List Checks Out of Amateur

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Mamaroneck, N.Y. - The torturous look was chiseled on Luke List's face.

As a Winged Foot custodial crew hastily constructed the ceremonial dais and table on the 18th green after Ryan Moore won the U.S. Amateur, List silently walked to his bag, took off his hat and tried wiping away the pain. The white towel rubbed across his head as if erasing a chalkboard. To no avail, List couldn't expunge the disappointment.

Luke List misses a putt on the 28th hole Sunday. The hole was halved with List holding onto a 2-up lead. (John Mummert/USGA)

It was really true. The Vanderbilt sophomore who seemed to surprise the unknowing this week had held the lead on 27 of the first 32 holes, an eternity it seemed, and prevented Moore from ever possessing any advantage. Until No. 35, the next-to-last hole.

What is it like to be thisclose to victory and then watch it go up in smoke? What is it like to salivate over a long-awaited filet mignon dinner and then get served processed meat? How can it feel to be one step away from immortality in the annals of golf history and catch your cleat in the grass, tumbling into an abyss of 'almosts'?

That's the best way to describe being runner-up. Ever the diplomat, List pulsated afterward with predictable disheartenment.

"Yeah, this is not the way you want to lose," he said. "You know, you'd like to say, 'Oh, I hung in there,' but I was up the whole time and I didn't give it to him completely. He earned it in my opinion. But definitely, it hurts to know that I was up."

Coming in as the underdog, List methodically increased his lead to 3 up by the morning's 12th hole and one better than that by the 17th. However, Moore got one back on No. 18, just before the afternoon break.

A bundle of nerves, List scurried into the clubhouse to padlock the angst by doing nothing special. He went into the upper bowels of the locker room, changed socks, took a look-see at the buffet and watched the Olympics all in an effort to slow down his mind.

His purpose was to avoid any kind of distraction because this was the U.S. Amateur after all. And he had developed into a story of humongous proportions back home in Ringgold, Ga., which is near the Tennessee border. How big?

Late evening Saturday the Chattanooga Times Free Press decided to send a reporter to cover Sunday's match.

So big that pro Rob Riddle of Black Creek Golf Club near Chattanooga, where List plays, flew in to offer his support.

So big that King Oehmig, son of the legendary amateur Lewis Oehmig and coach of the acclaimed golf team at The Baylor School, pulled some strings to have the girls and boys squads to fly into Westchester County Airport Sunday morning on Lear jets to watch the former prep star.

"I wanted them to see a U.S. Amateur championship and be inspired by it," said Oehmig, who coached List. "I wanted them to see it on an old venerable golf course like Winged Foot. We wanted Luke to win, but it's disappointing."

Even though they "talk all the time," Oehmig could only get in a quick hug prior to the match.

List, whose mother Bonny missed making the 1976 U.S. Olympic swim team in the freestyle by two-one hundredths of a second, was aware of the attention yet needed his alone time to decompress. Away from his caddie, Mark, who also plays the role of his father, sister Bekah and mother.

He came out strong on the 19th hole with a 5-footer for par that won the hole to jump back to 4 up.

Then someone, or something greased the rope, and List started losing his grip.

List held steady before Moore carved out another win, on No. 26. Three holes later, List's lead dwindled to 1 up with a double bogey on the par-4 11^th, the same hole he had birdied earlier in the match. The downfall came in the form of a provisional when he yanked his drive out of bounds.

Yet if he was going to go down, he was going to fight tooth and nail. He made that much known on the 31^st hole, draining a left-to-right 18-footer to bounce back to 2 up.

Both players agreed afterward that the turning point no doubt came on the par-4 15^th, or 33^rd hole of the match. The contour of the green funneled both balls into similar spots that provided straight-ahead reads. Moore stepped up and sank his 11-footer with authority, bringing a rare fist pump. List pushed his 8-footer right.

"I don't mind putting second or having to answer," said Moore. "But for me, from my perspective, I'm trying to put pressure on him and make him have to answer me."

List chalked it up to a misread, the first of three successive ones at the worst of times.

Moore, calm and collected - so calm that comatose might be a better comparison - kept the pressure on. When List pulled a 5-foot putt left on the next hole, Moore swarmed like a malnourished shark. He evened the match by two-putting from 35 feet, then hurdled List on the 35^th hole with a 6-foot birdie.

Moore played 3-under golf on his final four holes to List's 3 over.

Suddenly List was in what seemed like uncharted territory since he trailed by an aggregate count of three holes in six matches to that point.

It obviously stunned him.

"I think when I was down on 17 (35 in the match), that was the first time I had been down since my first-round match," said List. "So that's a long time without being down and that just kind of hurts to know that that's the last hole of the tournament. But it was a great week and I can't say enough about Ryan.

"I just had a blast and I'll remember this tournament forever."

Then he walked out of the media center a soul wrought with dejection.

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