I guess time flies, whether you”re having fun or not. Looking through a stack of old golf programs this past weekend, I came across my press info from the 2007 United States Amateur contested at San Francisco”s Olympic Club. For such a relatively short period of time, things have changed quite a bit in the world of sports during the past five years.
It was five years ago that LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals. Barry Bonds of the Giants hit his 756th home run – although I still think of Henry Aaron as the home run king. One of the Manning brothers won the Super Bowl, Peyton of the Colts. Kevin Durant of Texas was the college basketball player of the year. Roger Clemens was pitching for the Yankees as a 45-year-old. Tony Parker wed desperate housewife Eva Longoria. Locally, the Kelseyville High School golfing fivesome of Brent Hamilton, Schuyler Bloom, Nick Schaefer, Jonathan Bridges and Hipolito Perez Jr. had an unbeaten high school season to remember.
In professional golf, Zach Johnson wedged his way to the Masters title, Angel Cabrera captured the U.S. Open at Oakmont, and Irishman Padraig Harrington took home the British Open at Carnoustie in overtime over Sergio Garcia. Tiger Woods won his 13th major, the PGA Championship at Southern Hills. In fact, 2007 was quite a year for the Great Striped One as he won more than $10 million on tour and pocketed another $10 million for capturing the season-long Fed Ex Cup. In 16 events he won seven times and had runner-up finishes at the Masters and the U.S. Open.
At the 2007 U.S. Amateur, contested at both courses on the Olympic Club site, Colt Knost put an exclamation point on his outstanding amateur career by winning the final match over Michael Thompson. One of the all-time good guys, Steve Molinelli, a four-time Olympic Club champion, caddied for Knost that week. Knost had won the U.S. Public Links earlier that summer. The Amateur and Public Links victories got Knost an invite to the 2008 Masters, providing he remained an amateur golfer through the spring. Knost, a Southern Methodist golfer, surprised just about everyone by declining the Masters invite. He turned professional almost immediately.
What I most recall about Amateur week at Olympic five years ago was a conversation I had with my son Nick alongside Molinelli on Monday during a morning fog delay. We stood on the range during the three-hour fog delay and watched some 150 golfers pound balls. The players” golf bags were lined up behind them. It was an impressive array of mostly college golf bags with school names such as Florida, Alabama, SMU, USC, Arizona State and dozens more representing big-time programs.
I vividly recall Nick speaking in total astonishment at the quality of the swings and the quality of the ball striking. While Nick was a fairly talented high school golfer, the sounds of the clubs hitting the balls on the range at Olympic was nothing compared to what he heard at Coastal Mountain high school matches or USGA Junior qualifying. The golfers on the range were talented, gifted and athletic. Nick mentioned that he thought there was a lot of future PGA Tour talent on the range. I countered his thought by stating that with 125 exempt spots on the tour, only a handful of the guys on the range would make it. After all, Tiger and Phil and Vijay were going to stay exempt year after year, making it tough to find a place on tour someday for Tristan Bierienbroodspot, Carlton Forrester or Michael Buttacavoli.
Five years following his U.S. Amateur triumph, Colt Knost is on the PGA Tour … barely. He is 120th on the Fed Ex Cup list and needs a good showing at this week”s Barclays to keep surviving the playoffs. He isn”t exactly coming in with good form, having missed 12 of his last 13 cuts. His entire season is the result of a pair of third-place finishes at the Mayakoba and Harbour Town, but that was way back in February and April. As an aside, Knost has yet to play in the Masters either. What a difference five years can make.
Although Michael Thompson lost to Knost five years ago in the finals at Olympic, he has had greater success as a professional. He has won more than $1.2 million this year and he”s ranked 66th on the Fed Ex Cup list. This year”s return to Olympic was a good thing as he tied for second with Graeme McDowell, pocketing just less than $700,000. Like Knost, his form has been off of late, missing four of the last five cuts.
Among the also-rans at the 2007 U.S. Amateur were a handful of collegians who have thrived on the modern-era PGA Tour. First and foremost is Webb Simpson. He won twice last year, won the U.S. Open this year in stirring fashion, and has almost $12 million in earnings as professional. He”s ranked fifth in the world, is 13th in Fed Ex Cup points, and as a just-turned 27-year-old, will forever be known for his gritty victory at the Olympic Club this June.
Another also-ran in 2007 was a Southern California kid attending Oklahoma State, namely Rickie Fowler. Fowler has made $8.3 million on tour, played in the Ryder Cup, and won this past May at Quail Hollow. He was runner-up at the prestigious Players Championship. He”s part of Bubba Watson”s Golf Boys video, has lucrative endorsements, and is a rock star in the staid and conservative world of professional golf.
Dustin Johnson also was in the Olympic Club field five years ago. He is known for his rules faux pas in the PGA at Whistling Straits and losing the U.S. Open to Graeme McDowell at Pebble Beach, but he also has six wins on tour, including Memphis this year, and almost $16 million in the bank. He will win a major someday because he is way too talented.
Add to this threesome PGA Tour regulars such as Jhonathan Vegas, winner of the Bob Hope, Jamie Lovemark, Harris English, Danny Lee and Bud Cauley, and you do have a good nucleus of talent and success. Yet why these linksters are currently exempt on tour while some very talented others from the Amateur class of 2007 are not, it is anyone”s guess. In the end, it all goes to show how difficult it is to prognosticate in sports, even from the vantage point of merely five years. Everyone knew Colt Knost as a “can”t-miss talent,” and no one had heard much about Webb Simpson or Dustin Johnson. It just goes to show that you just never know.
