Destination: Oakmont
Oakmont, Longue Vue play host to 121st championship this week
Many of the world’s best amateur gofers arrive seeking U.S. Amateur title.
Bobby Jones, one of golf’s most influential figures, is the most well-known player to win the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club. He didit in 1925 when the championship was considered oneof golf’s majors.
The other is Steve Melnyk, whose wire-to-wire victory in 1969 when the tournament used a stroke-play format was the beginning of a career that became more prominent as a television broadcaster.
Time, though, will determine if the winner of the 121st U.S. Amateur that starts Monday with 36-hole stroke-play qualifying at Oakmont and the Longue Vue Club will carry the same success. Sometimes the player who doesn’t win the tournament goes on to even greater heights than the player who does.
For example, after Melnyk won at Oakmont and two years later won the British Amateur, he was not able to parlay that success to the PGA Tour. He never won a tournament in 335 career starts on the PGA Tour and his best finish in 18 major appearances (two as an amateur) was a tie for 12th atthe 1972 Masters.
Meanwhile, four of the players he beat at Oakmont in 1969 — Tom Watson, Andy North, Lanny Wadkins and Tom Kite — went on to win a combined 12 majortitles.
“That’s one of the things that makes Oakmont so special,” Melnyk said. “Their contribution to the game of golf, their place in the history of the game, is unheard of.”
When Australian Nick Flanagan won the most recent U.S. Amateur at Oakmont in 2003, he was never able to win on the PGA Tour, though he did post
four victories on the Nationwide (Korn Ferry) Tour. But, of the 64 players who made it to match play that year, six went on to win on the PGA Tour, including multiple winners and past FedEx Cup champions Brandt Snedeker and Bill Haas.
Also, five players in the field who did not qualify for match play went on to become PGA Tour winners, including two former area players — Brendon Todd of McMurray and Jason Kokrak of Youngstown, Ohio, a two-time winner in 2021.
The world’s No. 1-ranked
amateur, Keita Nakajima of Japan, and four Americans ranked among the top seven in the world — Pierceson Coody, Ricky Castillo, Cole Hammer, Sam Bennett — are among the 312 players who will compete at Oakmont, hoping to join the club’s impressive pantheon of national champions. Tyler Strafaci, the 2020 U.S. Amateur champion, will not be there. He turned professional after competing for the U.S. team in the Walker Cup matches in May.
Five players from Western Pennsylvania will be in the field after qualifying a month ago at Sunnehanna
Country Club in Johnstown — Palmer Jackson, Sean Knapp, Mark Goetz, Jimmy Meyers and Grant Martens. Meyers is a member at Oakmont. It will be Knapp’s 18th appearance in the U.S. Amateur. Jackson will be making his fourth appearance.
The field won’t be the only obstacle to overcome. So will Oakmont. When Melny kwon 52 years ago, he posted two of the only four sub-par rounds in four days. Alan Miller, who shot 69, was the only player to break 70. In 2003, the two semifinal matches produced just three birdies. In 2003, the two semi final matches produced only three birdies.
“I loved everything about Oakmont,” Melnyk said recently from his home in Jacksonville, Fla. “Every hole was hard, par was meaningful. I’m just very, very fortunate to have won at Oakmont.”
Melnyk’s professional playing career basically began to end in 1982 when he slipped and broke his right elbow at the Phoenix Open. But, while recuperating from the injury, he went to work as an oncourse reporter for CBS Sports, a role he assumed full time when he retired from playing in 1984. For 22 years, Melnyk became one of the most recognized voices on golf broadcasts, first with CBS and later with ABC and ESPN.
But, at Oakmont, he is best known for what he did in 1969. And some of the players he beat who went on to future success.
“I couldn’t play any better, actually, and it culminated with the win at Oakmont,” Melnyk said. “My game was perfect for that course. It all fell into place.”
It could for others this year, too, even if they don’t win.