Lefty Whitsett Trying To Make Own History

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Augusta, Mo. – Prior to his afternoon semifinal match Friday, Cory Whitsett felt sluggish as he hit balls on the range. After all, a 19-hole clash with Chris Cho that wrapped up an hour earlier left him little time to rejuvenate.

Calm and reserved, Cory Whitsett relied on steady play to defeat Wesley Graham in their semifinal match. (Steven Gibbons/USGA)

That might have been a signal for concern because the gangly 15 year old from Houston was about to take on arguably the championship’s hottest player in Wesley Graham, two years his elder. Graham, laden with star talent, had gotten this far at the expense of two of the top players in junior golf  – David Chung and Morgan Hoffman. In addition, Graham conveyed a never-say-die attitude, pontificating after his quarterfinal victory that it’d be a shame to come all this way to lose in the semifinals.

Little did Graham know that his fluid swing would betray him. It benefited Whitsett, who advanced to the final with a 6-and-5 thrashing. Graham, who had been more precise than a neurosurgeon off the tee this week, suddenly started spraying the ball. In his first-round match against Chung, Graham hit every fairway he strolled upon. While warming up Friday, he said, everything seemed fine. Then his demeanor changed on the first hole, as though he lost his best friend, when he three-putted to fall 1 down.

“When I got on the course,” said a sullen Graham, “I just lost my swing.”

On the second hole Graham struck his approach fat, finding a backside bunker. A hook on No. 3 released into the rough. Then, perhaps the one shot that epitomized his woes, Graham snap-hooked a drive that bounded across a cart path, resulting in an unplayable lie. Graham lost three of the first five holes with bogeys. By the time the two buddies made their way to No. 6, Whitsett held a commanding 5-up advantage without breaking a sweat.

That’s one way to stifle exhaustion: let your opponent do most of the work for you.

That’s not to suggest Graham handed the match to Whitsett. He was three under through the first six holes. The confident sophomore-to-be at Memorial High School in Houston also deftly managed the Boone Valley Golf Club course as efficiently as a new forced air conditioning system. It speaks volumes about his maturity said his caddie, Ryan Rue, who lugged for Chris DiMarco last year at the British Open.

“He thinks his way around the golf course,” said Rue. “He’s really smart. He tries not to force too much.

“I just try to keep him positive on every shot. I tell him to trust your shot, whatever the outcome may be. Just commit to your shot and accept the outcome. And he does.”

The left-handed Whitsett  won three of four holes with birdies. Nothing fancy. Graham won his only hole – No. 7 – when Whitsett couldn’t convert an 18-foot putt that led to bogey.

Graham, normally inspired and emotional on the course, seemed lifeless. Before Whitsett tightened the noose with a two-putt for par on No. 12 to go 5 up again, Graham sat off the edge of the crowned green with his back to the action.

The competitive juices, the will to win, were not being satiated. Aggravation took control.

“I didn’t get pumped up like in the morning because I didn’t make any putts,” said Graham. “I was out of the match.”

Graham didn’t say he quit, still believing he had a chance to come back on the last hole. Whitsett wouldn’t confess that he ever thought he had Graham by the tail, citing last year’s semifinal match between Richard Lee and Kevin Tway. Lee erased Tway’s 4-up lead, wresting control on the 17th hole for the comeback victory.

If Whitsett can triumph Saturday, he’d join an exclusive short list of lefties to win a USGA championship – Ralph Howe III (1988 U.S. Amateur Public Links), Phil Mickelson (1990 U.S. Amateur) and Brian Harman (2003 U.S. Junior Amateur). He’s laid back and sensible enough to understand the task at hand.

And if you ask him, he believes he’s the same kid as the 8 year old watching Tiger Woods demolish the field in the 2000 U.S. Open and then deciding golf would be his lifelong vocation. So why not walk in the footsteps of his idol, the same Woods who is the only player to win three consecutive Junior Amateurs?

“It’d mean a lot to win,” said Whitsett. “To have my name on that list, on the trophy, a lot of great players have won this.”

One more victory and Whitsett will join the fraternity of 59 other champions.

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org.