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.
 

Competing against a teammate, and knowing your success means his failure — and vice-versa — can be mentally challenging.

It was in the 1990 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club, where Phil Mickelson beat his former University of San Diego High School teammate — and classmate — Manny Zerman to win the title.

And it was on Thursday at this U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills, where college player of the year Justin Thomas defeated University of Alabama teammate Bobby Wyatt 1 up to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.

“It was a lot more tense — a lot more serious — than I thought it would be,” Thomas said of the match between the two players that live across the hall from one another at Alabama. “There was very little conversation, as most matches are. And I’m sure it didn’t help that we were both losing at different times.

“It was hard on 18 shaking his hand. You want to feel like, ‘I’m sorry man.’ But at the same time that’s what you’re here to do.”

Thomas (pictured above at left with Wyatt) and seven other players won two matches Thursday to make it to Friday’s quarterfinals. Among the others to advance was Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world. The University of Washington golfer hasn’t ever trailed in his three matches and he won 5 and 3 and 3 and 2 on Thursday.

“When it’s one-on-one (in match play), I feel like I have an advantage,” said Williams, who recently won the Western Amateur, which concludes with match play.

With NCAA champion Thomas Pieters exiting in the round of 32 despite making a hole-in-one, Williams and Thomas are the top-ranked amateurs to make the quarterfinals at Cherry Hills. While Williams is No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Thomas is No. 5.

Thomas’ victory over Wyatt not only featured college teammates, but two top-10 players, with Wyatt checking in at No. 6.

“It’s tough, it really is,” Wyatt said of facing his teammate. “Justin and I are great friends on and off the golf course. I play him every day, but it’s a little different under these circumstances.

“But I’m really happy for him. I truly mean that. He’s a great guy.”

Wyatt, the medalist in stroke play after shooting a 7-under-par 64 at Cherry Hills, led Thomas 2 up after 6 holes but was 2 down after the 12th hole, which Thomas won with a bogey.

Thomas’ bogey on No. 15 after being in a greenside bunker squared the match and it remained that way going into 17. At the par-5, Thomas pulled a double-cross on his tee shot, which ended up in the left trees. A stellar 9-iron out of the rough (pictured at left) put him in the fairway, and he pitched over the water to 15 feet and made the birdie putt to win the hole.

One up going into 18, Thomas played the formidable final hole in textbook fashion, hitting a hybrid and a 6-iron to 20 feet. Wyatt put his tee shot into the right rough, his second finished well short of the green, and his third rolled off the green. And when Thomas nestled his putt to within inches of the cup, Wyatt offered his hand in congratulations.

“He’s a great friend on and off the golf course,” Thomas, a sophomore-to-be, said of Wyatt, a junior. “Hopefully he doesn’t pick on me any more than he already did.”

Thomas and Williams are on different sides of the bracket, so they can’t meet before Sunday’s 36-hole final.

Based on how Williams has performed so far, it would be no surprise to see him in the title match. None of his three matches have gone past the 16th hole.

Williams has made it clear that he doesn’t pay attention to his standing in the world amateur rankings, but he was asked if opponents might be intimidated by him being No. 1.

“I don’t feel like I’m a very intimidating player,” he said. “I mean, look at me; I’m wearing pink.”

But Williams sounds like player in a groove, and one who loves Cherry Hills.

“It’s awesome to be playing a course like this,” he said. “It feels like a U.S. Open. I played (in the Open) last year at Congressional, and I’d say that course is much easier than this one.”

Williams is one of four Pac-12 Conference players in the quarterfinals. His Washington teammate, Cheng-Tsung Pan of Chinese Taipei, also made it, as did University of California teammates Brandon Hagy and Michael Weaver.

All told, seven of the eight quarterfinalists are college golfers, with the one exception being 18-year-old Australian Oliver Goss, who will begin his college career at Tennessee this fall.

Ricardo Gouveia of Portugal plays for Central Florida and Steven Fox for Chattanooga.

In Friday’s quarterfinals, which begin at 8:30 a.m., Thomas will face Goss, Gouveia plays Weaver, Williams meets Fox, and Pan squares off with Hagy.

Pieters, the NCAA champion, exited after the round of 32, falling 4 and 3 to Canadian Albin Choi. Pieters aced the 177-yard sixth hole, using an 8-iron, but never led in the match.

Meanwhile, 55-year-old Doug Hanzel, the oldest player to make match play at the U.S. Amateur since 1979, double bogeyed the 18th hole from beside the green to lose the hole and his round-of-32 match, 1 up, to Fox. Hanzel had rallied from being 2 down after 14 and was all square going into 18.

For match play results and pairings, CLICK HERE.

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U.S. Amateur: All the Essentials

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

When: Aug. 13-19. Quarterfinal matches on Friday begin at 8:30 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. 17 6:30-8:30 p.m., Golf Channel; Aug. 18 2-4 p.m., NBC; Aug. 19 2-4 p.m., NBC.

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.

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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.