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LA QUINTA, Calif. - Late in a closely contested U.S. Amateur semifinal match two years ago, John Augenstein faced a delicate, short-sided chip at Pinehurst No. 2, a course known for its slick, confounding greens. Augenstein's opponent, William Holcomb V, had just executed an "extraordinary chip" to gimme range. Augenstein was 2 up with four holes to play. Exemptions into the Masters and U.S. Open were on the line. "John hits this nipping, spinning chip that is just going fast, and checks, and is then rolling like a putt," recalled William Kane, Augenstein's close friend who caddied that week. "It lips out, he ends up halving the hole and then winning the match. "The creativity to hit that shot was extraordinary in itself, and under the circumstances, I just remember thinking, ‘Gosh, John Augenstein has guts.' He's got grit, and he's got guts, and he's going to do just fine." Augenstein is making his professional debut this week at The American Express in Southern California after a standout career at Vanderbilt. He was the SEC Player of the Year last year and a four-time All-American. Augenstein represented the United States in the 2019 Walker Cup after finishing runner-up in the U.S. Amateur. The 23-year-old, competing at PGA West on a sponsor's exemption, aims to follow the path of former Vanderbilt teammate Will Gordon and other young stars in earning Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR. He will have seven sponsor exemptions to earn enough non-member FedExCup points to garner membership, after which he can accept unlimited invitations. He will earn his card for next season if his number of non-member FedExCup points at season's end is equal to or greater than No. 125 in the FedExCup standings. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Augenstein intended to turn pro last spring. "John had this idea and dream in his mind, for years, that he would finish playing in the national championship for Vanderbilt, and then he would turn pro right after that," remembered Vanderbilt coach Scott Limbaugh, who recruited Augenstein as a scrawny high schooler from Owensboro, Kentucky. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Augenstein would have competed in the Masters and U.S. Open - in between, graduating with a bachelor's degree in sociology - and turned pro in the middle of the year. But the NCAA Championship was cancelled and the two majors that he earned exemptions into as the U.S. Amateur runner-up were delayed until the fall. Augenstein extended his amateur career, began Vanderbilt graduate-school coursework, and competed in the U.S. Open (missed cut) and Masters (T55). He announced his decision to turn pro in a heartfelt letter to the Vanderbilt community on Nov. 23. Now he turns his attention to professional competition, aiming to channel that ‘grit and guts' into strong early returns. He will wear Oakley's innovative apparel and eyewear, which includes Prizm Lens Technology to enhance color and contrast and allow players to see the course in greater detail. "I fully intend to get my PGA TOUR card this year," Augenstein said. "There's not a doubt in my mind. You can never guarantee anything in athletics - nothing is guaranteed - all I know is that I have to do my best to take advantage of the opportunities that I get. "I'm excited to be in this situation that I'm in. A lot of guys my age have done it in the past two, three years, and historically, so what I'm trying to do is certainly a challenging thing, but it's attainable. A lot of great players have done it, and some great players that are up at the top of the leaderboards each week went to Q-School and went to the Korn Ferry Tour and made their way onto the PGA TOUR." Augenstein plans to devote his full attention to each opportunity as it comes. He can earn additional starts by finishing in the top 10 in a TOUR event - which guarantees a spot in the next open event - or Monday qualifiers. Those around him believe that he has what it takes. "Some of the shots he's made in match-play scenarios have just been literally amazing," said Limbaugh, recalling back-to-back extra-hole victories in the semifinals (20 holes) and finals (23 holes) of the 2017 SEC Championship, which propelled Vanderbilt to its first SEC men's golf title. "He's a small guy in stature, but his game is big. He drives it long; he's a new-age golfer. He hits it long and high, but he chips it like a top-20 player in the world." "Physically, he's got the parts to be really, really good," added Kane, who has also caddied for Webb Simpson and now works for College Golf Fellowship. "With his irons, he strikes it as good as just about anybody, and his chipping is really impressive. There's no glaring weakness in his game." Kane draws parallels between Augenstein and a young Justin Thomas because of "the creativity that he plays with, and an emotional fire." Augenstein credits Thomas, a fellow Kentucky native, as a major influence as well. Augenstein's coach, Matt Killen, was Thomas' longtime putting instructor, and currently works with Tiger Woods. Augenstein played a practice round with those two FedExCup champions at the recent U.S. Open. Thomas earned 2014 Korn Ferry Tour status via Q-School and was on TOUR within a year. In uncertain pandemic times, Augenstein knows his path to the TOUR could involve unique variables. He intends, though, to embrace the road ahead. "There's no blueprint to becoming a top player in the world," Augenstein said. "You kind of write your own story of how to get there, and I hope that mine happens sooner rather than later, so that I can start a schedule and start moving. But this is a very fun time to get going. I'm having a blast, and I'm certainly excited to play."
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rory McIlroy again put himself in contention to win an event where he has had so many near misses, shooting an 8-under 64 Thursday in the first round of the season-opening Abu Dhabi Championship. In 10 appearances in Abu Dhabi, McIlroy has finished second on four occasions and third three times. Apart from one missed cut, he has only one finish outside the top 10 — tied for 11th place in 2008 in his first appearance. The four-time major champion endured the third winless season of his professional career in 2020, but shrugged off a fog delay of almost three hours to start 2021 with eight birdies. "It feels good," McIlroy said after surpassing his previous best score in Abu Dhabi. "I knew 65 is the best I've shot here and I've shot it a few times, so I thought let's try to go one better on the next nine and I was able to do that." McIlroy has a one-shot lead over Tyrrell Hatton (65), with later starters unable to finish their first round. "You can't win the tournament today or through to Saturday, but obviously it's a nice start," Hatton said. Hatton made a spectacular start with an eagle on the 10th, his opening hole, and also eagled the par-five 18th. Defending champion Lee Westwood (69) is five shots off the lead. The Abu Dhabi Championship begins a run of three events in the "Gulf Swing" — the Dubai Desert Classic and the Saudi International come next.
First his former caddie, Jim Mackay, got into the foot-soldier game. Now Phil Mickelson has. Mickelson, tournament host for this week's The American Express in Palm Desert, California, wore a mask and a microphone to emcee The American Express Charity Challenge at PGA West on Wednesday. Playing alternate shot, Paul Casey, with singer Jake Owen, and Tony Finau, with retired soccer star Landon Donovan, raised $1 million for Coachella Valley charities. Casey and Owen, a former competitive junior golfer, easily won the match. Mickelson got off the most one-liners. "I'm going to watch and talk smack," he said after the first-tee introductions, "which is what I do better than play right now, so let's have at it." Most of his needle came at his own expense. On the first tee he handed Owen a $100 bill, eliciting laughter. The move was a reference to Owen jokingly complaining about the quality of the golf in The Match, an earlier made-for-TV event between Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and Mickelson giving him his money back. Owen, however, played well, despite making nothing on the greens. Donovan struggled with his wedges. Mickelson spent the two and a half hours telling stories, trying to coach Donovan, explaining shots as they came up, reading greens, and taking more light jabs mostly at himself. "I'm shorter and crooked, and I still hit driver," the 50-year-old Hall of Famer said by way of urging Finau to hit driver as much as possible. Later, Mickelson asked with mock seriousness, "Does that get tiring playing from the fairway all the time?" Mickelson is not switching careers to TV like his ex-caddie Mackay; instead, he said earlier Wednesday, he plans to play the PGA TOUR's West Coast swing. He will then evaluate whether to continue competing on TOUR, where he has 44 titles, or move over to the 50-and-over PGA TOUR Champions, the circuit where he already has two victories in two career starts. The host was brought into Wednesday's action with two driving contests, both against Finau, a closest-to-the-pin contest (Casey), and a short-game contest (Casey) - all for the two teams' chosen charities. He did not win any of them. He was admittedly stiff, and also was hooked up to wires, wearing a mask, and admitted Finau is untouchable with the driver, anyway. "Ten years ago, I was at the Callaway test center," Mickelson said as he kept things moving along, "and you and your brother Gipper were there, and you were hitting nasty bombs there, and you broke the golf ball. You broke it. Literally broke it. It had a 212 mph threshold. I've never done - that unless I bladed it, like a wedge or something." At the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park last August, Mickelson spent more than an hour in the CBS booth with Nick Faldo and Jim Nantz. He exchanged zingers with Faldo while the veteran Nantz kept everything running smoothly. But for the Charity Challenge, which aired on Golf Channel and PGA TOUR LIVE, Mickelson had to work mostly solo. At the 14th hole, when asked why he wasn't giving even more advice to amateurs Donovan and Owen, Mickelson said, "I mean it's a little difficult because when you see the skill level with the wedge of Landon, the beautiful one he hit on 10, the horrific one he hit on 13, you really don't know where to go with it. Oh, you heard that, Landon? My bad." At the 15th hole, Owen said he'd been drinking more coffee lately, which naturally was followed by Mickelson recommending his specially blended Coffee for Wellness. "When you drink it," he said, "you won't have any crash later on." Donovan, newer to the game, was sketchy on the Rules and kept asking when to concede a putt. "You'd still watch it," Mickelson said of Casey's upcoming short birdie putt at the 15th hole, "but 98.7 percent of the time he's going to make that. You're nice and classy, so I know you want to give it. I want to watch it." (Casey made it.) Mickelson razzed Donovan for hitting his tee shot in the water at the island par-3 17th hole (Alcatraz), but then seemed to remember how many thousands of balls are drowned there. "Sorry," he said. "It's late in the day, I'm getting a little slap-happy." Team Finau/Donovan raised $340,000 for Youth Development & Education in the Coachella Valley while Team Casey/Owen raised $660,000 for Health & Wellness.
