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NBC Sports
2 days ago
- General
- NBC Sports
With half of New York seemingly behind him, emotional James Nicholas achieves dream
SUMMIT, N.J. – Upon qualifying for his first United States Open Championship, James Nicholas ran straight into the arms of America. That's his fiancée's name, America Richmond. Fitting, right? Richmond was among the 50 or so family and friends following Nicholas' quest at Monday's 36-hole U.S. Open final qualifier at Canoe Brook, a little over an hour – without traffic, of course – from Nicholas' hometown of Scarsdale, New York. As Nicholas approached the North Course's 18th green, with a tricky third shot from the rough upcoming but two shots clear of the field, his faithful gallery was just a few steps behind, nearly engulfing him in anticipation. The scene resembled an off-Broadway matinee of Phil at Kiawah, and Nicholas was playing lead. Though he three-putted for bogey, it was just his third of the day, and at 7 under after rounds of 67-68, the 28-year-old Nicholas, a former three-sport athlete with a gifted lineage, was punching his ticket to Oakmont as medalist. 'It means the world. My support system is everything to me…,' started Nicholas, before choking up. He needed a few seconds. The morning on the adjacent South Course had begun with a few scrappy par saves and somehow a couple early birdies. 'Rocky … really rocky,' as Nicholas described it. 'I was in the trees, punching out sideways and getting up and down and making some good pars.' America, who had just watched all 72 holes of last week's Korn Ferry Tour event in Raleigh, North Carolina, was there from the start. Then Nicholas' mom, Eileen, showed up. Then one of his brothers, Brian. Then a sponsor. 'And then I had what felt like half of New York and Scarsdale coming out and following me,' Nicholas added. 'That's what it's all about. You don't play this game for yourself; yeah, you want to push yourself and see where you can go, but it's the experiences with other people that make it so special.' Nicholas was always going to go far; he just didn't always know in what. His late grandfather, James, was a renowned orthopedic surgeon and pioneer in the field who famously did Joe Namath's first right-knee surgery just weeks after Namath was drafted by the Jets – he operated on the Hall of Fame quarterback's knees four times – before founding the world's first hospital for the treatment and prevention of sports injuries. Nicholas' father, Stephen, followed in his father's footsteps, and young James was pre-med at Yale until he qualified for match play at the 2017 U.S. Amateur at Riviera, sparking the belief that he could play golf professionally. Before that, Nicholas lettered in three sports in high school – golf, football and hockey. The latter he competed in until he was 18 years old. A three-time, first-team All-State forward, Nicholas also was a member of the New Jersey Avalanche, a nationally ranked travel team, and shared ice with several current NHL stars, including Auston Matthews, Charlie McEvoy and Jake Oettinger. Nicholas' last hockey game came in the final of the 2015 Toyota-USA Hockey Youth Tier I 18U National Championships, where Nicholas' Avalanche lost a 5-4 thriller in overtime. He could've played hockey in college, but that would've required the New York state champion golfer to retire the clubs. Instead, Nicholas went to Yale, where he could continue the family tradition of playing multiple NCAA sports. Stephen attended Harvard, where he played football and baseball. James' sister Erica won six NCAA titles at D-III Middlebury College between field hockey and lacrosse. Brother Stephen was on the golf and football teams at Franklin and Marshall, where sister Michaela starred in field hockey. Brian is currently on Brown's hockey team while Eileen, James argues, might be the best athlete of the bunch, a skilled surfer among her many sporting talents. James Nicholas played one season at strong safety for the Bulldogs' football team before deciding to focus solely on golf. He ended his Yale career as the 2019 Ivy League Player of the Year. Despite his privileged upbringing, Nicholas developed the reputation of a grinder, and when he turned pro, he was eager to earn his way through the developmental ranks, unafraid of this game's ability to humble often. Seven years later, he's still grinding. He earned conditional Korn Ferry Tour status just months after finishing school, though he didn't get into his first event until June thanks partly to the pandemic. He lost his card after that super season and would only log nine starts on that tour over the next two years with a few PGA Tour appearances sprinkled in. Two winters ago, he opted to try his luck in Europe; he got his DP World Tour card through qualifying school and then made each of his first three cuts. Unfortunately, he'd see the weekend just four more times the rest of the season and then missed out on keeping his card at Q-School, which led Nicholas back to America – the country, not his fiancée. 'That really tested me as a person and as a player,' Nicholas said of his year of globetrotting. 'Just traveling from week to week, new places, people speaking different languages. And then playing on much, much tighter golf courses. I had to learn to hit it straighter.' Nicholas is currently No. 61 in Korn Ferry Tour points; the top 20 at season's end lock up PGA Tour membership. So, after catching fire Monday afternoon with four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn and joining Chris Gotterup (71-65), Roberto Diaz (65-71) and amateur Ben James (67-70) in qualifying for the U.S. Open, Nicholas had little choice – he had to fly at 8 a.m. the next morning to Greenville, South Carolina, for the KFT's BMW Charity Pro-Am. The grind never stops. But moments like Monday are what keep Nicholas fighting. This one meant so much, it didn't feel real yet. 'I've had this circled on my calendar for years,' Nicholas said, through tears. 'When I was 15 years old and got through locals for the first time, that was just a kid with a dream. I was just so raw, I was not ever going to make it through. … But I told myself one day I'm going to be playing in a major championship, one day I'm going to win a major championship, and this is that first step. 'I'm playing on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, and it's hard. There are so many good golfers, and to have this day, like this is my day, and I played awesome. It's just really special. And I know it resets, and now it's, ok, you gotta go actually prepare for a U.S. Open, and that's a much different beast, but I'm just really thrilled with everything right now.' And with that, Nicholas, with America in hand, set off to continue his journey.
USA Today
2 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Josele Ballester signs with LIV Golf, will debut this week
Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Josele Ballester signs with LIV Golf, will debut this week The Arizona State to LIV Golf pipeline has another addition. Josele Ballester, the 21-year-old reigning U.S. Amateur champion who finished his college career with the Sun Devils last week, has signed with LIV Golf and will join Sergio Garcia's Fireballs GC at 2025 LIV Golf Virginia, which begins Friday. Ballester and LIV Golf have been connected for some time, dating to before his U.S. Amateur triumph last summer at Hazeltine National in Minnesota. With his amateur career in the rearview, he's turning pro and joining LIV Golf, arguably a bigger signing than any the league had in the offseason. "First and foremost, I want to thank my family, coaches, friends, and Arizona State University for supporting me and believing in me to make it to this step of my career,' Ballester said in a release. 'I am very excited about the opportunity to join Fireballs GC and continue to learn from Sergio and other greats.' Ballester is the latest in a long line of Sun Devils to compete for LIV Golf, including new teammate David Puig, who also joined LIV Golf following a stellar amateur career. Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey and Matt Jones are other LIV players who played collegiately at Arizona State. He'll replace fellow Spaniard Luis Masaveu on the Fireballs' roster. Masaveu, who made the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur last year and is good friends with Ballester, will compete this week at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in place of Puig, who is sidelined with an injury. Ballester won one time as a senior, taking medalist honors at the Fighting Illini Invitational in the fall. He helped Arizona State finish first after the stroke-play portion of the 2025 NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa last week, though the Sun Devils fell in the quarterfinals of match play. He finished he season ranked fifth in the NCAA golf rankings, placing T-4 at NCAAs and adding a pair of top-10 finishes in the Big 12 Championship and NCAA Bremerton Regional. Ballester finished third in the PGA Tour University Class of 2025 standings, earning a Korn Ferry Tour card in the process. By signing with LIV Golf, he forfeits that card, and everyone else gets bumped up a spot in the standings. Texas A&M's Phichaksn Maichon is the biggest benefactor, moving from sixth to fifth and earning full Korn Ferry Tour status for the remainder of the year and an exemption into the final stage of PGA Tour Q-School. He played in three PGA Tour events this season, finishing T-17 in the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld and missing the cut at the WM Phoenix Open and Masters, where he made headlines after urinating in Rae's Creek on the 13th hole, Azalea. He would end up missing the cut at Augusta National Golf Club. Ballester will tee it up next week at Oakmont in the 2025 U.S. Open, as he doesn't have to remain an amateur to use the exemption he earned for winning the U.S. Amateur. But this week, he makes his professional debut for LIV Golf.
USA Today
29-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Check the yardage book: Erin Hills for the 2025 U.S. Women's Open
Check the yardage book: Erin Hills for the 2025 U.S. Women's Open Erin Hills in Erin, Wisconsin – site this week of the 2025 U.S. Women's Open – opened in 2006 with a design by Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten. Erin Hills also was the site of the 2017 U.S. Open won by Brooks Koepka and the 2011 U.S. Amateur won by Kelly Kraft, among other top-tier events. The USGA will return to Erin Hills, about an hour's drive west of Milwaukee, multiple times in the coming years. Erin Hills ties for No. 60 on Golfweek's Best ranking of all modern courses in the United States. It also ranks No. 6 among all public-access courses in a staggeringly strong Wisconsin. Erin Hills is listed at 6,835 yards for the Women's Open, but that will change daily depending on course setup. Par is 72. Thanks to yardage books provided by PuttView – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face this week. Check out the maps of each hole in the embedded photo gallery.
NBC Sports
27-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
After a year's worth of bad breaks, good ones finally come for NCAA champion Michael La Sasso
CARLSBAD, Calif. – The night before he became an NCAA individual champion, Michael La Sasso tossed and turned in his sleep, just thinking about what was at stake Monday at Omni La Costa. An exemption into this summer's U.S. Open. A likely invitation to next year's Masters. NCAA immortality. 'Sleeping with a lead is never easy by any means,' said La Sasso, who led Texas A&M senior Phichaksn Maichon by two shots through 54 holes, 'so to try and shut your mind off and go to bed is a very underrated thing to do.' The next morning Maichon, starting five groups ahead of La Sasso on No. 10, opened his final round with a bang, back-to-back birdies to quickly erase La Sasso's lead before the Ole Miss junior event teed off. La Sasso would match Maichon's two-birdie start, but then his opening nine started to unravel – a mud ball and bogey on No. 13; two plugged lies; a pair of double bogeys, at Nos. 15 and 17. The La Sasso that first arrived in Oxford, Mississippi, two summers ago from North Carolina State likely would've hung his head after that 2-over 38, which put La Sasso two strokes down to Maichon at the turn. It was just last August, a week before the start of the fall semester, that La Sasso was sulking on the practice green at Ole Miss' golf complex when Rebels assistant Emerson Newsome told him, 'Dude, you have got to snap out of it.' La Sasso had just tied for 191st at the U.S. Amateur, the wrong kind of exclamation point to a disastrous summer. La Sasso had contracted a stomach virus at the SEC Championship a few months before and lost 22 pounds. Also taking a hit were his swing and confidence. 'I had this victim mindset,' La Sasso said. 'I had missed first-team All-American; I was the only kid on the Palmer Cup team who wasn't. I was wondering to myself, like, am I not meant to be here? Am I a fluke? Emerson's like, 'You're plenty good enough. You have to be more optimistic.'' La Sasso began working with a performance coach this season, and by the spring, Malloy noticed 'a light bulb had gone off in his head.' La Sasso's NCAA triumph marked his third win of the season and was his 10th finish of T-13 or better. He overcame the flu to share 13th in Puerto Rico earlier this spring, and then less than a month later, he finished the same at the Cabo Collegiate despite stepping on a black sea urchin during a beach trip the day before the first round. Malloy urged La Sasso, who had to undergo four hours of surgery to remove all the spines from his right foot and hand, to sit out, but La Sasso ignored him. 'I've personally fought a s--- ton of stuff these last two years since I've been at Ole Miss,' La Sasso said, 'and I feel like I'm a pretty gritty guy.' At the NCAA Tallahassee Regional two weeks ago, La Sasso didn't bring his best stuff and still finished runner-up to imminent PGA Tour player Luke Clanton on his home golf course. La Sasso played alongside Clanton on Monday as he looked to close out easily the biggest win of his career. 'This was new territory for him,' Malloy said. 'We sat down and had a quick talk this morning, and looking at his eyes, he looked like he was ready for the moment, and he ultimately was.' Added La Sasso: 'I told myself if I just keep playing my game, good things would come.' Maichon, who plans to turn pro this summer with a Korn Ferry Tour card in hand thanks to PGA Tour University, bogeyed Nos. 5 and 6 to drop back to 9 under; he'd par in to shoot a closing 72 and finish two shots ahead of Oklahoma State's Preston Stout – and three clear of La Sasso's buddy Jackson Koivun of Auburn and reigning U.S. Amateur winner Josele Ballester of Arizona State. Meanwhile, the bounces finally started to go La Sasso's way. He played a bogey-free final nine, which included birdies on Nos. 4 and 6, the latter being a par-5 where La Sasso's drive took three bounces off the left cart path before ricocheting into the fairway; that birdie moved La Sasso back to 11 under, where he'd end up after a 72 of his own. On the next hole, the par-4 seventh, La Sasso's tee ball nestled against a bunker rake, which was left by another Ole Miss player a few groups ahead. Said La Sasso later to that teammate: 'Nice rake job.' La Sasso would still fly the green with his approach, but he saved par with a clutch up-and-down. Clanton carded an uncharacteristic 4-over 76 as Florida State, where Malloy was an assistant under Trey Jones over a decade ago, played the last three holes in a combined 6 over to finish at 12 over. The Rebels were 4 over in that stretch, though La Sasso's tap-in for par at No. 9 narrowly sealed the eighth seed in match play for Ole Miss, which will meet Arizona State in Tuesday morning's quarterfinals. The moment Mike became a National Champ! 🏆#HottyToddy Virginia, which climbed four places to seventh, gets reigning NCAA team champion Auburn. Florida, after the round of the day (8 under), will face host Texas. And Oklahoma State and Oklahoma will square off for the first time ever in NCAA match play. Florida State declined a Golf Channel request to speak to Clanton, who is expected to make his pro debut as a PGA Tour member next week at the RBC Canadian Open. La Sasso, who has one more year of eligibility, was thrilled for the professional opportunities that will now be given to him. He no longer has to fly to U.S. final qualifying later this week in Columbus, Ohio, and he can instead take a few days off before the Arnold Palmer Cup at Congaree and his major debut at Oakmont. He's also in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July – and more invites will surely pop up soon. 'He's going to have a lot thrown on his plate, but he'll be ready and figure it out,' Malloy said. '… He's earned it, and I'm just really looking forward to watching him do it.' This is just Ole Miss' third time at the NCAA Championship under Malloy – and Tuesday will mark its first match-play appearance. But twice now the Rebels have boasted the individual winner, with current PGA Tour pro Braden Thornberry being the first to accomplish the feat in 2017 at Rich Harvest Farms. Thornberry recently played nine holes with La Sasso, and on Sunday night talked with the eventual NCAA champ on the phone. Thornberry's biggest piece of advice was to appreciate how special the opportunity was just to have a chance at winning a national championship. 'I thought about that a few times today,' La Sasso said. 'To be able to follow in his footsteps is pretty unbelievable.' Unlike Thornberry, though, La Sasso will have to pause his celebration and flip the switch to match play. La Sasso will go out in the anchor match opposite Arizona State star Preston Summerhays. History favors La Sasso as NCAA individual champions are 6-1 all-time in their quarterfinal match. Malloy certainly isn't worried about his star. 'The guy wakes up with his hair on fire,' Malloy said. 'He's not going to have any lack of motivation.' Much is still at stake.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jay Sigel, amateur golf legend with 11 Masters appearances, dies at 81
Jay Sigel, one of the best amateur golfers of all-time, died Saturday. He was 81 years old. The U.S. Golf Association confirmed his passing Sunday. Sigel put together one of the greatest amateur resumes in golf history before turning professional and compiling eight victories on the PGA Tour Champions. He won consecutive U.S. Amateur titles in 1982 and 1983. Sigel also won three U.S. Mid-Amateurs in 1983, '85 and '87. He remains the only player to win the U.S. Am and U.S. Mid-Am in the same year. Advertisement As if that wasn't enough, he also competed in nine Walker Cup, the most of any player in the event's history. Two of those appearances came as a playing captain. His amateur resume doesn't stop there. He captured the 1979 British Amateur title, has 10 wins in the Pennsylvania Amateur, four Pennsylvania Open victories, and three wins at each prestigious amateur event: Porter Cup, Sunnehanna Amateur and Northeast Amateur. He also competed in 11 consecutive Masters tournaments from 1978-88, making the cut four times and winning low amateur honors in 1980, 1981 and 1988. Sigel played collegiately at Wake Forest, where he was was an All-American. When he turned 50 in 1993, Sigel turned pro, winning PGA Tour Champions Rookie of the Year in 1994. He amassed eight wins on the circuit. Advertisement He was born and raised in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 13, 1943, and grew up playing golf at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. He attended high school at Lower Merion High School in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Wake Forest in 1967 with a degree in sociology. He decided not to turn pro after finishing play at Wake Forest, where he was the first person to earn the Arnold Palmer Scholarship, thanks to an accident where Sigel's left hand went through a pane of glass on a swinging door. He needed 70 stitches on his wrist and spent nine days in the hospital. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Jay Sigel, amateur golf legend with 11 Masters appearances, dies at 81
