Jack Crousore parlays lessons in course management into Hoosier Am win

USA Today

7 days ago

Jack Crousore had high expectations for his freshman season at the University of Minnesota when he arrived on campus a year ago. The adjustment, however, was tough.
A year later, Crousore can point to monumental growth in one area in particular: course management. And there may be no better validation of that growth than his Aug. 7 victory at the Hoosier Amateur, played at the Pfau Course in Bloomington, Indiana.
Crousore, who hails from Bluffton, South Carolina, has family ties to the Midwest and to Indiana University, where his older sister Annie attended school. The 20-year-old, who carried his own bag around IU's course this week, put his biggest focus on hitting fairways. That led the way to rounds of 69-68-69 that ultimately left him at 7 under and three shots better than runner-up Carson Baez of Davenport, Florida. Liam Nelson, of Chicago, had a share of the lead with nine holes to play but withdrew because of illness.
Baez, who plays for Richmond, has found himself in contention quite a bit lately. He lost a playoff for the individual title at the National Golf Invitational in May and also lost a playoff for the Southeastern Amateur title in June.
Crousore, however, just could not be overtaken this week, particularly after opening his final round with four consecutive birdies. 'A couple of really bad swings' off the tee led to a triple-bogey on the par-4 eighth and the leaderboard remained tight until No. 13.
'I had this short-sided bunker shot, back left bunker, and I ended up making it for eagle,' Crousore said of that hole. 'When I made that, I kind of was like OK, there we go.'
Crousore, 20, struggled to break into the Gopher lineup consistently last fall. But by March, when the team competed at the Colleton River Collegiate at Crousore's home course, Colleton River Golf Club, the freshman led the team in scoring. He was the Gopher's leading scorer four more times in the spring, culminating with a team-best T-7 finish at the Big Ten Conference Championship.
'My coaches and teammates helped me through that rough patch and once we hit spring I started getting back into form,' he said. 'Them having faith in me when I was struggling gave me a lot of confidence and really helped me get through that rough patch.'
Crousore, like any seasoned player, has certainly hit dips in his game before. He experienced one after his last major victory, at the Beth Daniel Junior Azalea in August of 2023. He took some time off after that and didn't feel like he hit peak form again until the following January.
Interestingly, Crousore also didn't feel like he had his best stuff in the weeks leading up to the Hoosier Amateur. Namely, he was struggling off the tee.
'I was working with my coach a little bit this past week and we kind of found something and it was really nice to see that click and carry on through this week,' Crousore said of his work with instructor Jason Sutton at Colleton River. 'I think those small little swing thoughts that we picked out are going to be really helpful going into the start of the fall season.'
That fix, together with knowledge about his game that Minnesota head coach Justin Smith helped bring to light, proved to be a huge difference maker at the Hoosier Am. Crousore had a lot of conversations about his game with his college coaches over the past year. They gathered data and helped create a strong game plan for how he should attack golf courses.
At the Pfau Course, his focus was to keep it where he could see it, particularly off the tee where fescue frequently comes into play. The biggest part of Crousore's game plan since March, regardless of the course, is to get the ball on the green as quickly as possible – a concept that sounds simple enough but is still a good reminder for Crousore not to be tempted by tucked pins, especially when there's trouble nearby.
'My strength is my putting and we really highlighted that in our meetings, and I think ever since having that conversation of them just saying, 'Hey, rely on your strengths instead of trying to play to something you're not as good at,' really helped me take a step back and realize I don't have to do everything great, I can lean on this one part of my game that's really strong,' Crousore said. 'I think that, since March, has really helped me get my way around the course a lot better.'