gribble (No. 7) and Daniel Berger (No. 8).

Some recent PGA Tour highlights from 2012 U.S. Am players:

— In his five official and unofficial starts on the PGA Tour during the current wraparound season, Matsuyama has finished no worse than sixth place. He’s won twice (HSBC Champions and the Hero World Challenge) and been runner-up twice.

— In five official and unofficial PGA Tour events this season, Thomas has notched two victories (CIMB Classic and SBS Tournament of Champions), a fifth and an eighth. And on Thursday at the Sony Open in Hawaii, he carded a cool first-round 59.

— Spieth won the Australian Open in late November, marking his third win worldwide in 2016.

— Gribble won the Sanderson Farms Championship in late October, marking one of two top-10s so far this season.

— Berger has posted a second in the HSBC Champions and a ninth in the Franklin Templeton Shootout in recent months.

— Former NCAA individual champion Thomas Pieters has recorded two top-15 finishes in two tournaments on the PGA Tour this season.

— Bryson DeChambeau, winner of the 2015 U.S. Am, posted two top-6 showings on the PGA Tour in 2016.

— Also recording top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2016 were Zac Blair (third in the Sony Open), Oliver Schniederjans (sixth in RSM Classic) and Cheng-Tsung Pan (also sixth in RSM Classic).

Career-wise in official PGA Tour events, Spieth owns eight wins, Thomas and Matsuyama three apiece, and Gribble and Berger one each.

And, mind you, all of the aforementioned players are still in their young to mid-20s. Spieth, Thomas, Berger, DeChambeau and Schniederjans are 23; Matsuyama and Pieters 24; Pan 25; and Gribble and Blair 26.

All told, five of the top 50 players in the world rankings — and three of the top dozen — competed in the 2012 U.S. Am: Spieth (fifth), Matsuyama (sixth), Thomas (12th), Berger (32nd) and Pieters (48th). Also currently in the top 200 in the world are DeChambeau (123rd), Patrick Rodgers (148th), Gribble (181st), Schniederjans (187th) and Pan (200th).

In case you’re wondering, here’s how some of these notable players fared at the 2012 U.S. Amateur:

— Spieth: The winner of two U.S. Junior Amateurs and the low amateur at the 2012 U.S. Open lost in the round of 64 in match play, 1 up to Pieters.

— Matsuyama: Japanese standout shot 73-72 and missed a playoff to advance to match play by two strokes.

— Thomas: Advanced to the match play semifinals, where he lost to eventual national runner-up Michael Weaver, 3 and 2.

— Gribble: Shot 75-69 and missed a playoff to advance to match play by one stroke.

— Berger: Shot 75-69 and missed a playoff to advance by match play by one stroke.

— Pieters: A round after defeating Spieth, lost 4 and 3 in the round of 32 to Canadian Albin Choi.

— DeChambeau: Three years before winning the U.S. Amateur, he lost in 19 holes in the match play round of 64 to Andrew Presley.

— Blair: The 2011 Colorado Open low amateur lost 2 and 1 in the match play round of 64 to Weaver, the eventual runner-up.

— Schniederjans: Lost 2 and 1 in the match play round of 64 to Adam Schenk.

— Pan: Lost in the quarterfinals 4 and 3 to Brandon Hagy, another current PGA Tour player.
 

Of course, there’s the mastery of the game, especially at age 22.

There’s his consistently personable manner, whether dealing with fans, fellow competitors, the media, or whomever.

And there’s the “wiseness beyond his years” that he exhibits.

But, with him ascending to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings with his runner-up finish at the PGA Championship on Sunday, it brought to mind yet another reason to take a shine to the young Texan.

Hale Irwin, the World Golf Hall of Famer who grew up in Boulder and went on to win three U.S. Opens and a record 45 Champions Tour events, covered a wide range of topics when he put on a short-game clinic and answered questions from AJGA players and others in early June at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora.

One of the things Irwin touched on is pace of play, and how being too deliberate can hurt your game. That’s where Spieth’s name came up, unsolicited. More on that in a moment.

Irwin noted that, unlike most top players you see nowadays, he personally doesn’t use a line on his golf ball to line up his putts. In fact, Irwin said he tries to have as much of the blank side of his ball facing him as possible when he strokes his putt.

In contrast, many high-level players now obsess over making sure that the line on their ball is pointed exactly in the right place when preparing to putt. Several years ago at the CGA Match Play, a contestant who advanced deep into the bracket was so carried away with the process that it wasn’t at all unusual for him to slightly adjust his ball — while marked — up to five times for a single putt. Put down the ball and carefully align it, back off to check the line, adjust the ball, back off to check it again, adjust the ball again, check it from the other side of the cup, adjust the ball again, check it one last time from behind the ball, and possibly tweak the ball alignment yet again. And then, on top of that, he was deliberate — to put it nicely — once he actually got over the ball to take a stroke. It was all spectators could do not to out and out yell, “PUTT IT ALREADY.”

Irwin, with little question the most successful tour player to be produced by Colorado, recalled that during his teenage years he experienced something that led to him to become a quicker player, most notably when putting.

“I felt I was taking too much time,” he said. “And I felt like I was losing my feel for that putt. So I told myself, ‘Look up twice on every shot, on every putt, and go.'”

Irwin knows full well that young aspiring athletes tend to emulate the best players, no matter what the sport may be. And with what Spieth has accomplished this year — two wins, a second and a fourth in the major championships, matching Tiger Woods’ 2005 performance for best major season by a player since Woods’ three-win year in 2000 — he’s the man for the time being.

And Irwin likes something about Spieth besides his playing ability, per se.

“Jordan Spieth — he’s a nice young man to copy what he’s doing — he gets right up (to the ball) and goes at it,” Irwin said. “Sometimes the longer you take, the more doubt that can creep in, the more negative thoughts that can creep in. If you’ve got that line and you’ve got that feel, get after it.”

Here’s a video of Spieth’s routine over putts: CLICK HERE.

Maybe, just maybe, the approach of Irwin, Spieth and other players who don’t dilly-dally will catch on, and we’ll have fewer of the five-hour-plus rounds that drive many golfers nuts. And players who seem to think slower is better might find a slightly quicker, more committed rhythm would actually serve their golf game best.

You shouldn’t hold your breath, of course, but at the very least it’s encouraging that Spieth sets a better example than many tour players and other elite-level golfers.
  

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.
 

Michael Schoolcraft certainly wasn’t the most notable player competing in Wednesday’s first round of match play at the U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club.

But you wouldn’t have known that from the number of people — a few hundred — surrounding the greens on the 18th and 19th holes of Schoolcraft’s match against Zack Munroe of Charlotte, N.C.

Even on-course TV reporter Dottie Pepper from the Golf Channel was on hand at the end.

Alas, Schoolcraft, the 20-year-old who was playing the U.S. Amateur on his home course, couldn’t produce a storybook ending. In fact, the way things played out, it was an agonizing loss. Schoolcraft (pictured above) led Munroe 2 up through 13 holes, but lost two holes down the stretch, then made a bogey on the first extra hole to be eliminated.

“I’m angry now, but I’m just going to be devastated,” the golfer from Englewood said. “I mean, it’s a tough way to go out. The farther you make it, the more it hurts. This will hurt for a while.”

Meanwhile, Justin Spray, who grew up in Colorado Springs and recently graduated from Colorado State University, lost 3 and 2 to Stanford golfer Patrick Rodgers after the match was all square through 12 holes.

“This game is hard,” noted Spray (pictured below). “This course is hard. But I’m going to keep getting better and learning.”

The two losses leave Colorado without any local representatives in Thursday’s round-of-32 matches. The round of 16 also will be played on Thursday.

Schoolcraft, seeded 50th after stroke play, battled back from being 2-down by winning three straight holes in the middle of the round, two of them with birdies. And the University of Oklahoma golfer went 2 up when Munroe missed a 4-foot par putt on No. 13.

After winning No. 14 with a par, Munroe squared the match in improbable fashion on the par-5 17th. In the thick rough near the second set of cross bunkers, he hit his approach to 40 feet and drained the birdie putt.

After both players made bogey on 18, they went to extra hole No. 1, a 327-yard par-4. Schoolcraft drove it into the front bunker and had a mound of sand in front of his ball. His blast came out soft and stayed in the rough short of the green. Munroe eventually sank a 6-footer for par, and after a decent pitch shot, Schoolcraft was left with a 4-footer to prolong the match. With the few-hundred spectators watching, he lipped out the putt on the left side, ending his U.S. Amateur.

With all the attention his match received, Schoolcraft admitted, “I felt the pressure, but I love that. I absolutely love that. When you make a birdie putt or you make a putt to save par it’s awesome because (the spectators) are going to be loud. I love that atmosphere. I’d rather have that than to go out and play on a regular Sunday afternoon. So I really really enjoyed it, and I appreciated everyone coming out. It was fun.”

Schoolcraft was visibly upset after the loss — not surprisingly — but minutes later he was able to put into perspective what he accomplished. He not only qualified for the U.S. Amateur, he made it to the 64-man match play and was on the verge of the final 32.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “Not playing well in the first two rounds (of stroke play), it was huge to just kind of figure it out and make the top 64. The takeaway on this was just to keep on fighting, and I know I can battle through the worst.

“I hate to say this, but it was a good experience. I would love to go win the thing, but it’s good experience to get into the first round and see how it goes.”

Like Schoolcraft, Spray rallied in the middle of his match after being 2 down early. The former CSU and Fort Lewis College golfer actually had a 5-foot birdie putt on No. 12 that would have put him ahead. But Rodgers made a 15-foot par and Spray missed his birdie putt and they halved the hole.

“That was kind of the game-changer for him,” Spray said of Rodgers. “He kind of got a little confidence off that. From there he just played steady golf. He just hit fairways and greens and was tough to beat.”

Rodgers won No. 13 with a birdie, and 14 and 16 with pars to end the match.

“I just kept getting myself in the wrong spot,” said Spray, who made only one birdie on Wednesday. “And my putter wasn’t working as well as it had been.”

Overall for the week, Spray said, “I didn’t exceed my expectations, but I’m happy.”

Spray said he intends to turn pro eventually, but doesn’t know how soon.

Spieth Ousted; 55-Year-Old Advances: Wednesday’s round-of-64 matches featured the ouster of arguably the pre-tournament favorite — two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion Jordan Spieth — and a victory by 55-year-old Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Ga.

In the featured match of the day, NCAA champion Thomas Pieters — who had survived a playoff early in the morning just to make match play — defeated Spieth, the No. 3-ranked amateur in the world, 1 up.

Spieth, the low amateur in the 2012 U.S. Open, never led in the match, and he missed two putts inside of 6 feet on the last two holes.

“(The putting) has been a struggle this summer,” said Spieth, who led Texas to the NCAA team title in the spring. “I’ve been struggling with my short putts just like on that last hole. And my distance control is pretty off. I worked really hard the last few weeks for moments like that, but I couldn’t pull it off.”

Pieters, a Belgian who plays for the University of Illinois, is competing this week after not playing any practice rounds at either Cherry Hills or CommonGround, the second course for stroke play. After competing in the European Amateur, he didn’t arrive in Denver until Sunday.

But he survived stroke play to advance — in a playoff — only to find out that his first-round match was against Spieth, arguably the most highly regarded amateur on the planet. But Pieters didn’t mind in the least.

“I was happy,” he said. “I knew he’s a world-class player and knew it would be a good match. He’s a great player.”

Meanwhile, at a U.S. Amateur dominated by college players, 55-year-old Hanzel made it to the round of 32 with a 3-and-2 victory over Andrew Biggadike of Ridgewood, N.J. Hanzel, a physician who earned low-amateur honors at last month’s U.S. Senior Open, plays with a wrap on his left elbow and is a diabetic who has an insulin pump attached to his shorts.

Hanzel is the oldest player to qualify for match play at the U.S. Amateur since 1979. A 44-year-old, Todd White, also is in the round of 32. If they both win their Thursday morning matches, they’ll square off in Thursday’s round of 16.

“This golf course is a little bit of a neutralizing factor … because you have to be so precise,” Hanzel said of Cherry Hills. “I am confident in my game. I can shoot under par on this golf course and that will win a lot of matches here.

“As I look at this event, I have no pressure. The kids have the pressure. Losing to a 55-year-old is pressure. The further I go, there’s no pressure on me.”

Meanwhile, medalist Bobby Wyatt of the University of Alabama and Chris Williams, the top-ranked amateur in the world, scored 4-and-2 and 3-and-2 wins, respectively, on Wednesday.

Three University of California players made the final 32: Max Homa, Michael Weaver and Brandon Hagy.

For match play results and pairings, CLICK HERE.

————————

U.S. Amateur: All the Essentials

What: The 112th U.S. Amateur, the oldest USGA championship.

When: Aug. 13-19. Matches on Thursday will begin at 7:30 a.m.

Where: Cherry Hills Country Club in Cherry Hills Village (7,409 yards, par-71). Cherry Hills is 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.)

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. 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.

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.