Sooners Shining at Jimmie Austin

By Dave Fanucchi, USGA

Norman, Okla. - When you walk through the clubhouse here at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club, there’s no doubt what they are most proud of. Framed photos, plaques, golf memorabilia and featured news articles on the walls, all with that distinct Sooner crimson and cream, make up a shrine to the great golfers that have come through the program here at the University of Oklahoma.

They include names like 2004 British Open Champion Todd Hamilton, and PGA Tour players Andrew Magee, Glen Day, Grant Waite, Craig Perks, and Doug Martin. There are numerous magazine covers dedicated to 2008 USA Ryder Cup star Anthony Kim who, as an amateur, was on the 2005 USA Walker Cup Team, and at the U.S. Amateur Public Links was the stoke-play medalist in 2005 and runner-up in 2006.

But there’s one particular area, just outside the player lounge, that is dedicated to former Sooner Hunter Haas, who captured the 1999 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship – the same trophy that players are competing for here this week, 10 years later.

Haas was on the grounds this morning, taking in a bit of the action. He currently competes on the Nationwide Tour and has had flashes of success on the PGA Tour. But to the sports fans here in Norman, his most famous triumph remains the national championship he brought home in the summer of 1999, from the Spencer T. Olin Community Golf Course in Alton, Ill., when he beat Michael Kirk, 4 and 3, in the final.

“I wasn’t around here back then, but I have a full understanding now about how proud this community was when Hunter won that APL,” said Jimmie Austin GC director of golf Rodney Young. “It was a big deal, a very big deal. Still is to this day. That’s why we’re so excited and proud to be hosting the championship this year.”

Carrying the Sooner golf torch this week is a pair of players still alive in the field of 32, who seem to be enjoying their home field advantage. Liam Logan, a 20-year-old rising junior, cruised through stroke play and took on 16-year-old Anders Albertson of Woodstock, Ga., in the first round of match play.

Logan said his course knowledge definitely helped him in the stroke play portion of the championship, but now that he is into match play, it is not a major factor.

“All of the guys remaining have seen the course enough by now,” said Logan, “so it’s just a matter of who plays better.”

On this day the youngster gave Logan all he could handle, but the Fort Worth, Texas, native prevailed in 20 holes when Anderson missed a six-foot putt that would have extended the match.

“I guess I am representing our school, even though it’s the summer,” said Logan. “It would be awesome to win this 10 years after Hunter did it.”

No player in the field has played the course more times than Norman resident Phil Bryan. A four-year starter for the Sooners from 2005-2008, he is now the University of Oklahoma golf team’s assistant coach, and estimates he has played the course between 300 and 400 times, a couple hundred more than Logan.

A native of Mustang, Okla., who grew up just 45 minutes away, Bryan got into the field by sinking a 40-foot putt in a playoff to beat one of his own recruits, earning the last spot at his qualifying location.

“This is great, because it’s basically a home game for me,” said Bryan.

Bryan defeated Braxton Marquez of Scottsdale, Ariz., 2 and 1, to advance further than he did in his two previous appearances at the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 2006 and 2007.

The only way that the coach and the Sooner could meet one another in match play would be in the championship final, as they are on opposite sides of draw.

What would happen if they had to face each other?

“Hopefully,” said Bryan, “I’d go out and beat him.”

Story written by Dave Fanucchi, USGA director of communications, public relations. Contact him with questions or comments at dfanucchi@usga.org.