PGA Tour Confidential: Here Come the Amateurs

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: July 29, 2011

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Pick an amateur storyline.  

Tom Lewis at the British Open, Patrick Cantlay and Russell Henley at the U.S. Open, reigning U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein's campaign or even surprise British Amateur Champion, Bryden Macpherson.  Pick one.

The amateurs are coming.  And what what was once a wide margin between amateur and professional golf is moving closer.  The distance is not a Bobby Jones one-iron, but somewhere between a blade of grass and the width of a golf tee.

University of Georgia’s Harris English won the Nationwide event in Columbus, OH, last week, the second time this year an amateur beat the pros. English narrowly beat another amateur, LSU’s John Peterson.  Peterson was the 2010 NCAA individual champion.

The Scarlet course at Ohio State looked more like a college invitational.  Nationwide regular Kyle Reifers won the $144,000 first prize by finishing tied for second.  Not a bad consolation prize.  

English joined his college teammate, Henley, who won another Nationwide event (the Stadion Classic) in May at his home college course in Athens, GA.   

What’s happening?

Tom Watson, competing at the Greenbrier Classic, was asked why these amateurs are competing with the big boys.  He said, “The amateurs of today are pros.  They play a lot of competition, and they have the trainers like the pros.  They have the coaches like the pros.  They have the video equipment like the pros.”  Watson came up with an acronym for the new category in golf.  “What do you call them, Ainos—A-I-N-O—amateur in name only.”

Ignited by the reference, Watson reflected on his time at Stanford as a college player.  He played only in the spring quarter during his time (1969-71) in Palo Alto. 

He said, “We played high schools, colleg...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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