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Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Miller headed for Shinnecock afrer surviving 'Golf's Longest Day'


   You can’t really do “Golf’s Longest Day” -- otherwise known as the grueling test that is 36 holes of sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open, -- justice in a blog post.
   I scanned the results from all around the country as Monday turned to Tuesday. I can only offer highlights, many of them focused on the guys who advanced out of the Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local qualifiers last month at Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, N.J. and DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del. And there were two other GAP local qualifiers I never really got around to reviewing.
   But to scan those lists is to see the overwhelming amount of golf talent that is out there. So many good players failed to make the field for our National Open, which will tee off June 14 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, the William Flynn classic on the eastern tip of Long Island.
   If there was anyone I was rooting for more than anybody else to make it to Shinnecock as the scores started to roll in, it had to be Cole Miller, a product of Northwestern Lehigh who recently completed one of the great careers in the history of the Penn State golf program.
   I’m sure Miller was disappointed when he couldn’t get the Nittany Lions over the hump in the Columbus Regional as they finished sixth, seven shots out of the fifth-place finish they needed to reach the NCAA Championship for a second straight year.
   The week before the regional, Miller endured a four-hole playoff that began in the twilight of one day and finished in the morning of the next day at DuPont to grab the last ticket to the sectionals out of the local qualifier. He apparently has turned pro since the conclusion of his senior season at Penn State.
   Monday at Woodmont Country Club, Miller, the individual champion in the 2017 NCAA Washington Regional, made the most of the second chance he earned that day at DuPont. Miller added a 3-under 69 to his opening-round 70 for a 5-under 139 total that earned him a ticket to Shinnecock.
   He finished alone in third in a 36-hole test in which 53 pros and amateurs were competing for just four berths in the U.S. Open.
   Medalist honors at Woodmont went to Sebastian Munoz of Colombia, who put together rounds of 67 and 69 for an 8-under 136 total. Timothy Wilkinson, a pro from Jacksonville, Fla., was two shots behind Munoz in second with rounds of 68 and 70 for a 6-under 138 total.
   Three players battled it out of the final berth after finishing tied for fourth at 3-under 141, two shots behind Miller. Mickey DeMorat, a Merritt Island, Fla. resident who recently completed his career at Liberty University, prevailed in the playoff over Chase Wright, a Web.com competitor from Carmel, Ind., and PGA Tour pro Billy Hurley III, a product of the Naval Academy.
   The last Penn State golfer to win an NCAA Regional individual title before Miller did, T.J. Howe, just missed for the second straight year at Woodmont. A pro who resides in Bellefonte, Howe had rounds of 73 and 69 for a 2-under 142 total that left him a shot out of the playoff.
   Former Temple standout Patrick Ross, whose final act as an amateur was to win medalist honors in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur qualifying at Merion Golf Club’s East Course two years ago, had rounds of 71 and 73 for an even-par 144 total.
   U.S. Senior Amateur champion Sean Knapp, the one-time Oakmont Country Club caddy who became one of western Pennsylvania’s top amateurs, had rounds of 72 and 75 for a 3-over 147 total.
   Vince Covello, the Havertown native who plays on the Web.com Tour and claimed medalist honors in the Hidden Creek qualifier, had rounds of 73 and 75 for a 148 total. Also at 148 was Craig Hornberger, the 2012 PIAA champion as a senior at Manheim Township who had rounds of 75 and 73. Hornberger is playing professionally.
   Danny Dougherty, the Tower Hill School senior who was one of three co-medalists on his home course in the qualifier at DuPont, had an understandably rough time with rounds of 88 and 84 for a 172 total. Headed for Villanova, Dougherty will be a better player Tuesday than he was Monday for having played the 36 holes of a U.S. Open sectional qualifier.
   Miller was nearly joined at Shinnecock by Penn State teammate Ryan Davis of Berkeley Heights, N.J. Davis, coming off his sophomore season at Penn State, is the second alternate out of the Canoe Brook Country Club qualifier in Summit, N.J.
   Davis carded a 67 on Canoe Brook’s South course and added a 71 in the afternoon for a 3-under 138 total that was one shot behind the last of the five tickets available to Shinnecock. That went to recent Vanderbilt graduate Theo Humphrey of Greenwich, Conn., the No. 12 player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), although he might be turning pro between now and the time he tees off at Shinnecock. Humphrey survived a playoff for that final spot.
   The co-medalists at Canoe Brook were Cameron Wilson, the 2014 NCAA individual champion at Stanford from Rowayton, Conn., and Colum Hill, a Scotsman who has been an assistant coach at Western New Mexico, where he played collegiately, the last two seasons. Both landed at 7-under 135, Wilson added a 66 at the South Course to a morning 69 at the North Course while Hill posted a 67 at the South in the morning and added a 68 at the North in the afternoon.
   Also earning a ticket to Shinnecock at Canoe Brook was Stewart Hagestad, who quite dramatically rallied from 4-down with five holes to play to win the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Stonewall on a glorious September day. A few hundred golf fanatics from the Philadelphia area, myself included, got to witness Hagestad’s victory.
   Hagestad followed that up in 2017 by becoming the first mid-am to make the cut at The Masters and then helping the U.S. team roll to a Walker Cup victory over Great Britain & Ireland on a Los Angeles Country Club course he played growing up. Hagestad had a 66 in the afternoon at the South after opening with a 70 on the North to earn a spot in the U.S. Open for the second straight year.
   Hagestad was joined at 136 by Mike Miller, a pro from Brewster, N.Y. who had a 66 on the South in the morning and a 70 on the North in the afternoon. Miller also made the field for the Open at Oakmont two years ago.
   One of the more intriguing stories at Canoe Brook was Brielle, N.J. teen-ager Jack Wall, a junior at Christian Brothers Academy. Wall had a 70 in the morning at the South Course and a 69 on the North in the afternoon to finish just two shots out of the playoff. Pretty good playing in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier for the South Carolina recruit.
   Philadelphia Cricket Club assistant pro Mark Miller got off to a good start with a 68 on the South Course, but a 74 on the North in the afternoon left him at even-par 142.
   Waynesborough Country Club assistant pro Zachary Oakley, another of the co-medalists in the qualifier at DuPont, added a 71 on the North Course to his opening 74 at the South for a 145 total.
   Stephen Cerbara, the 2015 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Holy Ghost Prep, added a 75 at the South Course to his opening 72 at the North for a 147 total. Cerbara will join Ben Feld’s Drexel program later this summer. He was originally a Furman recruit and I’m pretty sure he spent his freshman season there.
   Alexander Hicks, the Cape May Courthouse, N.J. native who was the runnerup in the 2013 BMW Philadelphia Amateur, added a 74 at the North Course to his 75 in the morning at the South for a 149 total. Hicks, playing professionally these days, was the runnerup to Covello in the local qualifier at Hidden Creek.
   The Big Ten Championship broke out all over again in the sectional qualifier at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio.
   Ohio State’s Will Grimmer, a senior from Cincinnati, outdueled recent Illinois graduate Dylan Meyer for medalist honors at Springfield.
   Grimmer, who has been one of the Big Ten’s top players during his first three years in Columbus, had rounds of 66 and 69 for a 5-under 135 total. It looks like Meyer of Evansville, Ind. has turned pro since the Big Ten champion Fighting Illini failed to advance to match play in last week’s NCAA Championship, but is still listed as No. 6 in the WAGR. Meyer had a pair of 68s to finish a shot behind Grimmer at 4-under 136.
   Another Big Ten standout, Northwestern’s Ryan Lumsden of England is going to Shinnecock after advancing out of probably the most intimidating sectional of all at Brookside Golf & Country Club and the Lakes Golf & Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.
   There were 14 berths to the Open available in Columbus, but the field of 120 players included many of the non-exempt PGA Tour pros who you might have seen on TV over the weekend playing in The Memorial.
   A week ago, Lumsden, finishing up his junior season, shared the opening-round lead at Karsten Creek Golf Club and the Wildcats were ahead of the pack in the team chase. Lumsden and Northwestern faded in the ensuing rounds, but Lumsden certainly showed he can compete with the best with a 68 at Brookside and a 70 at the Lakes for a 138 total that left him tied for 10th with four other players. He made it right on the number.
   One of those guys he was tied with was 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott. The Aussie has been floating just outside the top-60 in the World Golf Ranking. Being inside that top 60 automatically puts a player in the  U.S. Open field.
   Scott emerged from The Memorial at 61st in the World Golf Ranking and he could still move back into the top 60 depending on the results of this weekend’s PGA Tour stop in Memphis, among other worldwide golf tournaments. But Scott went out and made sure, firing a 66 in the morning at Brookside and adding a 72 at the Lakes.
   I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the most dominating performance I came across in the sectionals. Former LSU standout Sam Burns had waited to start his professional career last summer because he had hoped to be chosen to the U.S. Walker Cup team. He was probably the most talented player left off a very talented team.
   Monday, Burns claimed medalist honors in the qualifier at Ridgeway Country Club and Colonial Country Club’s South Course in Memphis with a ridiculous 15-under 128 total. Burns started his day with a little 9-under 62 at Ridgeway and “cooled off” with an afternoon 66 at Colonial South.
   The 2017 and 2016 NCAA individual champions also earned tickets to Shinnecock in the Memphis sectional.
   Ole Miss’ Braden Thornberry, a junior from Olive Branch, Miss. who captured the NCAA title a year ago at Rich Harvest Farms, finished tied for fourth, adding a 68 at Colonial South in afternoon to the sparkling 66 he fired at Ridgeway in the morning. Thornberry is one of the players who did beat out Burns for one of those coveted berths on last summer’s U.S. Walker Cup team.
   Aaron Wise, who won the 2016 NCAA individual title while leading Oregon to the team title on the Ducks’ home course at Eugene Country Club, finished tied for ninth at 7-under 136. Wise, coming off his first PGA Tour win last month in the AT&T Byron Nelson, fired a 66 at Colonial South in the morning before adding a 70 at Ridgeway.
   LSU was the No. 1 seed in the NCAA’s Stockton Regional last month and the Tigers failed to advance to the NCAA Championship. I’m sure it was bitterly disappointing for one of college golf’s strongest programs.
   But it was a pretty nice day for LSU golf in the Open sectional at the Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Richmond, Texas Monday. Two of the Tigers’ young stars, Jacob Bergeron, a sophomore from Slidell, La., and Philip Barbaree, a junior from Shreveport, La., shared medalist honors at 11-under 133.
   Bergeron opened with a sizzling 8-under 64 and added a 3-under 69 in the afternoon while Barbaree opened with a 68 and closed fast with a 7-under 65.
   The great thing about “Golf’s Longest Day” is that you couldn’t possibly round up all the great stories about dreams fulfilled and heartbreaking close calls in one blog post. There will be scores of golf tales told and retold all over the country Tuesday. I barely scratched the surface.




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