Qualifier gets first taste of major golf
Armour, 42, finally sees work pay off with trip to British
Ryan Armour was practicing under the broiling sun of late afternoon when his quiet routine was interrupted by thousands of fans jostling for space on the path along the chipping area as theyraced to the 10th tee.
Tiger Woods was making the turn at the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm two weeks ago.
Armour understands the fuss.
They were linked together in a memorable encounter 25 years ago that served as a reminder that nothingcomes easily in golf.
He was beating Woods in the final of the 1993 U.S. Junior Amateur, 2 up, with two holes to play, when Woods birdied the final two holes and won with a par on the first extra hole for his thirdstraight USGA title .
Woods kept winning. Three consecutive U.S. Amateurs followed, and then 79 titles on the PGA Tour,including 14 majors. Armourkept grinding. All the hard work paid off that week at the TPC Potomac when Armour closed with a 68 for a runner-up finish, earning a spot in the British Open next week. It will be his first major. He is 42, two months older than Woods.
Armour, an All-American at Ohio State, would have thought he would have played in a major by now, especially with some 20 trips toU.S. Open qualifying.
Just don’t get the idea that simply qualifying is cause for celebration.
When a player has been toilingfor more than half his life at a sport that can be maddening, when he has played nearly twice as many as Web.com Tour events as PGA Tour events over the years, this whole season feels like a major.
“What comes with winning is so huge, and that’s why I think — I call myself part of the rank-and-file — we take every event very serious,” Armour said. “I’m mostly excited to be at Carnoustie because it’s a links golf course, and that brings us a different set of challenges.”
Armour won for the first time in the fall at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi. Along with his runner-up finish earlier this month, he has earned just over $2.2 million. That’s about $400,000 than his previous five seasons on the PGATour combined.
He is No. 29 in the FedEx Cup.
“The level of consistency I’m starting to play with is what I strived for my whole career,” Armour said. “It took the reset button to do it. I could have eked out a career, made money and been financially fine. I could have bounced back between the PGA Tour and the Web, get hot and win, get my tour card back. But I wanted to compete.”
One turning point — there were many in a journey this long — came a year ago in April when he told his coach, Jason Carbone, “You’ve got five years to makeme good.
“By good, I meant competing at the highest level. No more Band-Aids,” Armoursaid.
Armour and Carbone played junior golf together in Ohio and lost touch until Armour ran into him in South Florida. Armour wasn’t working with anyone and asked Carbone for help. That was a dozen years ago.
“I think Ryan came to the realization that, ‘This is the type of player I am. Here are my strengths. I’m not going to chase distance and be a player I’m not,’” Carbone said. “It’s so tempting. But when you get too far away from your DNA, it can be troublesome.“
Matt Minister had seen Armourover the years since their days as teammates at Ohio State, and he got a close look at the Memorial. Minister now caddies for Patrick Cantlay, who was paired with Armour in the thirdround.
“It’s amazing that his game has never changed,” Minister said. “I feel like he’s the same player, same style. He hits the same shots that he’s always hit. He’s always been a grinder, a scrappy player. ... Hard work is something he’s always done better than most. He’s figured out how to play goodon a lot of courses.”
Butto play in a first major at age 42? That’s rare. Jeff Brehaut played his first majorat 44 in the 2007 U.S. Open atOakmont.