The greatest US Amateur ever?

[Wade Whitehead]

I wish the BBC covered the US Amateur.

WW

[Tim_Cronin]

We're lucky it's on TV at all. The USGA insists on it (and the Women's Open and Senior Open) in the U.S. Open contract, and have since 1965.

[RJ_Daley]

One talks about some of the legendary tournaments of the by-gone era.  We focus on the result, the heroic winner, and the legend and lore.  But, what about the actual progression of the tournament by the field?  What sort of golf and on what sort of course were some of those legendary tournaments played, and in what conditions.  If one were really going to try and answer which was the greatest US Am tournament, ever, shouldn't one also have a good understanding of the whole tournament and how it transpired with the play, the field, and the outcome?

As for this CB edition, I found it to be a great tournament, in varied conditions, on a demanding and unique course, with a very skilled field of mostly young players.  We saw some very good shot making, and creativity in how various players played the course.  And, despite tape delays and the like, we did actually get to see it as opposed to flimsy and well hidden in archives written accounts of the legendary ones, with heavy hero tauting prose by a few of said writers. 

[Howard Riefs]

The Steve Scott - Tiger Woods final match was arguably the greatest final match ever, but Newport, its matches, its legacy and winner stand as the greatest US Am ever.

Very good Golf.com film on the 1996 U.S. Am. Well worth 12 minutes...


http://www.golf.com/video/tiger-woods-steve-scott-and-1996-us-amateur

[Bill McKinley]

Great video. Thanks for posting Howard.

[Bill Shamleffer]

The greatest US Am ever?  I have no idea.

I have attended 2 US Ams & 1 Women's Am.  Watched many on TV.  All 3 of Tigers were great TV.


But my still favorite, that I saw on TV, was Nathaniel Crosby's win at Olympic in 1981.

[David_Tepper]

"But my still favorite, that I saw on TV, was Nathaniel Crosby's win at Olympic in 1981."

Bill S. -

I was out there for the semis and the finals that weekend. The rough for that tournament was as deep or deeper than for any of the Open's subsequently held on the Lake.

DT

[John Blain]

David-
To underscore your statement about how tough Olympic played for the 1981 U.S. Amateur all you need to know is that a score of 156 qualified (or played off) for match play that year. That's 14 shots higher than what played off for match play this week at Oakland Hills.
-JPB

[David_Tepper]

JPBlain -

Thanks for that info.

If you can find out what it took to qualify for matchplay in the U.S. Am at Olympic in 2007, that would be an interesting comparison stat. The medalist shot 145 at Olympic in 1981 vs. the medalist score of 137 at Olympic in 2007.

I played the Lake maybe 2 weeks before the 1981 Am and I remember being shocked at how deep the rough was. It was a case of finding your ball in the rough, going back to your golf bag to get a club and then having to look for your ball all over again.

DT

[John Blain]

David-
It took a score of 147 to make the match play back in 2007. Colt Knost won the event.
Going back to the 1981 event if memory serves me correctly Crosby beat some formidable players on his way to the final including an upset of Willie Wood in the semifinals. He just seemed destined to win that week.
A lot people forget that Crosby had a nice amateur career including wins in the Porter Cup and the Middle Atlantic Amateur and was the on-site qualifying medalist at the 1979 US Junior Amateur.
JPB

[David_Tepper]

JPB -

Thanks again for the 2007 info.
 
Yes, Crosby upset Willie Wood in the semis and Brian Lindley in the finals. I remember he pulled off some remarkable recovery shots from under the trees in both matches. No doubt Crosby had a certain advantage being a Bay Area native.

It will be interesting to see how the course is set up and what sort of scores the women shoot when the Women's Open is held there in 2021.

DT

[Jim Hoak]

I'd put forth the 1959 Amateur at Broadmoor, where a very young man named Nicklaus beat Charlie Coe, probably the best life-time amateur ever other than Bobby Jones, on the 36th hole.

[Sean_A]

I'd put forth the 1959 Amateur at Broadmoor, where a very young man named Nicklaus beat Charlie Coe, probably the best life-time amateur ever other than Bobby Jones, on the 36th hole.

Poor ole Harold Hilton.  People always overlook this man's record.  I reckon he is probably one of the best 25 players ever to play the game and most certainly the second best lifetime amateur.


In 1892, he won The Open Championship at Muirfield becoming the second amateur to do so. He won again in 1897 at his home club, Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake. The only other amateurs who have won the Open Championship are Bobby Jones and John Ball. Hilton also won The Amateur Championship on four occasions, including 1911, when he became the only British player to win the British and U.S. Amateurs in the same year. Hilton retired with a 99–29 record at The Amateur Championship.

Ciao

[Ronald Montesano]

I'm chuckling as I examine my thread-starter. At the time, you had four amateurs, filled with promise. If you had said that Ben An would, six years later, have the strongest professional record, you might have had doubters.


I didn't foresee Chung completely abandoning golf, Cantlay having massive struggles in professional golf, and Uihlein playing his professional golf in Europe. An is the only one following script, perhaps exceeding it. At the time, though, they were four of the strongest resumes in amateur golf.


If anything, I should have learned to modulate the titles to my threads. This one reeks of embellishment, enhancement, hyperbole and (aghast) periphrasis.

[David_Tepper]

Lawson Little is likely the most overlooked name in the history of amateur golf. His "double-double" of winning the US & British Am's back-to-back in 1934 & 1935 is one of the greatest achievements in amateur golf. No one else has ever done it and I doubt anyone ever will.

Bobby Jones, Harold Hilton and Bob Dickson are the only other golfers to win both Am's in the same year.