Adam Mitchell was on his way home from a fishing trip Saturday when the call he’d been waiting on for what seemed like forever came in on his cell phone.
Mitchell was driving through Chickamauga Battlefield at the time, which was somehow fitting. Surrounded by history as he pulled his car over to make sure he didn’t lose cell reception, Mitchell was about to embark on a historic journey of his own.
On the other line was a USGA official telling him the best news of his young life: a special committee had carefully considered his accomplishments of the last two summers and found him worthy of the United States Walker Cup team, which will play Great Britain and Ireland at famed Merion Golf Club in Armore, Pa. on Sept. 12-13.
Mitchell thus becomes the first golfer from Chattanooga, a town that has produced its fair share of amateur golf legends over the years, to play for his country. Talk about history.
“When the call came, I was just overwhelmed with joy,” Mitchell said. “This had been a goal of mine, and for it to happen … I’m at a loss for words right now, but the one thing that comes to mind is how much of an honor it’s going to be to play for my country.
“I could play golf for a long time and not do anything better than that.”
Merion has played host to more USGA events than any course in the country and been part of some of golf’s most memorable moments. Bobby Jones closed out his Grand Slam there in 1930. Ben Hogan lashed his famous 1-iron to the 18th green to win the 1950 U.S. Open. Lee Trevino defeated Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff for the 1971 U.S. Open championship and later famously quipped, “I love Merion, and I don’t even know her last name.”
The great Nicklaus once said that, “acre for acre [Merion] may be the best test of golf in the world.” Mitchell earned the chance to make some of his own history at Merion on the strength of a couple of summers of strong play. A year ago, he won the Porter Cup and was a semifinalist at the U.S. Amateur. This summer, he finished third at the Dogwood Invitational and the Player’s Amateur, and was also 2-0-2 in the Palmer Cup, which clearly demonstrated his ability to excel in team golf.
“It’s an honor to know that the hard work I’ve put in, and the success I’ve been able to achieve on the golf course have been recognized,” Mitchell said. “I’m just going to work as hard as I can, on every aspect of my game, to make sure I’m ready.”
Mitchell will fly out of Chattanooga on Tuesday and play three rounds at Merion with his coach, long-time amateur stalwart Buddy Marucci, and the seven other players who were selected along with Mitchell on Saturday. Two more players will be chosen after the U.S. Amateur, played Aug. 24-30 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla.
Here are short bios of all eight Walker Cup players provided by the USGA:
Bud Cauley, 19, Jacksonville, Fla.—Cauley won the 2009 Players Amateur this summer after completing a stellar freshman season at the University of Alabama. Cauley also shared medalist honors at the 2009 United States Collegiate Championship. A first-team All-American selection by Golfweek and PING second-team All-American selection in 2009, Cauley was a member of the 2009 U.S. Palmer Cup squad.
He earned Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year and first-team All-SEC honors in 2009. In addition, he was a Hogan Award semifinalist and was an All-Nicklaus team selection. In 2008, Cauley won the Terra Cotta Invitational and was co-medalist at the Toyota World Junior Amateur Championships in Japan.
Rickie Fowler, 20, Murrieta, Calif.—Fowler has earned his second consecutive selection to the USA Walker Cup Team. He was 3-1 in his matches in 2007 and helped lead the USA to victory over Great Britain and Ireland.
Fowler, a two-time PING first-team All-American selection, finished third at both the 2009 NCAA Division I Championship and the 2009 Sunnehanna Amateur, a tournament he won in 2007 and 2008. He has played in the past two U.S. Opens, tying for 60th in 2008 and missing the cut in 2009. A rising junior at Oklahoma State University, he also advanced to the third round of match play at this year’s U.S. Amateur Public Links.
In 2008, he reached the third round of match play at both the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Amateur Public Links and was low individual scorer at the 2008 World Amateur Team Championship, in which the USA Team finished second. He became the first freshman to win the Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the top men’s collegiate player, and was also named the nation’s top freshman, receiving the Phil Mickelson Award in 2008.
Brendan Gielow, 21, Muskegon, Mich.—Gielow won the 2009 Porter Cup and gathered top-10 finishes at the Northeast Amateur, Sunnehanna Amateur and the Southern Amateur this year. A senior-to-be at Wake Forest University, Gielow won the Northeast Amateur and the VCU Shootout in 2008.
The three-time U.S. Amateur participant was runner-up at the 2008 NCAA Division I Central Regional and led Wake Forest to the team title, helping the Deacons to their fourth consecutive NCAA Division I Championship appearance. Gielow was recently named to the Academic All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team for the third straight season. A double-major in Mathematics and Religion, he earned a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in high school, graduating 12th out of a class of 325.
Brian Harman, 22, Savannah, Ga.—Harman will be playing on his second USA Walker Cup Team. He went 2-0-1 to help the USA beat Great Britain and Ireland in 2005 at Chicago Golf Club.
The 2003 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, Harman was a 2009 PING second-team All-American selection. He recently won the Dogwood Invitational and was runner-up at the Sunnehanna Amateur.
A five-time U.S. Amateur participant, Harman tied for ninth individually at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championship and led the University of Georgia to the semifinals on the team side. He was named to the PING All-Southeast Region Team and was a Golfweek Honorable Mention All-American in 2008.
Morgan Hoffmann, 19, Saddle Brook, N.J.—Hoffmann had a phenomenal freshman year at Oklahoma State University, winning the 2009 Big 12 Conference individual title and earning Big 12 Player of the Year honors. Hoffmann, a quarterfinalist at the 2008 U.S. Amateur, won three collegiate events in 2008-09. He was named a PING first-team All-American selection and received the 2009 Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s most outstanding freshman.
A 2009 U.S. Palmer Cup team member, Hoffmann tied Oklahoma State’s 18-hole scoring record with a 62 at the 2009 Southern Highland Collegiate.
Adam Mitchell, 22, Chattanooga, Tenn.—Mitchell won the 2008 Porter Cup and was a semifinalist at the 2008 U.S. Amateur. A PING second-team All-American selection in 2008 and honorable mention All-America in 2009, Mitchell has played on the last two U.S. Palmer Cup teams.
In 2009, Mitchell gathered third-place finishes at the Dogwood Invitational and the Players Amateur. Mitchell, who recently concluded his collegiate career at the University of Georgia, was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in 2008 and second-team pick in 2009.
He shot a course-record and personal-best 60 and a tournament-record 197 at the 2004 Bubba Conlee National Tournament.
Nathan Smith, 30, Pittsburgh, Pa.—Smith, who played Division III collegiate golf at Allegheny (Pa.) College, won the 2003 U.S. Mid-Amateur at age 25, becoming the youngest winner in the championship’s history. Smith has had a stellar 2009 season, winning the Western Pennsylvania Amateur and the Pennsylvania Amateur Match Play. He has also recorded top-10 finishes at the Sunnehanna Amateur (T-4), the Northeast Amateur (T-7) and the Southern Amateur (T-7).
A two-time participant in the USGA Men’s State Team Championship and eight-time U.S. Amateur participant, he posted runner-up finishes at the Northeast Amateur and the Pennsylvania State Amateur in 2008.
Drew Weaver, 22, High Point, N.C.—Weaver qualified for the 2009 U.S. Open and tied for 40th. In 2007, he won the British Amateur, ending a 28-year drought of American winners, and was a USA Walker Cup Team alternate.
Weaver, a PING third-team All-American and All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection, tied for fourth at the Dogwood Invitational and shared seventh place at the Jones Cup in 2009. A recent graduate of Virginia Tech, he has played in four U.S. Amateurs, reaching match play in 2006 and 2007.
Weaver, a three-time All-ACC Men’s Golf Academic Team selection, played in the 2007 British Open and the 2008 Masters. In May, he was named the 2009 Virginia Tech ACC Male Scholar-Athlete.
