Colin Prater, a high school biology teacher, will play in the US Mid-Amateur later this week.
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Remember when the players were amateurs amateur golfers?
You may not, because with the ratification of ILE in 2021, one minute has passed. NIL, shorthand for “name, image and likeness,” allows college players (and all other college athletes, for that matter) to do what many observers thought was long overdue: monetize talent their through endorsement agreements. The same goes for high school players, at least in some parts of the country. Take Mia Hammond, a high school sophomore from Ohio who signed on with a management company earlier this year. Because Ohio is not among the 33 states (plus Washington, DC) that allow high school athletes to collect NIL dollars, Hammond was forced to forfeit his high school eligibility.
The top level of the college game is also filled with amateurs who are still only technically amateurs. When Nick Dunlapthen a sophomore at the University of Alabama, won the US Amateur award last year, he was put on badges by Adidas, TaylorMade and True Temper. When Rose Zhang won as an amateur in her first LPGA start, she sported more logos than a stock car. Participate in any of the other elite amateur competitions of the game – North and South, Sunnehanna, Azalea, etc. — and you’ll run into a lot more college-aged players with one foot planted in the morning game and another stretched toward the riches of the pro ranks.
All of which is why I’m a little bit in love with one of this week’s main events: US Intermediate Amateurthe premier tournament for amateurs age 25 and older for whom, as the USGA says, “the game is truly a profession.” Call me old school, but in this age of college stars landing gear and apparel and teenagers fearlessly climbing the PGA Tour leaderboard, there’s something refreshing, even odd, about mid-morning when a teacher school might face a financial advisor, or a retired police officer with a Silicon Valley scarf.
This is not to say that all of the mid-morning participants are modern-day Bobby Jonesdiligently rationalizing their time between the office and the range. But enough participants ARE that on the eve of the event — this year’s edition is at two regional courses in Richmond, Va., Independence and Kinloch — I always look forward to scanning the USGA’s field division. The 2024 analysis arrived in my inbox on Wednesday via USGA communications team member Brian DePasquale, and it did not disappoint.
Move the long delivery and you’ll learn that the average age in the Mid-Am field is 35.53; the oldest player, Michael McCoy, 61, is preparing to play in his record 25th Mid-Am; and players are coming to Richmond from far and wide: 41 states and 22 countries are represented. But the funnest parts are toward the end, in the “Player Notes” section, which reveals that while the Mid-Am may not have the best course in golf, it may well have the most interesting.
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Take Mark Gardiner, 61, a retired Air Force chief master sergeant from Washington, Utah. Gardiner, who will be playing in his second Mid-Am, is a former member of the US Air Force and Army golf teams. He once played golf with a Ugandan general in Scotland (“He might have shot 120,” Gardiner once said, “but he was a pleasure to play with”), and if all that isn’t impressive enough, Gardiner is also quite capable. bowler to have qualified for a Professional Bowlers Association event.
Speaking of two-sport athletes, Jack Barber will fill you with envy. You’ve probably already figured out that Barber is good at golf — he shot a 65 in Indiana’s Mid-Am qualifier — but the 27-year-old Californian’s tennis game is even better, or at least it was in a previous life. . Barber played on Stanford University’s tennis team when it was ranked second in the nation before being sidelined by wrist surgery and pursuing a different type of ball.
Perhaps Bobby Massa, who is playing in his third half of the morning, could have offered Barber rehab advice. Massa, 36, is a Dallas-based personal trainer who works out of a gym run by former professional basketball player Melvin Sanders. Massa’s specialty: helping golfers develop speed. Another Mid-Am competitor’s livelihood also depends on speed — not the type of golf. Jeronimo Esteve, 43, of Puerto Rico and a veteran of 11 USGA championships, is the VP of an automotive group and also a race car driving instructor.
Let’s see… who else do we have on the warehouse sheet? The Mayor of South Greensburg, Pa. (Kevin Faith); founder of Tremont Sporting Company, which manufactures custom golf accessories (Christian Cavaliere); South Dakota State University Men’s Golf Coach (Parker Edens); the owner of a kitchen and bath reno company (Drew Kittleson); an optometrist from Northern Ireland (Matthew McClean); and an oil and gas investment executive who played with Rickie Fowler at Oklahoma State (Trent Leon).
Shall we continue? we will!
Also in the mix are a golf course architect (Lukas Michel); certified public accountant with PhD (Brett Patterson); high school history teacher (Todd White) and also a high school biology teacher who got sick of golf may be remembered from this year’s US Open (Colin Prater); the real estate broker who was drafted by the San Diego Padres (Charles “Boomer” White); and Registered Nurse Anesthetist (Trent Peterson).
Alas, there is no Bobby Jones on the field, but there IS a Ben Hogan, as in 43-year-old Ben Hogan of Wellington, Ohio, a retired police officer with a name that pleases golfers’ ears. Hogan, who retired from the force but still volunteers at a local department, is playing in his second straight US Mid-Am; A year ago at Sleepy Hollow in New York’s Hudson Valley, he shot 77-83 and fell short of the playoff.
“People just assumed I must be really good at golf because of my name,” Hogan told me. in an interview last year. “I always had to prove my golf.”
Two appearances straight in the middle of the morning? Consider Hogan’s game proven.
