Surprise finals all set at Publinks
Newman, Chin will battle for Masters invite
By Lynn DeBruin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Friday, July 18, 2008
SO CLOSE
Cason Hammock had just won his quarterfinal match Friday, with his sister on his bag and his dad walking the fairways, when the enormity of what he had just done hit him. And he broke down.
"If I win the next match, my mom's going to come out," he said, choking back the tears.
Hammock, a 23-year-old from Columbus, Ga., wouldn't, losing in the afternoon semifinals 3 and 1 to Michigan State's Jack Newman.
But the self-taught player with no pro aspirations proved something to himself.
"I did stuff I didn't think I could do this week," said Hammock, who wasn't ranked among Golf World's top 2,200 amateurs. "I'm happy. I'm proud of myself. I exceeded my goals. It was a real special week."
HELPING HAND
After he was eliminated in the quarterfinals, Randall Hutchison followed Michigan State teammate Newman's extra six holes in the morning, then caddied for him in the afternoon.
"He kept me relaxed," Newman said.
But Hutchison, who was scheduled to fly home early, won't be on Newman's bag for the finals.
HE SAID IT
"The only pressure you have is what you put on yourself."
Newman
GROUNDED
Corey Nagy isn't exactly the PGA's Camilo Villegas, who gets into Spider-Man contortions to read greens. Nagy gets down on all fours, with his chest hitting the ground and sometimes even his chin.
"If I were flexible enough," he said of copying Villegas. "I was having trouble putting and when you lay down you really get to see the lay of the land and where the ball is supposed to roll. I don't know why more players don't do it."
One barely made it through stroke play. The other would need nine extra holes to survive match play.
Now it's down to 36 holes, with a trip to the Masters on the line in today's finals of the 83rd U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Murphy Creek.
"You'd be lying if you're not thinking about going to the Masters," said Jack Newman, a junior- to-be at Michigan State, who needed three extra holes to advance Thursday and six extra in Friday morning's quarterfinal round.
At least he'll have his own private cheering section.
"There's going to be a caravan of Newmans coming out tonight (from Des Moines, Iowa)," he said of three older brothers and a sister. "I'm just going to go out there and freewheel it."
Why not?
Considering he entered the tourney ranked 1,227 in the world by Golf World and was the 20th seed after the stroke-play portion of the tournament.
If Newman was surprised to find himself in the finals, the same could be said about John Chin, a junior- to-be at UC Irvine.
He qualified for match play by just one shot and was down two holes with four to play in his first-round match Wednesday.
"That first match was probably the best ball-striking day, the best golf I've played, and it took me 20 holes to beat the guy," he said of outlasting Brandon Crick.
Chin, with his dad on his bag, left nothing to chance Friday, winning 4 and 3 over Jeff Dennis, then 4 and 3 over David Johnson.
"I just have to man up," the lefty said of the 36-hole final. "I'm either going to win or lose. What's the worse that can happen? Just to get into match play was the goal, and from there anything can happen."
That was evident throughout the tourney, one in which the medalist was ousted in the first round of match play and top amateurs Rickie Fowler and Billy Horschel were knocked out Thursday.
On Friday, Newman took care of the highest-remaining seed in Corey Nagy, though it was a match to remember.
Newman needed just a short putt on No. 18 to close out the match, a putt that wasn't much longer than the one he missed a day earlier that sent him to extra duty against Horschel.
"I actually thought about (that)," Newman said of the putt. "I hit it right where I wanted and it did a nice little horseshoe on me."
The lip-out sent him off to the front side again and after halving the first extra hole, he stuck his approach to within a foot on No. 2.
But Nagy, who gets down on his stomach and knees to read putts, still had some magic left in his putter.
He bombed one in from 50 feet.
"That's got to be the greatest putt I've ever made, especially when it meant so much," Nagy said.
In the end, it was a fairway bunker shot on No. 6 by Newman that did in Nagy.
Newman caught it perfectly with his hybrid and ended up just off the green. He got up and down from there, while Nagy couldn't.
"I was in the bunker and had hit a lip before with a hybrid, and I knew my dad wouldn't be happy with that club selection," Newman said.
"But I knew I could get it to the green and over the lip if I could hit it right."
He did, then went on to outlast No. 32 seed Cason Hammock 3 and 1 in the semifinals.
Instead of the short run that he often takes three or four times a week, he had a better plan after a grueling day in the heat.
"I'm going to go home and take a long shower," Newman said.
It was well-deserved.
RESULTS
Match Play, quarterfinals
Cason Hammock, Columbus, Ga. (143), d. Randall Hutchison, Traverse City, Mich. (144), 2-up; Jack Newman, Des Moines, Iowa (142), d. Corey Nagy, Charlotte, N.C. (137), 24 holes; David Johnson, Palm Bay, Fla. (143), d. Kyle Leach, Louisville, Ky. (141), 5 and 4; John Chin, Temecula, Calif. (146), d. Jeff Dennis, Jacksonville, Fla. (140), 4 and 3.
Semifinals
Newman d. Hammock, 3 and 1; Chin d. Johnson, 4 and 3.
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