As Stanford’s Isaiah Salinda lasered a 7-iron approach shot stiff on the first hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links, a gentleman joyously asserted, “This is so cool they let you walk the fairways with the players.”
Standing only ten yards directly behind Salinda, the man wasn’t alone.
Unlike professional golf tournaments with ropes strung along every fairway and green, hundreds of spectators were provided access to a unique vantage point to witness the world’s best amateur golfers compete at the 118th U.S. Amateur Championship, the fifth time it’s been contested on the storied seaside links and tying the number of U.S. Opens that have been contested there. For now.
In ten months the “big show” returns to Pebble Beach for the 6th time, June 13-16, 2019, and if lucky, you’ll be able to secure a viewing position somewhere near the front of the sardine-packed crowds lining every roped-off portion of the course.
This time, however, the spotlight was on 312 golfers from around the world playing Pebble Beach GL and Spyglass Hill GC in the two-day stroke play challenge for a chance to earn one of the 64 match play spots. Northern California was well represented with 12 players, from which Salinda advanced the furthest before being eliminated by UCLA sophomore, Devon Bling, in the semifinals, 1 up.
In the end, on an overcast Sunday along the Monterey Peninsula it was Viktor Hovland, a 20 year-old Norwegian and first-team All American from Oklahoma State, capping a week of domination over his challengers to prevail 6-5 over Bling in the 36-hole final and capture the Havemeyer Trophy.
“I always thought I had a pretty good vocabulary, but I’m lost for words,” said Hovland, who learned English by watching movies. “It’s really special. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve only won once before, and to win the U.S. Amateur as my second win is really cool. I hope it’s the start of something great.”
Bling, a sophomore at UCLA, admitted having played well all week but “it wasn’t the day I was hoping for.”
Not all is lost. As runner-up, there at least two major positives he walks away with in the form of invites to the 2019 Masters and a chance to compete at Pebble Beach GL in next year’s U.S. Open with a few more spectators watching.
By Robert Kaufman