|
U.S. Amateur Runner-Up Finishes Strong At Masters
April 12, 2004
By David Shefter, USGA
For most amateurs, one trip to the Masters is a career highlight, one that can be cherished long after their final putt drops. But Casey Wittenberg’s week at Augusta (Ga.) National Golf Club went beyond even his wildest fantasy.
The 19-year-old Wittenberg, who was the runner-up at the 2003 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club, not only survived the 36-hole cut – joining 2003 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Brandt Snedeker – but the Memphis, Tenn., resident and Oklahoma State University freshman posted the lowest 72-hole score in 41 years to take home low amateur honors.
 |
| APL champion Brandt Snedeker was only one of two amateurs to make the cut at the Masters. (USGA Photo Archives) |
Wittenberg’s even-par total of 288 was good enough to place him in a tie for 13th place, the lowest finish by an amateur at the Masters since Charlie Coe’s ninth-place effort in 1962. Coe, the 1949 and 1958 U.S. Amateur champion (he was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the ’59 Amateur), also posted a 288 score. Wittenberg was the only golfer in the field to improve his score each day (76-72-71-69) and he joined 2004 Masters winner Phil Mickelson, K.J. Choi and Sergio Garcia with 5-under 31 scores on the back nine. That score, which included an eagle at the par-5 15th hole, was the lowest ever by an amateur on the course’s famous second nine. Wittenberg’s week also included an eagle at the par-4 10th hole on Saturday.
It was the first time an amateur has posted two eagles in one tournament since William Hyndman III had three eagles in 1959.
Best of all, by tying for 13th place, Wittenberg earned an invitation to the 2005 Masters, the first amateur to achieve that feat since Matt Kuchar in 1998. Back then, the low 24 finishers earned a return visit and Kuchar placed 21st. Now, the low 16 finishers earn invitations for the following year.
“Every move I made was a dream come true,” Wittenberg told the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. “It’s been a storybook week for me. So much emotion is going through me right now.”
Wittenberg will now focus his attention on college golf as the Big 12 Championships and NCAA Division I Men’s Championships loom on the horizon before he goes to Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in June for the U.S. Open. His runner-up finish at the Amateur earned Wittenberg an exemption into the 156-player field.
His fellow Tennessean, Snedeker, also enjoyed a dream week in Augusta. The Nashville resident and former All-American at Vanderbilt University made his final event as an amateur – he turned professional a day after the Masters ended – a memorable one. He birdied all three holes of Amen Corner (11, 12 and 13) in Thursday’s first round and finished with a 72-hole total of 300 (12 over). Snedeker became the third APL champion to make the cut at the Masters, joining current pro Trevor Immelman of South Africa and Nevada-Las Vegas junior Ryan Moore, who achieved the feat last year.
“This week surpassed my wildest dreams,” Snedeker told The Tennessean. “It was phenomenal. Everything about it was great. The people here went over and beyond anything I could have ever expected. The patrons were awesome. It was unlike any other experience I’ve ever had. Everybody was right: There was no way I could’ve been prepared for this.”
Snedeker has received a sponsor’s exemption into The Memorial tournament and will also try to qualify for the U.S. Open.
The other three amateurs in the field failed to qualify for the weekend, although Nathan Smith of Brookville, Pa., nearly became the first U.S. Mid-Amateur champion to do so since the Masters began extending the invitation to the Mid-Am winner in 1989.
Jay Sigel, the 1987 Mid-Am champ, was the low amateur in the 1988 Masters, but he earned his invitation by being a member of the 1987 USA Walker Cup team. The Masters altered its invitations for amateurs prior to the 1989 event. Now, the U.S. Amateur winner and runner-up, the U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, the U.S. Mid-Amateur champ and the British Amateur champ traditionally receive an invitation.
| |
 |
| |
Casey Wittenberg will get a crack at making his mark in this year's U.S. Open. (USGA Photo Archives) |
Smith needed a par at the 36th hole to make the cut. He instead wound up with a disappointing double-bogey 6. Yet his week was highlighted by playing two rounds with Arnold Palmer, who was making his 50th and final appearance at the Masters, a tournament he won four times.
“It was unbelievable,” Smith told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I’m from western Pennsylvania and I love him like everybody else.”
U.S. Amateur champion Nick Flanagan of Australia, shot rounds of 78-74 (152) to miss the cut by four strokes, while the veteran of the amateurs, Gary Wolstenholme of England, who was making his second Masters appearance, shot 77-76 (153). Wolstenholme, a five-time Walker Cup participant for Great Britain & Ireland, won the British Amateur last year.
David Shefter is a staff writer for the USGA. E-mail him at dshefter@usga.org with questions or comments.
|
