Past Champion Cory Whitsett Withdraws From Junior Amateur With Back Injury

Bedminster, N.J. – Past U.S. Junior Amateur champion Cory Whitsett has withdrawn from this year’s championship at Trump National Golf Club with a minor stress fracture in his back.

The 17-year-old from Houston, Texas, who won the U.S. Junior Amateur two years ago at Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo., when he beat fellow Texan Anthony Paolucci in the final, sustained the injury while competing at the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur in early June. Whitsett felt a twinge in his back when he got out of bed prior to the third round of the 72-hole competition, but played through the pain.

A back injury will prevent Cory Whitsett, 17, of Houston, Texas, from having a chance to win a second U.S. Junior Amateur title. (USGA Museum)

Thinking he had just stretched a muscle, Whitsett completed the tournament before seeing a doctor upon returning to Texas.

“They did X-rays and an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and it pretty much confirmed it,” said a disappointed Whitsett by phone. “I just talked with the doctor today and he said I’ll be out for at least two months. He told me it’s a common injury for kids who play a year-round sport that involves a lot of rotation.”

Whitsett’s spot in the U.S. Junior Amateur has been replaced by alternate Tyler Carney-Debord of Delaware, Ohio.

Whitsett had been grouped with fellow left-hander Cameron Wilson of Rowayton, Conn., making for an interesting pairing of southpaws. When Whitsett won the U.S. Junior Amateur, he became the fourth left-hander to ever claim a USGA championship, following Ralph Howe III (1988 U.S. Amateur Public Links), Phil Mickelson (1990 U.S. Amateur) and Brian Harman (2003 U.S. Junior Amateur).

Prior to the Sunnehanna, Whitsett nearly qualified for the U.S. Open at a 36-hole sectional in Columbus, Ohio, shooting rounds of 67-70 to miss the playoff for the final spot by one stroke.

“I had been playing really well coming into the summer,” said Whitsett, who tied for third at the American Junior Golf Association’s Thunderbird Invitational in Scottsdale, Ariz., this past May.

Earlier this year, Whitsett verbally committed to attend the University of Alabama in the fall of 2010. He can sign his national letter of intent in November. He also hopes to be completely healthy in time for the major high school events next spring.

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