An Olympic-Sized Comeback

 

Chung Rallies From 5 Down With 7 To Play, Ousts Riesen In Quarterfinal Thriller

 

By David Shefter, USGA

 

San Francisco - You can add magician to the list of intangibles one attaches to 14-year-old David Chung. How else do you explain making up a five-hole deficit over the last seven holes against an opponent that was bigger, stronger and more experienced?

 

David Chung birdied four of his last six holes en route to a 19-hole comeback quarterfinal victory over Robert Riesen on Friday. (John Mummert/USGA)

Think David Copperfield with a bucket hat. Only Chung 's magic wand was his putter.

 

The 5-foot-5, 105-pounder from Fayetteville, N.C., delivered one of the greatest comebacks in U.S. Junior Amateur history on Friday morning in the quarterfinals against fellow North Carolinian Robert Riesen (Pinehurst).

 

Chung made four birdies in a six-hole stretch to post a sterling 19-hole victory on the 6,790-yard, par-70 Olympic Club (Lake Course). He is now two matches away from becoming the youngest champion in Junior history. Tiger Woods is the youngest winner at 15 years, 6 months. Henry Liaw and Mike Brannan also won as 15-year-olds.

At last year's U.S. Girls' Junior, Sukjin-Lee Wuesthoff came back from a five-hole deficit with 10 to play to defeat defending champion In-Bee Park in the final.

 

"You make four birdies in like two rounds, not in six holes," said a stunned Riesen, who is a member at Pinehurst Resort, site of the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens, along with Chung. "I didn't see that coming. You can't do anything about that."

 

Riesen, 17, seemingly had Chung headed for an early exit after playing the equivalent of three under par through the first 11 holes. He posted three consecutive one-putts from the sixth hole - the latter two for birdies - to grab a 4-up advantage. He drained an 8-footer at the seventh hole and rolled in a 20-footer from the fringe at the par-3 eighth hole. Another birdie at 11 put Riesen in the driver's seat. Or so he thought.

 

Robert Riesen had the putter working early in his quarterfinal match against David Chung, making four birdies in his first 11 holes. (John Mummert/USGA)

"Those were the only putts I made all week," said Riesen, who lost a 24-hole semifinal match at the American Junior Golf Association's Polo Match Play event last November to Brian Harman. "My putter was never there for me."

 

But Chung wasn't about to give up. As he strode to the 12th tee, he told his caddie, Olympic Club junior member Derek Homer, that if Tiger Woods can rally from insurmountable deficits, so can he. Woods came back many times en route to his six consecutive USGA titles, including his final Junior Amateur appearance in 1993 at Waverly Country Club in Portland, Ore., when he trailed Ryan Armour in the championship match by two holes with two to play and won the final three holes to take the match. Woods also rallied to beat Trip Kuehne and Steve Scott in the 1994 and '96 U.S. Amateur finals, respectively.

 

"You never want to give up, but the chances were slim," said Homer.

 

Instead of waving the white flag, the “little golfer that could” just carried on, focusing on trying to trim the deficit the best he could. It started at No. 12 with a Riesen mistake. He bogeyed to Chung 's par and the comeback was started.

 

"I wasn't mad at all," said Chung when asked if he was starting to get nervous. "I was playing solidly. I said if he wins, he deserves it because he was three under after 11. He deserved it if he kept making all those birdies."

 

The turning point came at the par-4 14th after both made bogey-4 at the previous hole. Facing a 190-yard shot from the fairway, Chung laced a 3-iron to 25 feet, while Riesen, who outdrove him by some 75 yards, went long with his approach. He chipped to about six feet, but he wouldn't have to putt again as Chung rolled in a 25-footer that broke some two feet.

 

Chung has an interesting ritual before he hits every putt. Once he takes his stance and grip - left hand low - he extends the putter skyward as if he's bowing to the golf gods.

 

"It's just to align my head down," Chung said of the unusual-looking routine. "I've tried not to do it. My coach had me do it as a drill and I tried not to do it when I played, but I couldn't get [my alignment] right, so I said, 'What the heck, I'll just do it.' "

 

At the 15th hole, a par 3, Chung played his tee shot conservatively to the middle of the green and two-putted for par. Riesen, meanwhile, missed a 6-foot par putt. The lead was suddenly down to two.

 

At the 606-yard 16th hole, the longest in U.S. Junior Amateur history, Chung needed to use his utility club from 200 yards out to reach the green. Riesen hit his iron approach under the hole some 23 feet. Chung then rolled in his birdie putt and Riesen just came up short.

 

The two halved the long 464-yard, par-4 17th hole with bogeys as both players found the front-left bunker; Riesen's ball was buried in the sand and his recover shot rolled off the green.

 

At 18, Chung's drive was down the middle, leaving him 105 yards to the flag. He wanted to hit a sand wedge, but Homer told him he'd be better off going with the pitching wedge. It was a good call as Chung's approach stopped 12 feet above the hole. Riesen was a little further above the hole and to the left. His birdie putt to win rolled some seven feet past the hole.

 

Chung stepped up and got the line perfectly from Homer and drained the putt, much to the delight of the gallery that had assembled around the green.

 

"Absolutely amazing," said Homer, who has been a junior member since 1998 and currently attends Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he is an architecture major. "I can help him read [the putts], but he's the one that still has to putt them in."

 

The momentum now was entirely with Chung, who left his second shot on the par-5 first hole (19th of the match) 98 yards from the flag. Riesen, who said he reached the green 50 percent of the time this week, used a 3-iron from 240 yards and came up some 15 yards short and left of the green in the rough. Chung 's sand-wedge approach stopped 15 feet short of the hole, while Riesen's pitch rolled past the flag and into the first cut of rough. His chip shot came up two feet short.

 

Chung took his time surveying his birdie putt and at first thought the putt might come up short. "C'mon," he yelled. The ball obeyed and dropped in for the winning birdie.

 

"That was more than I imagined," said Chung. "I was just trying to narrow [the deficit] down and somehow I won.

 

"I'm just trying to win matches. That's my only goal right now."

 

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org