Finalists Come From Different Worlds, Share Same Goal

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Oakmont, Pa. – Most of the talk this week centered on all the old geezers to make it deep into match play.

Wittenberg has had what he calls an incredible summer. (John Mummert/USGA)

That focus did a 180-degree swivel Friday when the 35-and-over club took a bow and exited gracefully, setting up a semifinal where David Oh suddenly became the senior of the group at 22.

Now, as the field of four dwindled to two, the championship just got younger. Australia’s Nick Flanagan, 19, and 18-year-old Casey Wittenberg scraped and scrambled for Sunday’s opportunity. It’s the youngest final, and first teenage duel, since the format went solely back to match play in 1973.

Both are exempt into next year’s Masters and U.S. Open as long as they keep their amateur status.

Wittenberg, a USA Walker Team selection, will try to become the second-youngest player to win after Tiger Woods, who was 18 when he won in 1994.

"It would be unbelievable,” said Wittenberg.

Also playing for the record book, Flanagan is attempting to match Walter Travis (1903) as the only Australians to win.

Flanagan’s story is stuff worthy of a Hollywood script. Deciding he wanted to give competitive golf a try after watching Woods win the 1997 Masters, Flanagan convinced himself that he could one day see his name on the scoreboard in Augusta.

He came to the United States on June 7 with two other Australian players. They both have subsequently gone back. Flanagan stayed to prepare for the U.S. Amateur. A virtual unknown, he has lived a nomadic existence trying to stay sharp by competing in various U.S. amateur events.

The Aussie clawed his way to the final by keeping the Masters dream alive in his head.

"That’s all I could think about last night,” said Flanagan. “I couldn’t get any sleep.”

When he won on the 18 th hole, he walked by himself to the center of the green and called his family in Australia. It was 1:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S., meaning it was 3:10 a.m. Sunday there. Tears interrupted words on both ends of the phone. Without a live broadcast, friends and family stayed in tune by following on the Internet.

“They’re pretty psyched,” said Flanagan. “My mum was doing a lot of crying. I’m at a loss for words.”

The Sunday matchup features a stark contrast in players. Flanagan has eschewed school – because "I’m too lazy” -- and golfing institutes in order to concentrate on improving on his own terms. In the last two rounds, he scrambled and grinded.

He’s superstitious, always carrying four tees in his pocket while he plays because “four is my lucky number.”

So superstitious that during Friday’s match, he pulled off a putt. Bad line? Lack of confidence? Nope, bad vibes after feeling the remnants of an extra tee in his shorts.

"I had five in my pocket over a 30-foot putt and just about freaked out,” said Flanagan. “I just started doing it one day. I have some kind of phobia in my head.”

It’s not happenstance either that he reads the Oakmont greens by himself. He likes it that way.

"I don’t help with the greens at all,” said Gary Whitehouse, his caddie. “I just clean the clubs and get the water.”

Then there is Wittenberg, the consummate model of consistency on the course. After turning in a 78 at the end of the first-round stroke play qualifier, he settled down. He took some instruction from his father, Jim, who has been on his bag.

This week he’s rarely deviated from a steely-eyed look that has provided a glimpse into a soul full of fire.

"I came here this week with something to prove,” said Wittenberg, moments after eliminating Lee Williams, 5 and 4. “Getting chosen to the Walker Cup team was a goal of mine and I had some critics who thought I shouldn’t be.”

Mature beyond his years, various publications have him listed as the top amateur player in the country. Soon he will start his freshman year at Oklahoma State. And he’s a disciple of the David Leadbetter Academy in Florida.

Emotionally, Wittenberg stays in control, although he let loose a bit when he saw his brother Witt, an unexpected guest who had just flown in from Memphis, Tenn. Wittenberg had a look of shock on his face when he turned back on the first hole to see him there.

They both hugged while mother Deedee stood off welling up at the scene.

"This is just a blessing,” she said.

The Flanagans, bleary-eyed in front of the computer back home, probably feel the same way.

Ken Klavon is the Web Editor for the USGA. E-mail him at kklavon@usga.org with questions or comments.