The Open Championship and The Summer of a College Golf Coach (article)
MikkelGolf.com Newsletter #29
I hope you caught some of the action from The Open Championship at Royal Troon last week. Although I wasn’t able to watch much of it live, I kept up with the tournament through live scoring and social media. The conditions looked brutal at times.
Xander Schauffele won the Championship, securing his second Major of the year. His bogey-free final-round 65 was incredibly impressive and deservedly became the main storyline of the Championship.
There were also other notable stories, such as Justin Rose's performance. Rose, who burst onto the scene by winning the Silver Medal as the low amateur at the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, initially struggled as a professional, missing the cut in his first 21 consecutive events. However, he has since had a very successful career, including winning the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion and now achieving two runner-up finishes at The Open. Many golf fans were rooting for the European Ryder Cup hero to complete a full-circle moment by winning the Championship where his career first took off.
One of the most compelling storylines at The Open every year, in my opinion, is the race for the Silver Medal among the Amateurs. This year’s tournament was a successful one for the Amateurs, with four making the cut. Calum Scott from Scotland, Jacob Skov Olesen from Denmark, Luis Masaveu from Spain, and Tommy Morrison from the United States.
Calum Scott, the rising Senior at Texas Tech, ended up capturing the Silver Medal by finishing in a tie for 43rd. A very impressive achievement that I have to admit, I rooted hard for!
I’ve known about Calum since I started coaching at Texas Tech. His older brother, Sandy, was on the team when I arrived in Lubbock during the Summer of 2017. Sandy is a great player in his own right. He reached as high as 7th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and is currently playing as a professional on the PGA Tour Americas.
I quickly started hearing about the younger Scott brother, Calum. Head Coach Greg Sands had Calum solidly planted on the recruiting radar. Sure enough, he ended up committing to Texas Tech where he is now about to enter his final year.
Calum has developed immensely since that time. I remember a thin teenager when he came for a visit. Now, his ball speed is the mid-190’s and he boasted some of the longest drives in the field during the Championship last week.
On the bag this week at Royal Troon for Calum was Texas Tech Associate Head Coach, James Vargas. The two worked fantastic together throughout the week. Head Coach Greg Sands was also in attendance at Royal Troon. Congratulations Calum, and fantastic work from everyone involved!
This brings me to an article I wrote for Clippd that was published this week on the Summers of College Golf Coaches. Although it’s off season for collegiate tournaments, this time of year might be a bit busier for coaches than most people think. It can also be very rewarding, like it was for Coach Sands and Coach Vargas this past week. You can find the full article HERE:
The Summer of a College Golf Coach (Clippd)
Thank you, Clippd for the opportunity to write another article!
If you’d like to support my work further, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. In addition to supporting my writing and website work, paid subscriber get access to all of the player development tools on www.mikkelgolf.com. The tools available include a library of performance drills and on-course formats, plus an on-course stats system designed to improve approach play and putting. Five division one golf programs currently use the stats portal. Reach out for more details if you’re interested!