Almost Left Out Of Field, Beck Proves He Belongs

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Shoal Creek, Ala. – Being the last in line is never pleasing.

Neglected. Forgotten. Anxious. It’s sort of like waiting for a love interest to call only to see no missed calls. That was Evan Beck’s plight prior to the U.S. Junior Amateur. Not literally of course.

Beck, 17, of Virginia Beach, Va., missed qualifying for the championship at Hermitage Country Club in Manakin Sabot, Va., after losing in a playoff to Wilson Day.

“We tied at 145,” said Beck after dispatching Jordan Spieth, 1 up, in their semifinal match Friday. “I was one of the first groups in and waiting in the clubhouse thinking I’m going to get in. But then he came in with a 145.”

Evan Beck strolls around the second green after missing a par putt, leading to a loss of the hole. (Steven Gibbons/USGA)

On the first playoff hole, a par 5, Wilson stuck his approach shot within inches. The best Beck could muster was par. “I was pretty bummed out,” said Beck.

As the first alternate, he had no recourse but to wait and see if a spot opened at the Junior Amateur.

With U.S. Junior Amateur officials holding open two spots for the U.S. Amateur Public Links finalists, Beck’s chances were about as slim as a pencil-thin mustache. OK, you get the point. Anyway, had either of the APL finalists been 17 and under, they would have earned automatic exemptions into the Junior Amateur. As it turned out, champion Jack Newman (20) and John Chin (21) didn’t fit that bill.

On July 16, while Beck was out competing in a local tournament his father, Gary, a commercial mortgage banker, took a call at work. Ben Kimball, the USGA’s director of the U.S. Junior Amateur, was on the other end.

“Oh yeah, oh yeah,” said Kimball when asked whether his dad sounded excited. “He was very appreciative of the phone call.”

“Ben said, ‘We need an answer quickly.’ I said, ‘You got it right now,’” said Gary Beck.

After an ominous showing at the local tournament, in which he shot a 53, Beck headed to the car in low spirits.

“As he walked dejectedly away from the course, I put my arm around him and said, ‘You’re going to Birmingham,’” said his father.

Beck beamed brighter than a beacon in the night. When they arrived home, the two made signs out of construction paper that read, ‘Take Us To Birmingham.’ They hung them around their necks for when a shocked mom, Jeanne, got home. They packed up the car and made the 12-hour trek, arriving in Birmingham about 11:30 p.m. CDT last Thursday.

So let the record show that Beck became competitor 155 in the 156-player field. What were the odds he’d make the final? (For posterity sake, Garrett Howard was No. 156).

Well, to be frank, he didn’t mow through his early matches like a scythe to weeds. He was taken to the 18th hole twice. Make it a third time when Spieth, a spirited 14-year-old from Dallas, Texas, fought back valiantly on the back nine. Spieth chiseled away at a 4-up deficit after 10 holes.

On the 11th, when Beck missed an 8-footer to halve the hole, Spieth’s dad, Shawn, said to no one in particular, “The door’s open now, buddy.”

Spieth drained his 4-footer to begin the charge. If anything, he signaled to Beck that he wasn’t rolling over.

“On the back nine, I made that birdie putt on 11 and everything started clicking,” said Spieth.

On No. 12, Spieth had a marvelous up and down, then followed suit with a 20-foot birdie on the next hole. Except Beck neutralized it with a 12-foot birdie of his own.

Spieth suddenly had the putter working, dropping in 30-footers on Nos. 14 and 15 to get within one hole. Soon play was called due to threatening weather.

When the match resumed, Spieth’s momentum had withered. He couldn’t get up and down from a collection area while Beck converted his from a right greenside bunker to push his margin back to 2 up with two to play.

Spieth capitalized off Beck’s approach shot into Shoal Creek on No. 17, winning the hole, before heading to the 18th.

“I wanted to put pressure on him,” said Spieth. “I didn’t feel much pressure.”

“I didn’t think [Spieth’s momentum] was going to stop,” added Beck.

Spieth had a chance to win out on the final hole with a 27-footer for birdie, but he yanked it. He played the last nine to the tune of three under par.

“If you told me I’d play three under on the back and lost,” said Spieth as he made his way past the locker room, “I’d say he deserved to win.”

Afterward, a gleaming Beck seemed stunned. “I’m kinda shaky right now,” he said.

Asked whether he surprised himself this week, Beck stared down and took a long pause.

“I’ve been playing well all summer, been under par, around par in every match,” he said. “I definitely didn’t think I’d be in the finals.”

On a phone call to USGA Rules official Clyde Luther, who lives in Virginia, Jeanne Beck could be overheard saying, “I think we’re in shock is what we are.”

They shouldn’t be, because sometimes being at the end of line means good things come to those who wait.

Ken Klavon is the USGA’s Editor of New Media. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org.