Ardmore, Pa. - The best golfers in the world that do not get paid to play met in the Philadelphia area this week to participate in the 105th United States Amateur Championship. Those who followed the semifinal matches on Merion Country Club's East Course were treated to an intimate look at some incredible golf.
Thousands of spectators were able to follow only four golfers, but there was 
certainly enough drama to go around.
The first match, which teed off at nine in the morning, was between Dillon Dougherty, a student at Northwestern University, and J.C. Deacon, a student at University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Fifteen minutes later, the second semifinal match teed off, this one between Austin Eaton, who at 36 was the grownup of the four semifinalists and Edoardo Molinari, an Italian engineering student.
If you can appreciate a great story, then you were pulling for Dougherty. His father is caddying for him in the tournament, and Dougherty's grandfather had passed away unexpectedly several weeks earlier -- the father-caddy kept a photograph of him under his hat.
The Dougherty-Deacon match was close the entire way, and each player displayed why a never-give-up attitude and a skillful short-game are the tools of champions.
On the 597-yard 4th hole, Deacon's third shot finished to the right of the green. Dougherty was on the green in three strokes, so Deacon would need to get down in two shots to halve the hole. Between his ball and the hole was a deep sand bunker and only a few feet of green. Deacon laid his wedge very open behind his ball, took a long backswing, and played a sort of explosion shot in the grass, similar to a sand shot, hitting probably an inch or so behind the ball. The ball softly rose through the air and fell to terra firma just a few feet from the hole to ensure the halve.
For the rest of the round, the two players traded jabs, and after scrambling pars by each player on the sixteenth hole, a par four over an old quarry, the match stood at 1 up, Deacon.
The seventeenth hole is a par-3 of over 250 yards. The players hit over the old quarry to a long and narrow green surrounded by sand bunkers and a hill to the left of the green.
Whether it was due to the pressure of the situation -- finalists of the tournament get automatic berths to the U.S. Open and Masters tournaments -- or a result of overswinging in an effort to reach the green, both players pulled their shots to the left.
Deacon's ball came to rest a few feet off the green, while Dougherty's ball went further left, coming to rest on the side of the hill, probably fifteen or twenty yards away from the putting surface.
My father and I stood on the edge of the quarry, watching the two play their shots from approximately 175 yards away. We witnessed Dougherty strike his chip, and then the heads of the spectators turned as they followed the ball's progress across the green, rolling until it struck the wicker-basket adorned flagstick and fell into the hole for a birdie-two!
The crowd roared in approval and Dougherty ran down the hill in a Tiger-esque fist pump. The elder Dougherty did a similar expression of emotion on the front of the green, however he ran much further and pumped his fist much harder.
With the match now all-square, the two teed of on the eighteenth hole, a 505 yard par four that again crosses the quarry as it makes its way back to the stately Merion clubhouse. Dougherty had the honors and blocked his tee shot to the right rough, a difficult angle to approach the green from. Deacon, likely guarding against a similar result, pulled his tee ball to the left rough.
I was close enough to hear Dougherty plan his second shot with his father. The front edge of the slightly elevated green was 201 yards away, and the two hoped the second shot would land just short of the green and run up to the hole.
As Dougherty addressed his ball, Deacon had already played his second shot, ending up short and right of the hole. Dougherty plays fast, and struck his ball quickly, but possibly too quick. It was another blocked shot to the right and the ball came up well short of the green, striking NBC Sports' television tower which housed the anchors' booth.
Under the rules of golf, Dougherty was afforded a free drop clear of the tower. He faced a fifty yard pitch shot, over the short-right sand bunker, to a flagstick tucked just behind it.
Again, we had an elevated vantage point on a ridge short of the green. Through the crowd, I was able to see Dougherty take a big swing -- I must assume he had the face of his wedge laid slightly open -- and elevated his ball high into the air. The wind was blowing into his face, and it served to deaden the ball's flight. The ball landed just short of the flagstick, bouncing into it, and coming to rest just inches away.
In unison, the crowd roared, "Oh!" In my head, I was thinking something similar to the late Jack Buck as Kirk Gibson hit the pinch-homerun in the 1988 World Series, "I don't believe what I just saw!"
Shaking his head in amazement, Deacon bent down and picked up Dougherty's ball, conceding him a par. Deacon eventually pitched on, nearly holing out himself, and left himself with a ten foot putt for par to force the match into overtime. He missed wide right, and Dougherty had just holed out one pitch and nearly a second on two consecutive holes to go from one down through sixteen holes to one up after the eighteenth. It was a legendary performance.
The Eaton-Molinari match was not as close, with Molinari taking a big 5-up lead through eleven holes. Eaton would fight back, but eventually lost 3 & 1. And so Molinari and Dougherty would meet in the final match on Sunday.
Surely, all who watch will be pulling for Dougherty and his family. It is stories such as these that make sports so wonderful to watch.
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Notes...
...Several plaques at Merion C.C. drew quite a bit of attention. In the eighteenth fairway is a plaque commemorating the spot where Ben Hogan struck a famous one-iron shot to the right-center of the eighteenth green to clinch a tie in regulation play of the 1950 U.S. Open. Hogan would go on to win the next day's eighteen hole playoff. Many a spectator, including yours truly, stood over the plaque and imagined the difficulty of the shot...Next to the eleventh tee is a plaque on a large rock, which commemorates the hole where Bobby Jones completed the one and only "Grand Slam' of golf. Embedded in the rock is a fountain of drinking water. Sure it was a hot morning, but not nearly hot enough to warrant the amount of people that wanted to take a drink from it. Did the fountain serve some magical elixir that would enable the consumer to play as well as Jones?
...Dave Seanor, writing in Golfweek, hypothesizes on the logistics involved for Merion to host a U.S. Open:
Plenty of scenarios already have been hatched. Corporate tents could be set up next door at Haverford College. A temporary bridge over Haverford Avenue would provide access back and forth to the course.
There's a SEPTA rail station within walking distance of the front gate, so a Main Line park-and-ride scheme would be easy to implement.
Ardmore Avenue, which bisects the course, and Golf House Road, which marks half of the property's western boundary, would have to be closed in order to accommodate spectator movement around the 1st, 2nd, 10th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th holes. Merion members own most of the stately homes on Golf House Road, which would be ideal as corporate hospitality rentals.
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Postscript...
...On Sunday afternoon, Molinari defeated Dougherty in the 36-hole final match, 4 & 3. Molinari played exceptionally well, a birdie barrage that Dougherty was unable to overcome.
