Sunday Notebook: Ramsay’s Victory Sets Off Block Party For Host Families

By David Shefter, USGA

Chaska, Minn. – Memo to the Chaska Police Department: If the block party at Timberview Terrace Sunday night gets a little out of hand, don’t pass out any disturbing-the-peace citations.

The neighbors have one gigantic reason to have a celebration.

Richie Ramsay accepts a congratulatory hug from Jean Buller, whose family hosted the Scotsman during the 2006 U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National. Jean's son, Thomas, caddied for Ramsay in the match-play portion of the event. (John Mummert/USGA)

For a little more than a week, the Buller and Hockett families hosted several Great Britain participants in the 2006 U.S. Amateur. That group included 2005 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cuppers Lloyd Saltman, Oliver Fisher, Rhys Davis and Richie Ramsay. Ramsay, Fisher and Fisher’s father, Rupert, all stayed with the Bullers. Saltman, Davies and England’s Steven Tiley were put up by the Hocketts.

All but Ramsay had departed the homes by Saturday night. Of course, the 23-year-old Ramsay had a pretty good reason for sticking around, and on Sunday the Scotsman captured one of amateur golf’s most-coveted prizes, defeating John Kelly, 4 and 2, in the 36-hole U.S. Amateur championship match at Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Back in January, Jean Buller, a longtime Hazeltine member, answered a letter from Karla Ryshavy, who was coordinating host families for the championship. "We were like the third people who responded," said Buller.

By the luck of the draw, Ramsay and Fisher were assigned to the Buller family. Ramsay and Fisher each had their own room and bathroom.

It turned into even a more memorable week for the family as Thomas Buller, who turns 18 Wednesday, ended up caddieing for Ramsay once match play commenced. And then Ramsay won the title.

"Oh gosh, we had fun all the time," said Jean Buller. "This was the best. How could it not be?"

Added Hockett: "It’s so hard to say good bye. They would come to our house and then they would go to [the Buller’s] house.]

As for food, the guests rarely wanted to dine out. Dinners consisted of meat, potatoes and fresh vegetables. Breakfast was Rice Krispies, toast, yogurt and orange juice. At night Ramsay interacted well with the entire Buller family and played catch with several of the neighbors.

"It was very low key," said Jean Buller, who has three kids and two black labradors. "You would ask them if they wanted to go out and they would say, ‘No, can we have the same thing as the night before.’ "

But you can bet things were a bit different on Sunday night. Perhaps a few pints were poured and Scottish bag-piping was in order.

Wild Week

On Friday, Thomas Buller was in the epicenter of controversy when he caused a loss-of-hole penalty for Ramsay in his quarterfinal match against Rickie Fowler for touching his player’s line of putt on the 17th hole. Fortunately, Ramsay survived in 21 holes. Then in Saturday’s semifinal against Webb Simpson, Ramsay suffered another loss-of-hole penalty for accidentally grounding his club in a hazard at hole16.

On Sunday, Thomas was being interviewed by reporters and had an NBC camera focused on him as Ramsay accepted the Havemeyer Trophy as the 2006 U.S. Amateur champion.

"I’m very happy," said Buller, a Hazeltine member who caddied for the first time this week. "I’m kind of stunned. I guess shocked. You never think that a player who asks you to carry his bag is going to go this far. I thought it would be a couple of days and I’d have a good experience. It turned out to be an unbelievable one."

Buller took over for another caddie once match play began. Ramsay said he just wanted to have someone a bit older whom he could share a few "adult conversations" with.

"He just did all the little things," said Ramsay. "We have a good relationship and I get on well with him, which is a foundation for I think a lot of good teamwork out there. He helped me out by not doing anything to put me off. He just stayed calm. [He just said] little things that give you a little bit of confidence."

As for carrying the bag at the 2007 Masters, U.S. Open or British Open, Buller said he would just settle for a few guest badges. He has never been to Augusta or Scotland, which is where the ’07 British Open is scheduled to be played (Carnoustie). "I think I would need to go to caddie school," he quipped.

Earlier in the week, Ramsay offered Thomas a hat from an equipment manufacturer that has provided him clubs. He turned it down in favor a green Cal Poly San Luis Obispo cap. His 20-year-old sister, Anna, is a sophomore at the well-known engineering school and Thomas thought it might help persuade the admissions office to accept him next fall.

"I want go there," he said. "It (the hat) was a Christmas gift from my sister."

Mizzou Mayhem

Two more members of the Missouri men’s golf team arrived at Hazeltine for Sunday’s 36-hole championship match. Kyle Marcolla, a red-shirt sophomore from Chillicothe, Mo., and Shawn Jasper, a senior from Marthasville, Mo., made the nine-hour drive to see their teammate play for the Havemeyer Trophy.

Beau Crawford of La Plata, Mo., and Chris Zeller of Branson, Mo., could not make it. According to Tigers coach Mark Leroux, Crawford was scheduled to play in a scramble with his father.

"We love you Beau, but we can’t wait," said Leroux.

Missouri alum Don Rudolph was also among the large gallery following the match. Rudolph, who lives a half-mile from the club in Chaska, graduated in 1979. This was Rudolph’s first visit to Hazeltine this week, although he watched the action Monday at nearby Chaska Town Course during stroke-play qualifying.

"I read about [Kelly] in the newspaper and I had to come out and watch," Rudolph told Leroux.

Rambo Rooter

	Mitch Hockett, 13, of Chaska shows his support for Scotland's Richie Ramsay during Sunday's championship match at Hazeltine National Golf Club. (John Mummert/USGA)

While the crowd was definitely pro-Kelly, Ramsay did have a few supporters. Mitch Hockett, 13, of Chaska made a white sign at the lunch break that had the Scottish flag and said, "Go Rambo."

Hockett’s family hosted fellow Scotsman Lloyd Saltman and Mitch had caddied for the ’05 GB&I Walker Cupper, so he was showing his support. "I’m following all the guys from England and Scotland," he said.

End Of The Run

While the U.S. Amateur has seen several runs to the championship match over the past few years made by unheralded players, for some reason those surprise finalists have failed to win the title. Sung Yoon Kim, 17, of Korea was stopped in 1999 by University of Texas All-American David Gossett (9 and 8); Robert Hamilton dropped a tough 1-down decision to Ben "Bubba" Dickerson in 2001 and Dillon Dougherty lost, 4 and 3, to Italy’s Edoardo Molinari last year.

None of those runner-ups have done anything spectacular since their Amateur success. Dougherty, in fact, forgot to send in his 2006 Amateur entry form before the deadline and didn’t compete this year despite being exempt.

Outside of the Show Me State or the University of Missouri golf team, few had heard of John Kelly prior to the 2006 Amateur. But in a span of week, he became nationally famous. Will this brilliant run lead to bigger and better things?

"I can’t do anything but build on what I’ve done this week," said Kelly, a senior at Missouri. "I think it was probably my sophomore year in high school and Matt Gogel was the guest speaker [at an event] and he was saying he met Tom Watson and [he] told him that you can’t worry about what other people think about you. So I kind of thought about that. I think it rings pretty true. Yeah, it’s nice getting recognition from your peers."

Add Kelly

Kelly won’t have too much time to savor his runner-up finish. Classes have already started at Missouri, so he was immediately headed back to Columbia. The golf team also has been preparing for the season, which includes 6 a.m. workouts. Kelly expected to be excused from Monday morning’s session.

"From what I hear, I hope so," he said. "I might be falling asleep on the bench press or something."

Kelly also is likely to get plenty of caddie requests for the Masters and U.S. Open. He pretty much assured his father of getting the bag for the Wednesday Par-3 Contest, a Masters tradition. Otherwise, Kelly could be seeing a lot of little favors being done for him by teammates over the next six to nine months.

Laundry anyone?

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org