By Dave Shedloski
Tulsa, Okla. – When Clemson University senior Ben Martin is focused and motivated, he can exhibit a level of golf competency that places him among the best young players in America.
Of that Martin left little doubt Tuesday after submitting a tidy 2-under-par 68 at Southern Hills Country Club in the second round of stroke-play qualifying at the 109th U.S. Amateur.
Martin, 21, tied Tim Jackson for the low round at Southern Hills thus far and, coupled with his 3-over 73 Monday at Cedar Ridge Country Club in nearby Broken Arrow, Okla., he was assured of advancing to the championship’s match-play competition, which begins Wednesday with 64 players.
Call it the first mile marker on the road to redemption for the Academic All-American, whose summer started with a bang but largely fizzled until this week. Martin earned the honor of playing in the U.S. Open in June at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., but instead of building on that experience, he found himself floundering.
“I didn’t do too much after that; I kind of let down. I didn’t really put in the work after that,” said Martin. “I felt like, coming back and playing in a regular amateur tournament after being in the Open was kind of tough to get up for. But I think I’m back, refocused now, and playing good.”
Martin, from Greenwood, S.C., is competing in his first U.S. Amateur after four unsuccessful attempts at qualifying. He was exempt thanks to his appearance in his first Open, won by Clemson graduate Lucas Glover. Martin missed the cut at 10-over 150, but a brief birdie run early in his opening round actually lifted him atop the leaderboard.
“I just kind of tapped my caddie and looked up there and started laughing, right up there at the top,” he recalled. “I guess it kind of, not consciously, but I’m sure in the back of my mind it kind of got to me, being up there. I three-putted my last three holes to shoot 72.”
Though the difficult Black Course eventually wore him down, the emotional lift he received from playing in his first U.S. Open and rubbing elbows with the world’s top players stayed with him long after.
“That was a good time there. Just being out around all those guys, it was my first time doing anything like that, with the crowds, you had to get used to it during the practice rounds. But it was fun seeing how they play, how they practice. I had it to two under in the first round at one time and got my name up on the leaderboard for a little while, but ended up missing the cut. But it was definitely a good experience. It kind of gets you prepared for tournaments like this. Playing tough courses is always good.”
To say that his heart has to be in it is both a figurative and literal truth.
For much of his college career Martin has suffered from periodic bouts of pericarditis, which is an inflammation of the two layers of the thin membrane, called the pericardium, that surrounds the heart. It is a relatively common illness often caused by an upper respiratory infection, and it leaves those afflicted lethargic.
Martin first was stricken around Christmas of his freshman year.
“Yeah, if I was just walking like 200 yards to class I’d be out of breath or two-three flights of stairs I’d have to stop at the top. You just can’t do much.”
Eventually steroids cleared the condition, and he hasn’t suffered a relapse in more than a year. Being of sound body sure helps, but a sound mind was the real key to his 68 Tuesday at Southern Hills as he grabbed the early clubhouse lead at 141. Martin rarely put himself in trouble, and when he did, he extricated himself efficiently – like at the par-4 ninth, where he holed out from a greenside bunker for a crowning birdie. There also was a near ace at the par-3 sixth; his 6-iron stopped 8 inches from the hole.
“[It was] just kind of a steady round all day long; didn’t really get in too much trouble,” Martin said. “I tried to keep it on the low side of the hole because that was kind of my game plan today . . . I was the first group off. The greens were perfect. The wind didn’t really pick up until the back nine. I just had great conditions out there and took advantage of it.”
Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on www.usamateur.org
