You knew when you were watching the Walker Cup Match at
Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course in 2009 that you were seeing some guys
on Buddy Marucci’s winning U.S. side that you would be watching for years to
come in the big leagues of professional golf.
And I’ve always tried to keep half an eye out for how some
of those guys were doing. That wasn’t hard to do on this Super Bowl weekend as
no fewer than five of those 2009 U.S. Walker Cup alumni teed it up in the Waste
Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale with four of them making the cut.
Meanwhile, at another desert course on the other side of the world, a sixth
member of that U.S. team was having a pretty good weekend in the Omega Dubai
Desert Classic.
It’s been almost eight years since a lot of those guys teed
it up at Merion and led the U.S. to a convincing 16.5-9.5 victory. And most of
them are still in their 20s. Many are veterans, but they’re still young guys.
The two best players from that team, Oklahoma State teammates
Rickie Fowler and Peter Uihlein, both had top finishes in their respective
events.
If your pre-Super Bowl viewing included a few stops at the
Phoenix Open, you probably noticed Fowler zooming up the leaderboard. His final
round of 7-under 65 left him in a tie for fourth with a 15-under 269 total. It
left him two shots out of the playoff in which Hideki Matsuyama eventually
outlasted Webb Simpson.
The 28-year-old Fowler is No. 14 in the World Golf Ranking. He
is coming off what, for him, was a disappointing 2016. He had no wins on the
PGA Tour, although he did pick off a European Tour victory at the Abu Dhabi
HSBC Championship early in the year.
But it wasn’t 2015 when he had two wins, including a
dramatic victory in the almost-major Tournament Players Championship. And it
wasn’t 2014 when he had 10 top 10s, finishing in the top five in all four
majors.
He’s piled up $530,133 in just three events. He’s just
getting started while many of his tour counterparts got a headstart during the
wraparound season that began in October. Some of us who watched him play the
leading man on the U.S. team at Merion in 2009 just can’t get it out of our
heads that we were looking at a future major champion.
Just on pure talent Uihlein was probably the best player on
that U.S. team. His considerable talent was on display this weekend as a
final-round 69 at Emirates Golf Club left him in a tie for fifth in the Omega
Dubai Desert Classic at 12-under 276. Sergio Garcia cruised to a three-shot win
over Henrik Stenson with Uihlein seven shots behind.
The 2010 U.S. Amateur champion is 27 and somehow his World
Golf Ranking is 200. He burst on the European Tour scene in 2013 with a victory
in the Madeira Islands Open in Portugal and was named the Henry Cotton Rookie
of the Year. But he hasn’t won since.
On the eve of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship last month,
Uihlein told Rex Hoggard of The Golf Channel that he’s content on the European
Tour and has no plans to play the PGA Tour anytime soon. He could easily work
himself onto the PGA Tour with a bustout season on the European circuit, but he
genuinely seems to enjoy being a world traveler.
One of these years in an Open Championship don’t be
surprised … just sayin’.
By the way, the winner of that Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
was also at Merion in 2009 as a member of the Great Britain & Ireland side.
Tommy Fleetwood outdueled Dustin Johnson, among others, for his second European
Tour victory. He has risen to No. 57 in the World Golf Ranking and if he can
get that number inside the top 50 by the end of March, he’ll stamp his ticket
to Augusta.
Meanwhile at TPC Scottsdale, three of the teammates of
Fowler and Uihlein at Merion on the U.S. side also cashed checks.
Brian Harman, the gritty left-hander, fired a 3-undere 69 in
Sunday’s final round to finish in a tie for 24th at 9-under 275. The
30-year-old Georgia product has two top 10s while making seven cuts in nine
starts this year and has already raked in $761,695.
Harman, who was also was in the field at Merion for the 2005
U.S. Amateur, is No. 99 in the World Golf Ranking. His best year was 2014 when
he won $2.4 million, including his lone tour win at the John Deere Classic. He
is a model of consistency, making the FedEx Cup playoffs each of the last five
years.
The third Oklahoma State Cowboy on that U.S. team in 2009
was Morgan Hoffmann, who had a final-round 71 Sunday and finished tied for 36th
at 7-under 277.
A native of Franklin Lakes, N.J., the 27-year-old Hoffmann is
No. 359 in the World Golf Ranking. He made the FedEx Cup playoffs three years in a
row before finishing just outside the top 125 in 2016. He’s got some work to do
after making just four cuts in eight starts this season, but he’s proven he can
compete with the big boys.
Bud Cauley posted a final-round 69 at TPC Scottsdale to
finish in a tie for 47th in the Phoenix Open. The 26-year-old
Alabama product, No. 188 in the World Golf Ranking, has finished outside the
top 125 in each of the last three seasons.
But his bid to return to the FedEx Cup playoffs got a big
boost last month when he finished in a tie for third at the CareerBuilder
Challenge, a direct descendant of the Bob Hope Desert Classic.
The only player in the field at the Phoenix Open from that
2009 U.S. Walker Cup team who failed to make the weekend was 29-year-old
Georgia Tech product Cameron Tringale.
Tringale, No. 239 in the World Golf Ranking, has made five
cuts in eight starts and has already pocketed $126,841 this season. He has made
the FedEx Cup playoffs six years in a row and seems well on his way to making
it seven straight years.
He cost himself $53,000 last summer when he reported to the
PGA Tour that his wave over the ball that he then tapped in during the final
round of the PGA Championship could have been considered a whiff. It was after
the tournament was over. Nobody knew about it, but it nagged him. He reported
it and the tour disqualified him.
Maybe that’s why I liked all those kids on that U.S. team so
much. The right way? It’s the only way they know.
One of the players tied with Cauley for 47th at TPC Scottsdale had
nothing to do with the 2009 Walker Cup, but when you’ve followed a guy like
Sean O’Hair since he was battling to reach the PGA Tour in something called the
New England Tour, you can’t help but keep an eye on his progress.
An adopted son of Delaware County after marrying former Sun
Valley standout Jackie Lucas, the 36-year-old O’Hair, No. 84 in the World Golf
Ranking, made the cut for the fifth time in five tries with a pair of top-10
finishes already this season.
After missing the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2013 and 2014 and
battling his way back on to the PGA Tour in the Web.com playoffs, O’Hair had a
solid 2015 and followed it up in 2016 with a FedEx Cup playoff run that took
him all the way to the Tour Championship.
He has earned more than $21 million and won four times on
tour, but his last victory was in the 2011 Canadian Open. It would be nice to
see him get back in the winner’s circle.
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