PGA Tour Confidential: Here Come the Amateurs

Pick an amateur storyline.  

Tom Lewis at the British Open, Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley at the U.S. Open, reigning U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein's campaign or even surprise British Amateur Champion, Bryden Macpherson.  Pick one.

The amateurs are coming.  And what what was once a wide margin between amateur and professional golf is moving closer.  The distance is not a Bobby Jones one-iron, but somewhere between a blade of grass and the width of a golf tee.

University of Georgia’s Harris English won the Nationwide event in Columbus, OH, last week, the second time this year an amateur beat the pros. English narrowly beat another amateur, LSU’s John Peterson.  Peterson was the 2010 NCAA individual champion.

The Scarlet course at Ohio State looked more like a college invitational.  Nationwide regular Kyle Reifers won the $144,000 first prize by finishing tied for second.  Not a bad consolation prize.  

English joined his college teammate, Henley, who won another Nationwide event (the Stadion Classic) in May at his home college course in Athens, GA.   

What’s happening?

Tom Watson, competing at the Greenbrier Classic, was asked why these amateurs are competing with the big boys.  He said, “The amateurs of today are pros.  They play a lot of competition, and they have the trainers like the pros.  They have the coaches like the pros.  They have the video equipment like the pros.”  Watson came up with an acronym for the new category in golf.  “What do you call them, Ainos—A-I-N-O—amateur in name only.”

Ignited by the reference, Watson reflected on his time at Stanford as a college player.  He played only in the spring quarter during his time (1969-71) in Palo Alto. 

He said, “We played high schools, colleges and they were dual matches.”  He added, “Our budget was eight thousand dollars.  And, one year the season was called off because we didn’t have the money.”

College golf has changed dramatically.  It was once Oklahoma State and the rest.  There is something in the soup at the cafeteria at a school in Athens, GA.  Bubba Watson, Ryuji Imada, Chris Kirk, Kevin Kisner and Erik Compton all have their PGA Tour cards. 

It does not take long for the casual observer to figure out that Detroit might have the cars, but as far as assembly lines for pro wannabes, consider what is happening on the Georgia campus.  
Harris English and Russell Henley have both won Nationwide Tour events this season.  Henley was the lone amateur at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 2010.  

And they both were on Coach Chris Haack's team that finished runner-up to Augusta State for the NCAA Division I National Championship this past June.  
Kirk, who was a Bulldog, won the Viking Classic earlier this month, a PGA Tour event in Mississippi.   

Kirk is also playing this week at the Greenbrier event.  “I always felt that if I made the starting five at Georgia, well, it was like a relief.  We all competed against each other and had great competition—that made us all better,” said Kirk.  Georgia Coach, Chris Haack agrees, "These guys play unbelievable summer schedules, and our tournaments during the year are tough.  It is now a year-round sport."

Watson remembers his college days like an after-thought.  He didn’t even get a scholarship to play at Stanford.  In the Summer he played a handful of events.  “I played in the national amateur, the Missouri Amateur, the Western Amateur and the Trans Mississippi.  That was essentially my Summer golf.”

Not for Henley, English, Uihlein, and what might be referred to as a new generation or breed of golfer.  Checking the current GOLFWEEK amateur rankings, Uihlein checks in at the top spot.

“What I think is different, is that the tournament offerings from the time they start as juniors, through their amateur career, is so vast.  It makes them battle tested for the top level,” said Haack.

The Georgia success does not end with English, Henley and what Kirk has done on tour.  Bryden Macpherson is headed to Augusta next April, after the University of Georgia junior earned a 3 and 2 victory in the 2010 British Amateur.  The rising Bulldog junior played at the Open Championship at Royal St. George’s where he missed the cut by a single stroke.

The game's median age is shifting downward, and the younger player are rising through the ranks at a faster rate.  It’s a collision course.  Not too long ago players like Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard and David Duval were once the young guns on the PGA Tour.  Not anymore.  The new breed are the twenty-set—players like Anthony Kim, Rory Mcllroy, and Rickie Fowler.