By Stuart Hall

Village of Pinehurst, N.C. — At last month’s U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, Billy Horschel was at wit’s end with his putter. He even went as far as to blame putting for his second-round loss to eventual champion Jack Newman.

So no surprise that Horschel, 21, of Grant, Fla., and a member of the victorious U.S. Walker Cup team, arrived at the 108^th U.S. Amateur Championship with a new blade in hand.

Toting a new putter in his bag, Horschel got around Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Nos. 2 and 4 courses in even-par 140 and with just one three-putt.

"One three-putt is pretty good on these greens," he said. "But I like [the new putter]. I’ve only had it less than two weeks, and I got a little putting advice that’s helped me out, but it’s still all in the head."

Horschel’s 140 is made more impressive in that the University of Florida senior, who had never played a Pinehurst Resort course, dispensed with a Sunday walk-around after rains altered practice sessions.

"After they made the announcement, I went back to take a nap and I didn’t wake up until 3 or 4 o’clock, and then I was like, ‘I need to go practice,’" he said. "So I went to practice and then went to the dinner."

Despite his limited knowledge of No. 2, Horschel likes his chances this week.

"This course fits me well, cause you have to hit fairways," he said. "So I’ve just got to keep hitting it in the fairway and make a few putts. I wouldn’t be surprised if you go into match play and you shoot even-par each day and win your match."

Bogey Busts Newman

Jack Newman, the reigning U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, did his best to scramble back under the cut line, but then figured he had blown his chances with a bogey at the par-4 18^th hole on No. 4.

Newman, 20, of Des Moines, Iowa, was in at 5-over 145, and for nearly two hours waited anxiously around the main leaderboard. At 7:45 p.m., Mike Davis, USGA senior director of rules and competitions, announced to the gathered crowd that the cut came at 145 and that there would be a 26-for-2 playoff beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

"What’s the line from ‘Dumb and Dumber’? ‘So you’re telling me I have a chance?’" Newman said. "I mean that’s the line you have to take."

The Michigan State junior said his game was not that off this week.

"The past two days I’ve been stroking the ball well, but a few inches off left or right and the ball will trickle off the greens," he said. "I didn’t make any putts and that No. 2 is tricky. You will read the putt going one way and it will go a half-inch the other. I had a lot of lip-outs and balls that creased the edges."

Cameron Peck, 17, of Olympia, Wash., the reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion, posted a 14-over 154 score and missed the cut.

Newman admitted that winning the APL changed his way of thinking immediately afterward.

"I just had some different expectations that I put on myself that I didn’t need too," he said.

What grounded Newman, though, was going back home and playing with his Michigan State teammates and talking to Spartans assistant coach Casey Lubahn and Cleveland Golf Mike Dunphy. Basically he was told that he cannot change his outlook on golf just because he won a national championship.

Having some time to reflect on the magnitude of his victory, Newman believes he has the victory put into a proper perspective.

"It’s done a lot for me confidence-wise and getting into tournaments, but other than that it just shows me what I can do, and need to move forward," he said. "There are a lot higher-ranked amateurs out there and APL cannot be the highlight of my career."

Nagy Time

The name Corey Nagy is starting to become more notable at USGA Championships.

Nagy, 19, of Charlotte, N.C., reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship last month in Aurora, Colo. On Tuesday, he matched Wesley Bryan’s 67 as the low score on the No. 2 course to finish at 3-under 137 in the match play qualifier, tied for third.

"I really stayed patient and calm and was very focused mentally," he said. "I thought I handled myself very well."

Nagy now gets a second crack at winning a national championship. Given his close proximity to Pinehurst, he is familiar with No. 2 and its history.

"We had our high school state championships out here when I was a sophomore [in high school]," he said. "We played 2 and 4, and I played pretty well and shot 72 and 73 and finished top five."

He also played in July’s North & South Amateur Championship and previous Donald Ross Junior Championships. "I love this place," Nagy said.

Notes And Numbers

Of the four members of the victorious USA Walker Cup team in this week’s field, all made it easily under the cut. Kyle Stanley of Gig Harbor, Wash., shot 2-under 138; Horschel shot even-par 140; Jamie Lovemark of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., shot 3-over 143; and Rickie Fowler of Murrieta, Calif., shot 4-over 144. … After posting an 8-over 148 after Tuesday’s morning wave, Jordan Walor of Wake Forest, N.C., was heading to school — literally. Walor, 19, was leaving Pinehurst for Pembroke just down the road where he will enroll at UNC at Pembroke. Earlier this summer, Walor played in the Nationwide Tour’s Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C., having played his way into the field after winning a special high school tournament qualifier the Sunday of the tournament.

Stuart Hall is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on www.usamateur.org.