As soon as he walked onto the first tee last month at Old Ranch Country Club, Nick Swanson said he had a feeling he might be in for a good day, having recently medaled there for the Marina boys golf team.
The Seal Beach course, Swanson said, couldn’t fit his game any better. The fairways run out a lot, which is perfect for a low-ball hitter like him, and the greens, he said, are very receptive, rolling very true.
So he couldn’t have asked for a better place to try and qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship.
As expected, he posted another low score, a 3-under-par 141 after 36 holes, which put him in third place, giving him a spot in the prestigious USGA tournament which begins Monday on the Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga.
It was the first time he tried to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship and only the second time he had ever entered an USGA qualifying event. He tried to make it into the U.S. Junior Amateur once and just missed making the cut.
For Swanson, the waiting was the hardest part of playing in the qualifier at Old Ranch. He was one of the first ones to tee off, so he had to sit around for quite some time to see if his score would hold up.
Tyler Torano and Derek Castillo, who will begin his junior year at Valencia in the fall, both tied for first with a 139 and will join Swanson at the U.S. Amateur Championship.
To get some pointers on how to play at Atlanta Athletic Club, Swanson said he has been talking to Illinois men’s golf coach Mike Small, who played there in the 2011 PGA Championship.
“I am really excited to get to play at such a well-known venue,” said Swanson, an incoming senior at Marina. “It (qualifying) felt amazing. I was really, really happy when I found out I was going to get to go to Georgia. Even if I don’t end up playing that great, it will still be a great experience. It will give me a chance to see where my game is compared to some of the best players in the world.”
Match play is kind of new for Swanson. He’s only played in the format one time before at the 2013 Long Beach Match Play Championship, advancing to the quarterfinals where he lost 4&3.
“I like match play. As long as you can recover, it allows you to make some bigger numbers,” Swanson said.
Big numbers, though, aren’t something that Swanson has been seeing a lot of lately. During the final round of the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior, Swanson fired a 6-under-par 66 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club. He ended up in a three-way tie for first after finishing the AJGA tournament in Rancho Mirage in June with a 5-under 211. He eventually finished tied for second after coming up short in the sudden-death playoff.
To get ready for the U.S. Amateur, Swanson has been working a lot on hitting is irons out of heavier rough. And he’s putting a lot of time in on the practice green too, because playing on a 7,600 yard course, Swanson said he knows he will likely be standing over more than a few 6-foot, par-saving putts.
“This is a great field and a great tournament. I would obviously like to make it to match play,” Swanson said. The top 64 golfers after two rounds of stroke play get a spot in the match-play bracket. “And then I will see if I could make something happen from there.”
Contact the writer: ddottore@ocregister.com
