Triple Crown
Oklahoma golfer Quade Cummins, the 12th-ranked amateur player in the world, is one of three Southern Amateur participants to complete the Arkansas amateur golf trifecta of Blessings Golf Club, The Alotian Club and Chenal Country Club.
Brigham Young’s Peter Kuest and Texas A&M’s Chandler Phillips made the same stops as Cummins, competing in the NCAA Championship, the Arnold Palmer Cup and this week’s Southern Am.
Cummins shot a 1-under 70 on Thursday to make the cut after opening with a 75.
“The courses are big, and they’re challenging,” Cummins said. “This is probably the easiest to walk out of the three. Alotian and Blessings are pretty hard to walk. This golf course is really fun. The layouts, they are kind of the same, but not as many elevated tee boxes on Chenal. They’re different greens, but they’re still really good. You can’t really tell that the difference.”
Kuest, who is at 2-over par for the tournament, said each course had its distinctions.
“Blessings is super tough, super challenging, and I made it even tougher hitting squirrelly shots,” Kuest said. “Alotian was just unbelievable. Just so cool, everywhere. Not a blade of grass out of place. Chenal’s a great golf course, it’s a lot of fun to play. They’re all three really, really great courses.”
Phillips, the third-highest ranked amateur player (No. 25) entered in the Southern Amateur, seconded Kuest’s notion about the Arkansas courses.
Phillips did so despite not qualifying for the final two rounds, shooting a 1-under 70 on Thursday. He finished outside the cut line at 4-over 146.
“They’re in the top 10 out all of the courses I’ve played, and I’ve played a lot,” Phillips said. “They’re unbelievable.”
Phillips said it took him too long to adapt to the extreme speed of the Bermuda greens.
“Yeah, it’s a good test,” he said. “It tests how stupid you are. You gotta play smart. I don’t know man. It kicked my [butt].”