Little-Known Flanagan Now On The Radar

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Oakmont, Pa. – What do we know of Nicholas Flanagan? Well, for starters, he’s one of the semifinalists in this year’s U.S. Amateur. We also know he prefers to wear sunglasses on overcast, hazy days when playing.

And as far as he was concerned, Oakmont Country Club could have been a putt-putt course.

Australian Nicholas Flanagan made it a goal of his to play in this year's U.S. Amateur. (John Mummert/USGA)

"I actually had never heard of it when I first came over [to America],” said Flanagan, admitting his golf knowledge is limited. “I didn’t realize it was a top-five course.”

Said his caddie, Gary Whitehouse, well aware of Oakmont’s lore: “His history of golf is horrible. I told him to just look at the names of the champions here,” which are paradoxically printed on paper drinking cups.

Before this nugget of information the little-known 19-year-old Australian was nothing more than an unrecognizable blip among the 312 stroke-play hopefuls at the start of the week. That started to change Wednesday morning, when the first-time Amateur participant made a par at the first playoff hole to secure the 55th seed in the match-play draw.

En route to Saturday’s showdown with David Oh – the only semifinalist with previous U.S. Amateur experience -- Flanagan snuck under the radar in eliminating Steve Bendt, Andrew Pratt, Jason Hartwick and, on Friday, Jerry Courville, 1 up.

"His heart shows he’s a special player,” said his caddie, Gary Whitehouse, while Flanagan stood 50 feet away on the 18th green conducting interviews. “He has a lot of fire in his belly.”

Flanagan wasn’t overly remarkable in defeating Courville. His round featured 11 pars and no birdies. The vagaries of match play, of course, don’t necessarily require a player to post the lowest of numbers. Just win the hole at hand. That’s all that matters. And that’s what Flanagan did, trailing for just one hole all day.

What he did employ was moxie. Lots of it. On the back nine, he hit just two of the seven fairways in regulation. He just dodged trouble like a contestant at a hot-coal walking competition.

The 231-yard par 3 16th hole could sum up Flanagan’s performance. A 3-iron drive finished eight feet left of the green, buried in thick stuff. Flanagan finessed a chip to five feet of the hole. The par save wasn’t easy because the green was like putting on the hump of a camel. Flanagan adroitly hit the knee-bender to maintain a 2-up lead.

Courville was able to cut the deficit to 1 down as the two walked up the 18th fairway. With 187 yards to the hole, Courville stuck his shot 15 feet above the hole. Was there a more pressurized situation for Flanagan at this point? Flanagan, 166 yards out, took a deep breath and knocked his ball 20 feet short of the hole.

How were the nerves?

"They’re getting worse with every match,” said Flanagan. “I didn’t want it to come up to this last hole. To tell you the truth, I never thought I’d play this far into this. Tomorrow I don’t know if I’ll be able to hit it.”

Moving On

It should be mentioned that the last Aussie to win the Amateur was Walter Travis. That was exactly 100 years ago. The last Australian to win a USGA event was Karrie Webb in 2001 at the Women’s Open. For the history afficionado, only five players from the Land Down Under have ever won a USGA championship.

Flanagan’s trek to the country started on June 7. Since then, he’s played a handful of amateur events around the country, traveling with two family friends and living out of a suitcase. It hasn’t been uncommon for him to sleep on the floor or with someone in a double bed.

His swing coach, Steve Bann, also works for well-known Aussie touring pro Stuart Appleby. Flanagan became enamored with golf after watching Tiger Woods in the 1997 Masters. He would set his alarm for 4 a.m. in his hometown of Lake McQuarrie, two hours north of Sydney, just to watch. Six years later, Flanagan finds himself one victory short of a trip to Augusta (the U.S. Amateur finalists are usually invited to the Masters).

Flanagan eyes the target during his match against Jerry Courville. (John Mummert/USGA)

He’s such a fan of Woods that he implored his traveling caravan to drive to Rochester last week for the PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

"We drove to Rochester for one day,” said Whitehouse. “Just to see Tiger hit one shot. He couldn’t believe it when he saw him. He saw the blimp here [at Oakmont] and was excited. That’s something we’ve only seen at home on the tele.”

The trip wasn’t all a loss. Flanagan did get a putting lesson from Bann in a nearby hotel.

Last year Flanagan decided that he wanted to play in the U.S. Amateur, so he came over to the U.S. in the summer to prepare and qualify. Since his arrival, Flanagan won the Pacific Northwest in the state of Washington, placed fourth at the Cardinal Amateur and was the runner-up in the stroke-play portion of the Western Amateur.

On Aug. 5, he went to The Camargo Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, to earn a spot in the Amateur.

"Nothing comes close to this,” said Flanagan, a fan of countrymen Aaron Baddeley (runner-up at the 1998 U.S. Junior Amateur) and Adam Scott (1999 U.S. Amateur Public Links semifinalist). “For an Australian to win this, it would be a big deal because not many of us make it over here.”

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