Chris Patton of Fountain Inn, S.C., during the 1989 U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club. Photo courtesy of the USGA.

 

Remembering Chris Patton’s 1989 U.S. Amateur victory at Merion Golf Club

By Jackson Sveen

Thirty-seven years before the best amateur golfers in the world returned to Merion Golf Club for this week's U.S. Amateur Championship, a golfer from Fountain Inn, S.C., made his own memorable run through the famed club.

In August 1989, Chris Patton arrived at Merion as a 21-year-old rising senior at Clemson University. Six days later, he left as a U.S. Amateur champion.

Patton's victory remains one of the great accomplishments by a golfer from the Carolinas, but his path to Merion began much closer to home.

A self-taught golfer who grew up hitting balls around his family's 300-acre farm in Fountain Inn, Patton developed into one of South Carolina's top junior golfers. In 1985, he finished runner-up to Oswald Drawdy of Hampton, S.C., at the South Carolina Junior Boys' Championship at Myrtlewood Golf Club in Myrtle Beach.

Two years later, Patton earned stroke-play medalist honors at the 1987 South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship, shooting 145 in qualifying at Greenville Country Club's Chanticleer Course. Drawdy went on to win that championship as well.

By the time he reached Merion in 1989, Patton had become a three-time All-American at Clemson and was ready to make his mark on a much bigger stage.

Patton tied for third during the 36-hole stroke-play portion of the U.S. Amateur to comfortably advance into the 64-player match-play bracket. From there, he began a run through a field that included some of the best amateur golfers in the world.

He defeated Randal Lewis, 2 and 1, in the Round of 64 before earning his most convincing victory of the week, a 5-and-4 win over Japan Amateur champion Takahiro Nakagawa.

The road became considerably more difficult from there.

Patton needed 19 holes to get past former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Mike Podolak in the Round of 16 before defeating collegiate standout Kevin Wentworth, 2 and 1, in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Patton found himself 3 down to former U.S. Junior Amateur champion Michael Brannan. He battled back, eventually winning the match, 3 and 2, to earn a spot in Sunday's 36-hole championship match against Danny Green of Jackson, Tenn.

Patton and Green had something in common. Neither had followed the traditional path to the highest levels of amateur golf. Both were largely self-taught, and both were making their first appearance in a USGA championship.

On one of amateur golf's biggest stages, it was the 21-year-old from Fountain Inn who took control.

After the opening 18 holes, Patton held a 3-up advantage. He stretched the lead to 4 up early in the afternoon round before Green began to fight his way back into the match.

Green cut Patton's advantage to 2 up after the 28th hole, but the momentum didn't last. Patton restored his 3-up advantage on the next hole and carried that cushion into the closing stretch.

The championship ended at Merion's par-3 17th. Green's tee shot found a bunker and came to rest in a difficult position that required him to take an unplayable lie. Patton safely made par, closing out a 3-and-1 victory and becoming the 1989 U.S. Amateur champion.

The victory changed the trajectory of Patton's career.

It earned him invitations into the first three major championships of 1990. At the Masters Tournament, Patton played the opening two rounds alongside defending champion Nick Faldo, made the cut and finished tied for 39th as the tournament's low amateur.

Patton later turned professional and competed around the world, earning victories on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour as well as the Canadian and Australasian tours. Nearly three decades after his victory at Merion, he returned to USGA competition at the 2018 U.S. Senior Open.

But his place in Carolinas golf history had already been secured during that week in August 1989.

From a runner-up finish in the South Carolina Junior Boys' Championship in 1985, to medalist honors at the South Carolina Amateur Match Play in 1987, to standing atop amateur golf at Merion two years later, Patton's rise happened quickly.

Now, 37 years later, the U.S. Amateur has returned to the place where he reached the pinnacle.

The 126th U.S. Amateur is being contested August 10-16 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., with Philadelphia Country Club serving as the stroke-play co-host. The championship began Monday with a field of 312 players before the low 64 advance to match play at Merion.

As another U.S. Amateur champion prepares to add his name to the championship's storied history this week, the Carolinas can look back on a familiar name already etched into it.

Chris Patton, Fountain Inn, South Carolina.

1989 U.S. Amateur Champion.