BROOKLINE, Mass. — It’s been a pretty good month for Travis Vick.
Three weeks ago, the 22-year-old earned the clinching point in the NCAA Championship as the Texas Longhorns won the national title. It’s the stuff kids dream about, and makes him forever a legend in Austin.
If you thought it’d be tough to top that kind of high, think again. This week at The Country Club, Vick not only made the cut, but he also claimed low-amateur honors to boot.
“It’s been a golfer’s high in a sense,” he said after his final round. “It’s like Scottie did, where he went through a stretch of golf where he’s just playing incredible right now. I think in the same manner you kind of have to take advantage of the good weeks that you have, and you’ve just got to keep playing that way. So to be low am here is pretty cool.”
Vick claimed low-am honors in style. Paired with Brooks Koepka during the final round, Vick out-played the four-time major champion over the final 18 holes. Vick fired a 73, while Koepka could only muster 77.
“Obviously when I saw that tee time, I thought it was pretty cool,” Vick said. “Brooks is somebody that I’ve looked up to golf-wise, and he’s such a good golfer in his own right and he’s a really nice guy.”
Koepka isn’t the only major winner Vick outplayed this week, either. In fact, through 36 holes, the amateur was inside the top 10 and had an outside chance of creating his own Francis Ouimet moment at The Country Club. Rounds of 76 and 73 ultimately sunk any chance Vick had at taking home a trophy, but a low-amateur medal isn’t a bad consolations prize.
In winning low amateur, Vick joins an impressive list of recent honorees. Fellow Longhorns Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler are just two of the winners over the last 10 years, and Tour pros such as Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Matthew Fitzpatrick have won as well.
“[Low amateur] was one of my goals that I had coming in, so to accomplish that feat definitely gives me confidence,” Vick said. “What a great experience.”
