Piot wins one for his home state of Michigan, for Sparty and for the Big Ten by beating Greaser in U.S. Amateur final at Oakmont

   Fixed this post to give U.S. Amateur champion James Piot credit for his individual accomplishments in the NCAA postseason. 

   Michigan State’s James Piot, competing as an individual, advanced to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. by finishing in a tie for fourth place in the NCAA Kingston Springs Regional at the Golf Club of Tennessee in the spring.

   It was something of an unsatisfying spring for Piot in that the Spartans did not receive an NCAA regional bid as a team, but he made the most of it, coming up short of playing in the final round at Graythawk as he stood in a tie for 90th place after three rounds.

   The Big Ten wouldn’t allow its golfers to compete last fall, somehow equating golf with football, although the football players were ultimately allowed to play. Hey, it was a worldwide pandemic, the golfers understood.

   Assuming we can get the suddenly resurgent coronavirus under some kind of control, Piot will return for a fifth season with Sparty as a U.S. Amateur champion, the first Michigander to ever have his name inscribed on the Havemeyer Trophy.

   Piot of Canton, Mich. represented the state of Michigan, certainly Michigan State and the Big Ten quite admirably Sunday on arguably the toughest golf course in America when he rallied on the back nine at Oakmont Country Club, the Henry Fownes classic in suburban Pittsburgh, to defeat a very game Austin Greaser, a junior at North Carolina, 2 and 1, in the scheduled 36-hole final.

    When I last posted on the U.S. Amateur, West Virginia fifth-year player Mark Goetz, a Pittsburgh area home boy from Greensburg, was closing in on medalist honors in qualifying after thunderstorms had wreaked havoc on the U.S. Amateur schedule early last week.

   Goetz was less than two weeks removed from watching Carlisle’s John Peters make an eagle on the 54^th and final hole of the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at the classic finishing hole at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, to beat him by a shot. After opening with a 6-under-par 64 at the Longue Vue Club, Goetz finally finished off a 2-under 68 at Oakmont Aug. 11 to claim medalist honors by a shot with an 8-under 132 total.

   What was left of the Philadelphia area contingent was ousted in a 12-man playoff for the final spot in the match-play bracket as Merion Golf Club’s Peter Bradbeer, who really had a strong summer, and Galloway National Golf Club’s Lukas Clark both failed to grab that last ticket.

   Of course, the player who did survive that playoff, David Nyfjall, a senior at Northwestern from Sweden, proceeded to knock off Goetz in the first round of match play, which didn’t conclude until Aug. 12. Goetz had Nyfjall 3-down with four holes to play and Nyfjall won the last four holes to claim a 1-up victory.

   That set off a typically entertaining couple of rounds of match play as the USGA frantically got the match-play bracket back on schedule. While the heat never really let up, the storms did and the USGA did get the U.S. Amateur back on schedule by the time the quarterfinals were completed on Friday the 13^th.

   Fast forward, though, to the final, in which Piot held a narrow 1-up lead over Greaser of Vandalia, Ohio when they broke briefly for lunch after 18 holes.

   But by the time the match headed for a second tour of Oakmont’s back nine, Greaser had built a 3-up lead, winning the 27^th hole, the par-4 ninth, with a par.

   That’s when Piot went to work. He completed an undefeated run for the week in match play at the 414-yard, par-4 10^th hole by sending a 9-iron to four feet and converting the birdie try. A three-putt by Greaser at the 11^th hole, the 29^th of the match, enabled Piot to get back within 1-down.

   Piot then drew even by making a par at the par-5 12^th hole, the 30^th of the match. Piot took his first lead since the end of the morning round with a conceded birdie at the 13^th hole and, just that fast, the tables had been turned.

   Greaser rolled in a 20-footer for birdie at the short 14^th hole, but it only got him a half. Piot then extended his lead to 2-up with a par at the 502-yard, par-4 15^th hole when Greaser’s drive found the mini-Church Pews.

   After they halved the 16^th hole, both drove it into the bunker in front of the drivable, par-4 17^th hole, which always seems to play a pivotal role at Oakmont. Piot’s bunker shot found the bunker on the other side of the green, but he got the next one on the green 10 feet from the cup. Greaser couldn’t convert a birdie putt and when Piot dropped in his putt for a gutsy double-sandy par, the match was over.

   “When I got down, I knew that my driver had been a bit shaky,” Piot told the USGA website. “I just tried to stay confident in myself. I wanted to play the back nine in 4-under and I ended up playing it in 3-under.”

   In the latest update to the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), Piot rose 38 spots to No. 48 with Greaser climbing 29 spots to No. 53 after their outstanding showings at Oakmont.

   Piot got into match play comfortably, carding a solid 3-under 67 at the easier Longue Vue after opening with a 73 at Oakmont that left him ithe group tied for 31^st place at even-par 140 and seeded 29^th in the match-play bracket.

   As is often the case, one of the Piot’s toughest tests came right off the bat as he battled Cameron Sisk of San Diego to the 18^th hole before pulling out a 1-up victory. Sisk was a key contributor to an Arizona State team that reached the NCAA semifinals at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. before falling to Oklahoma.

   Piot took out the San Jose, Calif. portion of his bracket as he claimed a 4 and 3 victory in the second round over Eddy Lai, who was a senior at UCLA in the spring, before cruising into the quarterfinals with another 4 and 3 decision over Thomas Hutchison, a senior at UC-Davis.

   The waters, as you would expect, started getting deeper, but Piot was always up for the challenge. He pulled out a 3 and 1 victory in a Friday the 13^th quarterfinal match with Matt Sharpstene, a senior homeboy at Charlotte who had reached the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes before falling to SMU’s Ollie Osborne.

   That earned Piot a matchup on semifinal Saturday with North Florida sophomore Nick Grabelcik, winner of the Phil Mickelson Award as the top freshman in college golf who was ranked No. 28 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), making him the highest-ranked player left in the final four. North Florida has to be the most underrated really good golf school in Division I.

   The 22-year-old Piot seized control of the match by rattling off three straight wins at the ninth, 10^th – clearly his favorite hole at Oakmont -- and 11^th holes on his way to a 4 and 3 victory.

   Greaser’s sophomore season at North Carolina also didn’t start until after 2021 dawned as the Atlantic Coast Conference, much like the Big Ten, would not let its golfers compete last fall.

   But North Carolina was strong right from the outset in the spring, ultimately landing in the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk. The Tar Heels lost to Arizona State, 3.5-1.5, in the quarterfinals with Greaser getting the half-point by battling Sisk, Piot’s opening-round victim at Oakmont, to a draw to cap a really strong spring.

   Greaser matched par at Oakmont with a 70 in the second round of qualifying for match play after opening with a 1-under 69 at Longue Vue to finish in a tie for 24^th place with a 1-under 139 total and was seeded 24^th in the match-play bracket.

   Greaser opened match play with a 2 and 1 victory over Bo Andrews, an assistant golf coach at Tennessee, before claiming a 3 and 2 decision over Xavier Marcoux, a junior at Rutgers, in the second round.

   That earned Greaser a round-of-16 matchup with ACC rival Jacob Bridgeman, a senior at Clemson from Inman, S.C. Bridgeman was coming off a hard-fought, 1-up victory over China’s Bo Jin, so impressive in his runnerup finish to Bridgeman’s Clemson teammate Turk Pettit in the battle for the NCAA individual title at Grayhawk, in a second-round match. Bridgeman had finished in a tie for seventh place in qualifying for match play.

   But Greaser dusted Bridgeman, 6 and 4, to storm into the quarterfinals. Greaser then knocked off Ross Steelman of Columbia, Mo., 2 and 1, to reach the semifinals. Steelman will be another ACC rival of Greaser’s this season after Steelman transferred from Missouri to Georgia Tech following the spring season.

   Greaser faced a formidable opponent in the semifinals in Texas sophomore Travis Vick, whose world ranking rose to No. 20 in the aftermath of the U.S. Amateur.

   Vick had helped the Longhorns win the team title in the NCAA’s Noblesville Regional at The Sagamore Club, although Texas never really fired in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk. After finishing in a tie for fourth place in qualifying for match play, Vick’s road to the semifinals included a 2 and 1 opening-round win over 2020 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Preston Summerhays and a 3 and 2 decision over Texas teammate Parker Coody in the second round.

   But Greaser stunned Vick by rattling off consecutive wins at the 11^th, 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes to take command of the match on his way to a 2 and 1 victory that earned him a date in the final with Piot.

   Along the way, there was no shortage of drama and great matchups, perhaps none better than the second-round meeting between UCLA’s Devon Bling, who lost in the final of the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, and Sam Houston’s William Holcomb V, who made a surprising run to the semifinals in the 2019 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst. Bling needed 21 holes to finally outlast Holcomb and reach the round of 16.

   Piot wasn’t the only winner last week. Oakmont, as always, was one of the stars of the show. It was, as always, really hard. And yet, nobody complained about it being unfair. The best amateurs in the world were thrilled to have their games challenged by one of the toughest tests in golf.

   In the middle of U.S. Amateur week, the USGA announced that it would be coming back to Oakmont and to its counterpart in the eastern half of the Keystone State, Merion Golf Club’s East Course, many times in the decades to come.

   In addition to the 2025 U.S. Open that was already scheduled to be played at Oakmont, the course will be the site of the U.S. Women’s Open in 2028 and 2038, the U.S. Open in 2034, 2042 and 2049, the Walker Cup Match in 2033 and the 2046 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

   In addition to next year’s Curtis Cup Match and the 2026 U.S. Amateur already scheduled for Merion, the Grand Dame of the Main Line will stage the 2030 U.S. Open 100 years after Bobby Jones won the old Grand Slam by capturing the U.S. Amateur at Merion, the U.S. Women’s Open in 2034 and 2046 and the 2050 U.S. Open, 100 years after Ben Hogan’s epic U.S. Open victory that capped his comeback from a near fatal car accident.

   I don’t think I’ll still be around for that 2050 Open, but if I can hang in there until 2030 that would give me four Merion Opens as I was a forecaddie on No. 6 – and brown-nosed by way into the playoff, even holes – in 1971, caddied for Jay Cudd of Augusta, Ga. and Scioto Country Club in 1981, covered it for the Delaware County Daily Times in 2013 and 2030, well, who knows, maybe blogger in chief.