Just how difficult is it to qualify for the U.S. Open? A scratch ‘weekend’ golfer finds out

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KAPALUA, Hawaii – Cameron Champ knows the lessons learned from failure bring more than those from success. But it took him some time to realize it. Fair enough, too – failure in golf had never really been part of the Champ narrative as he blazed his trail through junior and amateur golf and hit the professional scene with similar gusto. But it is the lessons learned the last 12 months – where Champ had his first real sense of on-course adversity – that have given the now 24-year-old extreme confidence heading into 2020. Related: Power Rankings | Tee times | Storylines, course preview for Kapalua A year ago, Champ came to the Plantation Course at Kapalua for his first Sentry Tournament of Champions as the next big thing in golf. In the 12 months prior, he had won in his debut Korn Ferry Tour season to help earn his way to the PGA TOUR and then took out the Sanderson Farms Championship in just his second TOUR start as a full member (his ninth overall) during the fall. Champ had added two further top-10s in his following three starts, so when he came to Maui, it was almost like it had all been too easy. The hype surrounding him had been fulfilled. This kid was not just a big bomber… he was the real deal who can use brute force to overpower and finesse to outthink the competition. A year ago, he would finish a respectable T11 in his Kapalua debut and show no signs of what was about to come. A crash. In his next 20 starts to round out his rookie year, Champ missed the cut 11 times, WD’d in another, and failed to finish inside the top 20 anywhere. And a lot of it happened in the spotlight, given his earlier achievements. There was a back injury for a period, but the problems stemmed from much more than that. Champ was bringing excess baggage to the course. With early success comes almost impossible expectations. Not just from external sources, but from within as well. “Last year was a really good learning lesson for me with the way I played and what I struggled with,â€� Champ admits. “I took things way too seriously – I added pressure and frustration – and I really wasn’t being myself. With winning early… you get expectations. I ended up in the featured groups… basically being thrown in with the wolves when you are a little pup. “But I am glad it happened that way – I was blessed now that I look back on it. It was a good experience that I can use going forward. Going from winning to rock bottom basically – I think it’s like gaining three or four years’ experience in a year.â€� Sometimes it takes something much bigger than golf to put things back in perspective. And this was certainly true for Champ. His grandfather Mack taught him the game and put him on this path. His lessons about dealing with adversity, having faced racial prejudice throughout his life, had also been littered throughout. But in taking the game so seriously and getting bogged down in negativity, Champ was forgetting some of Mack’s, and his father Jeff’s, wisdom. As Mack fell ill with cancer, Champ was letting his emotions get the better of him. But as things became more dire, he was jolted back into reality. “Rory (McIlroy) even said it after one of the better statistical years in the history of golf. He says golf is sperate from your personal life and you have to separate it – but I was dragging it into both,â€� Champ says. By the time the Safeway Open was coming up – which was to be Champ’s second start of this new season – Mack was moved to hospice care and the young star wasn’t even going to play. He toyed with just staying with Mack in Sacramento instead. At the last moment ,he decided to head over and play knowing it was what his grandfather wanted. He won. “Obviously that changed a lot of things for me,â€� Champ said of the emotional second win that booked his ticket back to Kapalua and sees him sitting ninth in the FedExCup. “It was literally a last minute thing Wednesday night. Hadn’t hit a ball in three days and I just showed up to the tee and played. I took a lot from that and the whole year and now I am building off what I learned.â€� Those lessons are what gives him the confidence to not expect a repeat slump this time around. Frustration, he hopes, will be very minimal. While his goals are still lofty, he has tempered his expectations and knows patience in this game is key. He is also finding ways to manage his game when it is not fully firing – evidenced, he says, by results at the Houston Open (T23) and the Mayakoba Golf Classic (T33) following his win. Off the course he is compartmentalizing better. The death of Mack a few months back still stings – and always will – but the pain isn’t infiltrating his golf. And there is happiness also as Champ got engaged over this holiday break. “I have a clearer understanding now. For me it has always been a mental thing. When I am mentally clear I play extremely well. So it is really just trying to figure out how to get there more often,â€� Champ says. “I felt all the emotions last year… I hope to stick to one this year.â€�

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