An amateur shot a 65 at the Mexico Open on Saturday and is in contention

USA Today

23-02-2025

An amateur shot a 65 at the Mexico Open on Saturday and is in contention
OK, you caught him. Justin Hastings has, in fact, been playing a little hooky lately from his senior year at San Diego State University. Do his parents know about this? That answer becomes evident when you realize that Hastings' father, Rich, is hauling his son's clubs around at the 2025 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld.
And truth be told, Hastings is building his resume, even without the recent class time. After capturing the 2025 Latin America Amateur Championship in January at Pilar Golf Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina — and earning a berth in the 2025 Masters and U.S. Open in the process — the 27th player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking made his first cut on the PGA Tour this week, shooting rounds of 69 and 67 in the opening two days of the event.
On Saturday, after admitting the pressure was off a bit, Hastings was even better. He made birdie on three of the last four holes and finished the day with a 65, pushing his total for the week to 12 under and sliding into a tie with established names like Patrick Rodgers and Nicolai Hojgaard.
Although Aldrich Potgieter continued his torrid pace on Saturday and has a sizable lead on the field, Hastings is still well within range of a top 5 finish, which would make his upcoming studies easier to bear.
When asked what the suddenly packed schedule has meant to his practice routine, Hastings' thoughts immediately went back to his academic degree.
"I'll tell you what changes is graduating, that's going to be a difficult one," he said. "I'm home for about three days after this and I have to take about three or four exams and I only have three classes, so it's going to be a tough one school-wise the last couple months, but obviously do my best. At three and a half years, let's complete it obviously.
"It's obviously been more busy, a lot of time on the road, but I think the best part of practice is playing in tournaments anyway. You learn a lot about yourself under the pressure because that's where your —that's where the real things come out, right? So I think I like to learn as I play these tournaments and I can take these things into the next week and improve on them."
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Aside from playing at Augusta National this spring, Hastings will also tee it up at the U.S. Open at Oakmont and the Open Championship at Royal Portrush. The major exemptions are in addition to spots in the U.S. Amateur and Amateur Championship fields.
In the fall, Hastings recorded a pair of top-10 finishes at San Diego State, where his career scoring average of 71.48 is the lowest in recorded program history (since at least 1993-94), just ahead of two-time major champion Xander Schauffele's mark of 71.50 set from 2013-15.
And this week, he's looked like a player who could follow in Schauffele's shoes. He's also been able to enjoy the plush surroundings and quick success with a familiar face in his father.
"It's been great. He caddied for me when I won the Lat, too, and he's been caddying at that tournament for seven years so we're relatively comfortable with each other in this situation," Hastings said. "I think — I don't know, I think we just don't — we don't overthink things out here, right? It's just us going out to play golf and we're good company to each other and when birdies come, they come.
"He's good at knowing when to intervene and when not to and I think that's one of the biggest attributes to a good caddie because sometimes nothing being said is the best thing to be said. I think he's really good at that, and yeah, I figured why not ride the success we had in January."