SAN FRANCISCO – The average age for this week's inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball was nearly 35, so for competitors forced to go back-to-back 36-hole days on Olympic Club’s rolling hills, fatigue could be a factor Wednesday.
Greg Earnhardt, 46, of North Carolina, said he had shin splints when he finished his match Tuesday, and his feet were sore and blistered, as well. He was hobbling around the clubhouse at Olympic in bare feet, doing his best to find a whirlpool.
Partners Scott Harvey and Todd Mitchell, who will play Earnhardt and his partner, Sherrill Britt, on Wednesday, looked at each other and laughed when the subject of fatigue was broached.
“I talked to my wife last night and said, ‘We’re in separate beds, but we’re both under the covers and it’s like 7:08 p.m.,’ ” Mitchell, 36, a former minor-league baseball player, said. “I said, 'I’ve never done this before.' We’re getting lots of sleep, you know.”
Harvey said, sighing, “I’m tired.”
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TOUGH CALL: Sam Burns had a difficult decision to make this week: Would he play for his high school, Calvary Baptist Academy, in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s Division III Championship in Lafayette? Or would he stay in San Francisco after qualifying for the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball?
If he’d returned home, it meant his U.S. Amateur Four-Ball teammate, Austin Connelly, would have to go it alone. Burns' decision basically was made for him when high school teammate Nathan Jeansonne, another top junior, injured a hand and couldn’t compete at the state championship. So instead of trying to lift Calvary to a sixth consecutive title – and chase his fourth consecutive individual crown – Burns, an LSU commit, stayed in San Francisco, hoping to get his name on a different trophy.
“I have kind of mixed emotions about it,” Burns said Tuesday. “The reason I didn’t go back is one of our best players got hurt, so he couldn’t play, so I didn’t think we’d have a chance to win. But obviously I wanted to be there with my teammates for my last year and have that experience with them one more time. ...
“Really, whatever decision I made, someone was going to think it was the wrong one anyways, so it’s kind of a tough spot to be in. But sometimes you just have to make tough decisions, and that’s what it was.”
Burns and Connelly advanced to the semifinals with two victories Tuesday, and will take on Nathan Smith and Todd White.
COACH’S VIEW: Arizona State men's coach Tim Mickelson was knocked out of the Four-Ball in Tuesday’s Round of 16 when he and teammate Jake Yount, who played for Mickelson when he coached at San Diego, dropped a 3-and-1 match to Texans Zach Atkinson and James Edmondson.
Mickelson doesn’t get to play or compete much this time of year, so it was understandable that he endured a few rough holes in the middle of the back nine. Actually, the way he sees it, weathering the ups and downs of competition is something that gives the 37-year-old coach some valuable perspective.
“That’s part of the reason that I still play tournaments, so that I don’t forget or lose sight of the feeling of a 4- or 6-footer like I had on 16 today (that he missed), and the nerves that go through your mind,” he said. “And by staying competitive, it also helps me later on, when I’m at a college tournament, at least be more sympathetic to what’s happening.”
Mickelson has made a couple of runs at the U.S. Mid-Am, making it to the quarters in 2007 and 2010, and says he’ll compete again this October if the dates fit into his coaching schedule at ASU. One interested party following his progress this week at Olympic? Older brother Phil, who is in Florida at The Players Championship.
“Phil told me yesterday how cool he thinks the event is, and that he was disappointed that this event wasn’t around back when he was in college,” Tim said. “So he was sort of bummed he was never able to play in it but happy that I was able to partake. He texted me from the plane, saying ‘Congrats’ on winning the first match. He’s been keeping in touch.”
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FRIENDLY FOES: Sixteen-year-olds Kyle Suppa and Kyosuke Hara, the youngest competitors in this week’s event, were bounced in the Round of 16, losing to brothers Jason and Ryan Higton of Fresno, Calif., 2 and 1.
“It was a great experience, and I think I learned a lot,” said Hara, who on Monday had the first ace in the history of the Four-Ball, holing an 8-iron at the par-3 15th hole on Olympic's Lake Course. “It was definitely fun. We’ve played four-ball together before, so we figured, why not try to qualify for this?”
What’s next for the two? Well, they were scheduled to fly home to Kona on Wednesday, and on Thursday, the two will compete against each other at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association’s State Championships at Waikoloa’s Kings' Course. Hara plays for Moanalua High; Suppa plays for Punahou, Michelle Wie’s alma mater, which has won the state championship in each of the last two years.
“Yeah,” said Hara, “me and Kyle, we’re rivals this time. I think the two of us are pretty used to that. We enjoy playing against each other. It’s usually quite a battle.”
BACK TO REALITY: Bryson DeChambeau and Austin Smotherman clearly were stung by their Tuesday morning loss to Todd White and Nathan Smith, but now that their week is done at the Four-Ball, it’s time to get back to the books at SMU, where both are wrapping up their junior years.
Smotherman had a group project in Advertising due, as well as a final in Sports Management Skills. DeChambeau had been home in Dallas only one day since the Mustangs left April 24 for the American Athletic Conference Championships in Lecanto, Fla. He has four finals awaiting him when he gets back to campus. So even on Monday night, the two players were trying to arrange dinner plans that still allowed for at least 90 minutes of study time.
So, what is DeChambeau’s lineup for finals? Here goes: Quantum Mechanics; Astrophysics and Cosmology; History of Photography; and International MacroEconomics Policy and Theory. He’d already taken an Electricity and Magnetism Lab final the day between the AACs and departing for the U.S. Four-Ball.
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BACK IN THE LOOP: James Edmondson, who caddies for Ryan Palmer on the PGA Tour, was scheduled to catch a flight out of San Francisco late Tuesday for Jacksonville (through Miami) in order to get to work at this week’s Players Championship.
He and partner Zach Atkinson lost in the afternoon quarterfinals; had they won, Edmondson said he had a contingency plan in place for Wednesday play and Thursday work, though he wouldn’t say what it was. (Palmer has a 7:46 a.m. tee time at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday.)
“We’ll cross that bridge later,” Edmondson said between matches Tuesday.
Edmondson was expected to arrive shortly before 10 a.m. Wednesday in Jacksonville, and figures he’ll loop nine holes for Palmer in the afternoon.
At the Four-Ball, where many players employed either caddies or push carts, Edmondson lugged his own bag for 33 holes on Tuesday. It was lighter than the usual one he totes. Last week, when Palmer was competing across the lake from Olympic at the Cadillac-WGC Match Play at Harding Park, Edmondson wasn’t sure he’d be able to get free to join Atkinson in the qualifying rounds. But Palmer did not advance through his group, and Edmondson-Atkinson not only qualified on the weekend but won two matches.
“This is what happens when you don’t have expectations,” said Edmondson, who is a good player in his own right. He’s a four-time club champion at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.
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