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Notebook: Smith Wins Second U.S. Mid-Amateur Title The Old-Fashioned Way

By David Shefter, USGA

Kiawah Island, S.C. – This time, there won’t be an asterisk. Nobody needed to call the paramedics after nine holes, but considering the stifling heat on Friday, it wouldn’t have been shocking if the two U.S. Mid-Amateur finalists collapsed from heat exhaustion.

The only thing hotter than the rising mercury was the play of Nathan Smith, a 31-year-old investment advisor from Pittsburgh, who has enjoyed a dream season.

 

• Member of the victorious 2009 USA Walker Cup team
• Member of the victorious 2009 Pennsylvania USGA Men’s State Team
• And now he’s the fifth multiple champion in U.S. Mid-Amateur history after a 7-and-6 victory over 33-year-old Tim Spitz of Rochester, N.Y.
• He also joins Trip Kuehne (2007) as the only player to be on a winning Walker Cup and Men’s State Team squad, and win the Mid-Amateur in the same year.

Nathan Smith said he felt more satisfied with the manner he won his second U.S. Mid-Amateur title. (Jolhn Mummert/USGA)

Six years ago, however, the outcome had a totally different feel. Smith became the youngest Mid-Amateur champion in history literally by default. Well it wasn’t his doing.

Smith’s opponent at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club that brisk Thursday morning in October, Bryan Norton, tore his left calf muscle while playing an approach shot from above a fairway bunker at the ninth hole. After receiving medical attention, Norton tried to play through the excruciating pain, but it was too unbearable to continue.

For the first time in the USGA’s history, a player was forced to concede in a championship final.

While Smith certainly wasn’t going to hand the Bob Jones Memorial Trophy back to the USGA, he didn’t feel good about the outcome. Nobody wants to win a title in that fashion.

That wasn’t the case on Friday at Cassique. Every hole was contested without incident, with Smith posting the third-largest margin of victory since the U.S. Mid-Amateur went to a 36-hole final in 2001.

“Yeah, I’ve got to be honest, it does [feel better],” said Smith, who earned a likely invitation to the 2010 Masters with his victory as well as a 10-year U.S. Mid-Amateur exemption and custody of the Robert Jones Memorial Trophy for the ensuing year. “You wish you could play it out. This definitely means a lot.”

Especially when you play the kind of golf he displayed in the final. Smith shot the equivalent of 3-under-par 69 (with the usual match-play concessions) in the morning 18 to take a commanding 8-up lead. He never made a bogey and holed several clutch putts, including a 35-footer for birdie at the par-3 fifth after Spitz nearly holed out from the tee.

And Spitz probably wanted to give his putter a lobotomy after taking 36 strokes, including a couple of costly three-putts.

“It was probably the worst putting display I ever had,” said Spitz, a municipal bonds specialist. “I’m disappointed right now, but I’m sure during the 15-hour car ride back tomorrow it might set in that this was a pretty good run.

“He just kept piling on and that’s what you are supposed to do. When you’ve got someone down, you step on them. That’s what he did and it’s a credit to him.”

About the only thing more consistent than Smith’s performance this week was his omnipresent pink shirt. He first wore it last Sunday during his stroke-play qualifying round at Cassique and shot a 4-under 68. He put it back on during match play and the good play just continued. So Smith kept washing it nightly and wearing it daily. His father/caddie Larry Smith said the shirt was washed four times.

“I did the same thing in 2003. For the last couple of rounds of match play, I pretty much wore the same outfit,” said Smith, whose routine this week also included a visit to the same local restaurant and his mom, Vicki, parking in the same spot. “I think I am not going to eat steak for awhile.”

He also won’t be playing golf much either. The U.S. Mid-Amateur concluded a whirlwind 2009 season that included virtually every major amateur competition. With fall already in full swing and winter just around the corner, Smith said it’s time to get back to his regular job.

“My phone probably has blown up,” said Smith, a former Division III All-American at Allegheny College.

Then again, he can definitely offer his colleagues something even more precious than a stock tip.

Tickets to the 2010 Masters.

Time To Go National

Before this week, Spitz’s competitive golf was pretty much relegated to the club championship at Monroe Golf Club and a few Rochester-area tournaments. He only decided to enter U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying because the sectional was at Crag Burn in East Aurora, N.Y., a club that gives reciprocal play to Monroe G.C. members.

Now that he’s made a run to the U.S. Mid-Amateur final, his mailbox likely will be stuffed with a few more invitations to prestigious amateur competitions such as the Porter Cup, Western Amateur, Northeast Amateur, Crump Cup and Monroe Invitational. Just by reaching the Mid-Amateur final, he’ll get an exemption into the 2010 U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay and he’ll be able to bypass local qualifying for the U.S. Open.

“More expensive,” said Spitz when asked about going to a national playing schedule. “There’s going to be a little more travel involved.

“I really felt I hit the ball just as good as Nathan today. And Nathan is a great player. He’s a Walker Cupper [and] he’s won two of these [Mid-Amateurs]. From tee to green, I felt like I kept up with him. So there’s no reason why I can’t compete on a national level in amateur [events] with the college kids. This gives me a tremendous boost of confidence. I hope this starts a really good amateur career and that’s the springboard I want to take.”

Spitz was a solid college player at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., where he helped the Paladins win the 1997 Southern Conference title. He briefly played on the mini-tours in the late-1990s and was an Orlando, Fla.-area club pro before getting his amateur status back in 2002. Married with three kids, Spitz tries to fit golf in between his job and family life. He generally plays Thursday nights after work and on Saturdays at the club.

“It’s hard to [play and practice] with three kids and my wife works (CPA) as well,” said Spitz.

Incentive To Return

Smith can attest that even after winning a U.S. Mid-Amateur once, it’s never easy to return. It took him six years to reach another USGA championship final. Spitz also knows Charleston, S.C., resident Bert Atkinson, who advanced to the 1991 Mid-Amateur final and has yet to get back.

Others such as Mike McCoy, Sean Knapp, Jeff Wilson and Pat Carter – all high-level national-caliber mid-amateurs – have never even been in a final.

And that was the mindset Spitz took even after being eight holes down at lunch and facing the same margin following the 27th hole.

“I told myself you need to grind this out,” said Spitz, who did win the 29th hole before Smith stuffed a wedge approach to a foot at the par-4 30th for a conceded birdie that ended the match. “Who knows, you might catch lightning in a bottle and catch up. I birdied 11 (No. 29) and I hit a pretty good shot on 12 (No. 30) and then he almost jars it. I kept fighting and that’s what you’ll get with me.”

Praise From Afar

Trip Kuehne, the other player to hit the seasonal USGA trifecta of Walker Cup victory, USGA Men’s State Team championship and Mid-Amateur title (2007), had some kind words for what Smith achieved in 2009.

“I think it’s great,” said Kuehne by phone, who retired from competitive golf after the 2008 Masters. “It’s great when a guy who loves the game can be an ambassador for the game of golf and is a true mid-amateur (Smith never has been a pro) … is a tribute to him and the great summer he’s had.

“He’s a great person. I know his father. I know his wife. I can’t think of a more deserving champion that represents the mid-amateur game any better. He’s a true gentleman and a class-act for the game of golf.”

Kuehne was asked if seeing Smith’s performance this summer gave him the itch to return to the competitive game. With a young son (Will), Kuehne is enjoying being a father and running his investment capital business in Dallas.

“I have too much going on with work,” said Kuehne, also the 1994 U.S. Amateur runner-up and a three-time USA Walker Cup member. “I’ve got four or five years to raise [Will] and hopefully he’ll get to where he plays golf and maybe then I’ll think about playing again. But right now I am focused on raising Will and continue to be successful in my business.”

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