On Tuesday July 17th, we traveled two and a half hours to Springfield, NJ to watch the second round of the 71st US Junior Amateur (eighteen and under) at Baltusrol Golf Club (see Bad Golf Guy post “Baltusrol” by clicking HERE). The trip was equal part nostalgic (having grown up in Springfield and caddied at Baltusrol through my teens) and equal part exploratory (following USGA Rules Official Paul Romano on assignment). The US Junior Amateur is the ultimate test of endurance and resiliency as the winner and the runner-up could play as many as 162 holes of golf in six days!
Junior Amateur Format (156 players):
- Monday: Stroke Play/One Round (Upper & Lower Course*)
- Tuesday: Stroke Play/One Round (Upper & Lower Course)
- Wednesday: Match Play/Round of 64 (Upper Course)
- Thursday: Match Play/Round of 32 & Round of 16 (Upper Course)
- Friday: Match Play/Round of 8 & Round of 4 (Upper Course)
- Saturday: Match Play/Final Round of 2/36 holes (Upper Course)
*Upper Course: 7,312- yards/Par 71
*Lower Course: 7,280- yards/Par 70
Facts:
- Entries: 3,693- (Worldwide)
- Eligibility: Player’s Index cannot exceed 4.4
- Average age: 17.06
- Seven, fourteen year-olds qualified
- 36 states were represented
- 18 countries were represented
- Shuai Ming Wong (Hong Kong), competed in his 5th straight US Junior Amateur.
- Cole Hammer (United States), competed in his 4th US Junior Amateur. Cole was the third youngest player (15) to ever compete in a US Open (2015/Chambers Bay).
- Tiger Woods won the US Junior Amateur in 1991, 1992, 1993, Jordan Spieth won the US Junior Amateur in 2009, 2011.
- The 1999 US Junior Amateur was won by Hunter Mahan at the Country Club of York.
- Michael Thorbjornsen/United States (winner of the 2018 US Junior Amateur) received an automatic bid to the 119th US Open Championship at Pebble Beach in 2019.
As we pulled into Baltusrol at approximately 7:25 am, the pageantry of a typical PGA Tour event was visible however everything else (except for the quality of play and the conduct of the players) was significantly different!
To be continued next Sunday (Part Two of Two)
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The back nine can only get better!
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