Matt Smith's US Amateur Experience

BY Anthony Powter | US Mens Amateur Tour | 2009 US Amateur Championship | General | 08 Sep 2009

As national titles go, the US Amateur is arguably the hardest to get into, the toughest to compete in, and the most prized of the amateur trophies to claim. Competing in the US Amateur field is an achievement in itself as Texan based Australian, Matt Smith, experienced a fortnight ago at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Smith was the sole Australian to qualify for this year’s championship and he progressed to the top-32 following a convincing 4&3 win over Andrew Funk in his opening match play round. Whilst Smith was understandably disappointed with not progressing further, the 22-year-old moves on with plenty of positives from playing in his first US Amateur.

Medalist honours that week at Southern Hills Country Club’s par-70, 7,093-yard layout went to 50-year-old Tim Jackson, who led the 2009 US Senior Open through 36 holes earlier this summer, after the American fired a second round 70 to leave him at even par after opening with a 2-under-par 68. Byeong-Hun An, a 17-year-old South Korean native, created history winning the 109th US Amateur Championship proper against Ben Martin, 7&5, and in the process became the youngest US Amateur champion.

Smith had finished the 45th qualifier moving into the match play section of the championship following the 36-hole stroke format, at 7-over-par with rounds of 78-69, a stroke inside the cut mark.

His goal coming into the event was to survive the 36-hole stroke qualification and then to take each day thereafter as it came. For Smith just being part of the match play segment had been an achievement in itself.

“Playing the US Amateur is something you have to strive for,” said Smith this week from his Texas base.

“You just don’t appreciate the magnitude of the event otherwise. The level of the competition is awesome. Competing in the US Amateur makes you more motivated to strive to be the best player that you can. For me it’s now a ’must’ try tournament and I’ll be aiming to play again next year for sure.”

Keeping in perspective that with limited qualification spots for the main draw proper, the challenge of making a US Amateur field presents a massive task. Apart from a small exemption category determined in advanced, which mainly consists of former USGA event winners, the majority of the 6,948 entries accepted by the USGA for the 2009 US Amateur had to play National qualifying conducted at one of the 99 sites across the US from July 20th to August 1st.

Smith finished with medalist honours in his National qualifying at The Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas, his playing base at Texas Tech where he’s in his third year at college studying Sports Science. His efforts more commendable given that for the last season in the US he had ’red-shirted’ himself from collegiate competition in an attempt to re-build his game.

Aside from other US based Australians that included Matt Giles at the University of South California, Tarquin MacManus at Arizona State and Augusta State based collegiate player Mitch Krywulycz, and some of our top amateurs like Matt Jager and Jason Scrivener, who scheduled qualification rounds in their US trip, it was a disappointing effort by many of our top amateurs who had again shy from US Amateur qualification.

An increased focus aimed at encouraging as many Australians to pre-qualify for the US Amateur is another aspect which administrators back in Australia must focus upon if we are to see a repeat of Nick Flanagan’s efforts at the 2003 US Amateur at Oakmont. Flanagan became the first Australian in 100 years and the first international player in 32 years to win the prestigious tournament.

The US Amateur must be planned into the US playing schedules of our emerging amateurs if they are to truly gauge their status on the world amateur stage.

Experience in recent times tells the story of how Matt Smith and others including Aron Price, Michael Sim, Bronson La Cassie, Rick Kulacz, Andrew Dodt, Tom Davis and David Lutterus, have found value from competing in the US Amateur.

Smith is adamant that he is a better player from the whole experience in Tulsa.

“The US Amateur is a ’must play’ tournament if you want to progress with your game,” says Smith, who was awarded the 2006 Vardon Trophy for the top amateur golfer in New South Wales and secured three amateur tournaments in Australia winning the Yowani Open Amateur, Australian Capital Territory Open and the Cromer Bowl before moving to the US in 2007.

“For me the last few weeks have been an amazing experience. The whole process is such a stern test. You know that you are playing the ’major’ of amateur golf and you try to avoid having expectations. I would try and put out of my mind the magnitude of the event and all the hype that goes with it and just focus on my game. But it was hard to do that.”

The nine days Smith spent competing not only hardened the Australian, but it awakened him as the level of competition in top-amateur golf in the US.

“My goal was just to get through the stroke play,” says Smith.

“Once through that the event becomes a whole other tournament in itself. So, I got myself into that mindset, ’Be prepared to play a really tough match today’. But the goal and objective each day is just to advance, and tomorrow would be a whole other affair. I’ve never really experienced such intensity as what I did competing in the US Amateur, it was something special and it was a major steeping stone for me.”

With 25 players from America making the top-32, Smith found that he did not feel out of place during the championship as ’bigger’ names like world number one, Rickie Fowler, became causalities, before Chile’s Nico Geyger ended Smith’s run, 3&2, in the round of 32.

Fowler was not the only high profile player to end their US Amateur early. From the first match play round of 64 the championship had been busted wide open after a number of pre-tournament favourites lost their opening rounds or had not being able to advance through the stroke qualification.

Nathan Smith, Brian Harman and Morgan Hoffmann, all inside the world’s top-20, the lost their matches on either the 18th or in extra holes. Brendan Gielow, Drew Weaver and Adam Mitchell, current 2009 US Walker Cup team members, didn’t advance out of stroke play.

Smith, ranked 473 in the world, had outlasted the lot of them. The 109th US Amateur Championship had been his finest achievement and Smith was leaving Tulsa with new found optimism with his game.

“Overall, I was extremely pleased with my result of making the round of 32,” said Smith.

“It was a little ’bitter sweet’, and I would have obviously liked to have gone on further. Keeping in perspective that 312 players teed it up on that Monday and to get into the top-64 in match play and then make it through that, it was quite and achievement for me and I’m pretty happy with that.”

Smith returns to college this week to prepare with his team mates at Texas Tech for the beginning of the US Collegiate series. In December, he plans to return to Australia and he’ll then hopefully gain a start at the NEC Master of the Amateurs in January.