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| Mike Van Sickle had little trouble in beating Trent Whitekiller. (John Mummert/USGA) |
By Dave Shedloski
Tulsa, Okla. – Mike Van Sickle so far has taken it easy on his father by being hard on his opponents in the 109th U.S. Amateur.
Van Sickle, with his father Gary, the long-time Sports Illustrated golf writer, on the bag, cruised to his second straight six-hole victory Thursday morning at Southern Hills Country Club. By winning the first four holes, Van Sickle was able to chop down local favorite Trent Whitekiller, 6 and 5, to advance to the round of 16.
“My caddie can definitely use the break,” said Van Sickle with a laugh. “I’m trying to save him from having to walk too many holes.”
So far, so little … golf that is.
With a 6-and-4 victory Wednesday over John Murphy, Van Sickle, the 22-year-old Marquette University graduate had to play only 27 holes of match play before taking on Byeong-Hun An of Korea in the third round.
Whitekiller, 22, a senior at Oklahoma State and the 2007 Oklahoma State Amateur stroke-play champion, was stunned by a series of early jabs from Van Sickle and never was a serious threat against the reigning Byron Nelson Award winner.
The crucial blows were delivered via a pair of unlikely birdies on the second and fourth holes. At No. 2, Van Sickle pushed his drive into the right trees, but steered a cut 4-iron from 200 yards to within 15 feet of the hole and drained it. At the short par-4 fourth, after spinning his second shot off the green, Van Sickle chipped in from 30 yards.
“You could kind of feel the air come out of Trent a little bit there,” said Van Sickle, who last year missed the cut in his only other Amateur appearance. “You know, so far it’s almost like my recovery shots are better than my standard shots.”
“Those were surprising,” said Whitekiller, 22, of Sallisaw, Okla., glumly. “The one at four, to even get it up and down, let alone knock it in, that was tough. That kind of built on the fire he had started with the birdie at two, and I just had a hard time coming back from that. I tried to rally, but I didn’t give myself a lot of chances. I couldn’t put a lot of pressure on him.”
Especially when your opponent turns in 3-under 32. Van Sickle’s lead was 7 up after nine with Whitekiller making two bogeys, at Nos. 6 and 9 – the first after a three-putt – and Van Sickle mixing in a four-foot birdie at No. 7.
“He had some troubles today. I just tried to keep the pressure on him,” Van Sickle said.
Whitekiller tried to drive the green at No. 10, ended up in the right front bunker and splashed out to set up his first win of the match with an 8-foot birdie. But he gave it right back by missing the green long and left the par-3 11th with another bogey to leave himself 7 down and Van Sickle dormie.
Van Sickle’s first bogey in match play came at No. 12 after a poor drive only delayed the inevitable. They traded birdies at the par-5 13th to halve the hole and end the match.
“I’ve been executing well,” said Van Sickle. “I’m just trying to play good, smart golf and give myself a lot of birdie looks and make my opponent work hard to halve holes, and so far it’s working.”
It sure is, keeping dad from working very much.
Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on www.usamateur.org.
