George Willis
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Blog: By George
SAN FRANCISCO — When Beau Hossler hit a tree with his drive off the No.5 tee box, his caddie and godfather Bill Schellenberg looked at the 17-year-old and said: “Well, that was pretty pure.”
The levity was much-needed considering the junior from Rancho Santa Margarita High School had just gone from leading the 112th U.S. Open yesterday to a potential full-fledged meltdown on the front nine of the Olympic Club. Funny what nerves can do to someone, especially when leading Tiger Woods by one shot in a major golf championship.
That’s where the young Hossler, who began his round on the ninth hole, found himself after draining a 12-foot putt for birdie at the first hole to go to 2-under for the tournament. Hossler, an amateur who has verbally committed to the University of Texas, insisted he didn’t get nervous. After all, this is becoming old hat to him having qualified for last year’s U.S. Open at Congressional. But his dad saw the signs.
EPA
BEAU HOSSLER: 17-year-old amateur in contention.
U.S. OPEN HOLE BY HOLE
“When he looked up on the board and saw he was leading at one point, I believe his heart rate started beating a little bit and his swing got a little quicker,” said his father, also named Beau.
Suddenly there were cameras and reporters and the galleries got thicker. Hossler promptly took bogey on the second hole and made double-bogey at the fourth when his tee shot went wide right and landed in knee-high rough near a tree. That was followed by the drive at the fifth hole that smacked into another tree and dropped back into a bunker.
“You’re going to have stretches, especially on those holes where you’re struggling,” the teenager reasoned. “Obviously, I think I got out of my rhythm a little bit on those tee shots, and those really killed me.”
Schellenberg wasn’t going to let him implode. They had come too far, playing at Congressional at age 16 last year and winning the 2011 Junior World Golf Championships before qualifying for the U.S. Open again this year.
“He was getting upset and angry and I was just trying to talk him off the cliff,” said Schellenberg, who was at the hospital the day Beau Hossler was born. “I noticed something in his pre-shot routine and told him, ‘Hey, you looked a little quick in that.’ I’m sure that was nerves.”
Then the kid showed “Beau Knows Golf” when he hit that marvelous recovery shot at the fifth against his godfather’s wishes, leading to a good bogey, if there’s such a thing. “Fortunately, it worked out,” Hossler said. “If not I could have made a quad there.”
He would make another bogey at the sixth when his short chip with a wedge from the back of the green stopped one roll short of the hole. But he showed he has plenty of game and guts at the par-4 seventh where he made birdie when another short chip found the hole. A bogey at the par-3 eighth hole left him at 3-over going into today’s third round, a score good enough to tie for ninth.
“I think he’s going to handle the weekend better now that he didn’t end up in the lead,” his father said. “I don’t want Beau to move too fast. If he had the lead in the U.S. Open, that’s too much, in my opinion, for a 17-year-old to handle.”
Tiger Woods can chase his 15th green jacket. Hossler wants to finish as the low amateur. “There’s some things I really got to tighten up for the next couple days because I know the course is going to get harder,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a good spot for me to reach my goal of low amateur.”
The plan is to go to the University of Texas for four years and get his degree before trying to make the PGA Tour a career. At least that’s what dad’s thinking. Right now the kid’s just happy to be playing the weekend and getting another few days of free dry cleaning. “That’s pretty sweet,” he said.
Just like his golf game.
george.willis@nypost.com
Beau Hossler, Beau Hossler, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods, Bill Schellenberg, Rancho Santa Margarita High School, Schellenberg, Hossler, Hossler, the University of Texas
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