It was only eighty-nine days ago that we put a wrap to the 2006-07 college golf season, crowning the Stanford men as the NCAA champions at Golden Horseshoe GC in Williamsburg, Va.--just eight days after watching the Duke women claim their third straight national title at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla. Yet next week, a half-dozen teams will compete in the Topy Cup, kick-starting the 2007-08 campaign. (Scary how time flies.)

Amazingly next week we'll also see our first head-to-head competition between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the just released Golf World/Nike Golf men's coaches' polls: Stanford and Alabama. The two other men's teams competing are No. 9 Clemson (without U.S. Walker Cupper Kyle Stanley) and No. 17 Duke (Women's teams: No. 18 Denver and No. 23 Virginia).

Golf World's annual preview of the coming season appears in this week's (Aug. 31) issue, with everything also online. Click here to link to the preseason men's poll and click here for the women's poll. You can also get a look at our top 50 men's and top 50 women's players to watch.

The preview also had a story exploring 10 questions to ponder for the coming season. In that same vein, I'll be looking at five more questions over the next few days to get you primed for the season. Afterward, I'll also offer previews of all the major conferences, with predictions on where all the teams will finish come next spring.

Check back daily for all the information you need regarding the start of the season!

SAN FRANCISCO--It's been a pretty close match through the morning 18 between Michael Thompson and Colt Knost in the final of the 107th U.S. Amateur Championship. Knost has a 1-up lead at Olympic Club, having made one birdie and three bogeys. (Thompson has three birdies, five bogeys and a double bogey.)

"I still haven't gotten the putter warmed up," Knost said before grabbing lunch. "I didn't make a birdie until the last hole. i didn't hit it very good, especially in that stretch of [holes] 7-9. But I feel like he made a few putts on me or I'd have a bigger lead."

Here's Thompson's early reaction: "I started off poor, but I got into a groove there after a while. I just have to trust myself more. I just have to keep shooting for the middle of the greens and make a few putts."

Thompson also acknowledged Knost's penchant for grinding. "He's scrambling man. He's getting up and down from everywhere."

Click here for their full scorecards.

SAN FRANCISCO--Just in case there were any doubts, Colt Knost can win from behind too.

After losing the opening hole for the first time in five matches to semifinal opponent Jhonattan Vegas, followed by dropping the second hole as well, the 22-year-old Dallas native and 2007 U.S. Walker Cup team member steadied the ship en route to a 4-and-3 victory at Olympic Club's Lake course and a spot in the 36-hole final at the 107th U.S. Amateur Championship.

Having won the U.S. Amateur Public Links title in July, Knost already had secured an invitation to next April's Masters. With his victory today, he also earns a spot in next June's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Still, the lure of professional golf might be too tempting for him, having originally planned on turning pro after playing in next month's Walker Cup.

"Still need to be an amateur [to get the exemption]?" Knost asked. "I don't think I'll be at the U.S. Open unless I qualify then. Honestly, I'm going to have to think about it. But I don't think I can put off turning pro any longer than April.

"I mean I need a job," Knost continued, hinting that he's playing well enough where he might be able to get through Q school this fall and earn a PGA Tour card. "I'm done with school. I love golf more than anything. I mean this is what I want to do. This is all I want to do."

While trailing early to Vegas, Knost had memories of comeback victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the APL that help create confidence that he was still alive, even as he let short putts to win the sixth and seventh holes slide by to remain him 1 down.

Fortunately for Knost, Vegas too missed opportunities to extend the lead by missing short putts on the par-3 eighth (after hitting a tree with his tee shot and getting a friendly bounce on to the green) and par-4 ninth hole. "If one of those two putts would have gone in, I would have the momentum on my side going to the back nine, which would be a lot better," said the 23-year-old native of Venezuela, who finished his college career at Texas last spring. "But I just didn't execute the way that I needed to."

Come the 10th hole, Knost piped a drive into the fairway and indeed took the momentum, winning with a par to square the match after Vegas' approach shot found a nasty lie in the right rough around the green and he couldn't get his third shot on the green.

After the two competitors halved the 11th hole with pars, Knost proceeded to win four straight holes from No. 12 to 15, birdieing the final two. Showing how his luck had turned, on the par-3 13th Vegas again hit a tree off the tee, this time his ball bounding into a greenside bunker.

"I didn't feel like he would go all day without missing a fairway," Knost said. "I knew that he would make a mistake if I would just stay patient and let it happen. And he started to there at the end finally."

Knost's opponent in Sunday's final is Michael Thompson, a senior-to-be at Alabama who defeated Casey Clendenon, 3 and 2, in their Saturday semifinal. The 22-year-old from Tucson had trailed just six holes all week and kept that streak alive by winning three of the first five holes.

By the turn, Thompson would be the only semifinalist under par (34) and continued to have a 2-up lead that he extended to 4 up with pars on the 13th and 14th holes.

"I knew if I got up ahead early, I could maintain that," Thompson said. "Because it doesn't take pars and birdies out here. Sometimes it takes bogeys to half holes."

Thompson again drove the par-4 286 yard seventh hole, only this time his ball bounded over the green rather than settling 14 inches from the cut like in Friday's quarterfinal match with Derek Fathauer. His chip rolled off the green and he would make bogey, one of the few blemishes he had all day.

Entering the week, Thompson, who had top-five finishes at the NCAA Championship in June and the Players Amateur in July, thought he was among the short list of contenders for one of the two remaining Walker Cup team spots. By advancing to the final here at Olympic, he's made believers out of others too.

"I knew that if I made it to match play and won a couple of matches that I would get the attention of the USGA and [team captain] Buddy [Marucci], and now that I've made it to the final, I think I made a huge statement."

While Thompson is playing for a chance to represent his country, Knost is playing for history. Only Ryan Moore in 2004 won both the APL and U.S. Amateur titles in the same year and only five individuals have claimed more than one USGA title in a calendar year.

"I have thought about it," Knost said about the double "Y'all tell me all the time that how Ryan Moore is the only guy that’s done it the same year. Like I said, he's a great player. I'd love to be up there with him."

"A lot of people said after the Public Links, 'No one was there. You were the best player in the field,' and all that," Knost added "And I said, 'Well, you still got to win it.' And I think this week has really solidified my win there and showed that I’m a player that belongs here."

Knost and Thompson have played in the same group a few times during amateur events this summer, getting to know each other a bit. "I know I can beat him, and I know he can beat me," Thompson said. "It's really whoever comes out playing the best tomorrow is going to win."

TAP-INS

⿢ Entering their semifinal match, it appeared as if Vegas would have an advantage over Knost in distance off the tee. It showed even on the first hole, when Vegas outdrove Knost by 50 yards. "Hey Vegas, as you sure I'm away," Knost joked as the two were getting ready to hit their second shots.

SAN FRANCISCO--The 107th U.S. Amateur Championship has turned into a bit of a debutante ball this week at Olympic Club. While Colt Knost is going for history, trying to become just the sixth player to win two USGA title in the same year, the three other remaining players--Alabama's Michael Thompson, Lamar's Casey Clendenon and Texas' Jhonattan Vegas--have had success at the collegiate level, but advancing to the semifinals of the nation's oldest amateur event is likely the highlight of their golfing careers to date.

"I really don't know if I've played anything up to this standard," Clendenon after defeating Eddie Olson, 4 and 3, in their quarterfinal match Friday.

One down through the sixth hole, Clendenon squared the match with a birdie on the seventh and proceeded to win the ninth, 11th, 13th and 15th holes to run away with the victory and advance to the semifinals.

Truth be told, the 2006 Southland Conference player of the year from Katy, Texas, knows he's a bit lucky to have gotten this far. When a fog delay pushed back the finish of stroke-play qualifying into Wednesday morning, Clendenon had three holes to play. He proceeded to double bogey the first, putting him into a 17-player playoff for the final six spots in the 64-player match-play field. He then made a birdie on the second playoff hole to advance.

"Once I got through that I just told myself anything can happen in match play," Clendenon said, "so just kind of stay patient and here we are." 

Clendenon will face Thompson Saturday after the 22-year-old rising senior from Tucson beat Derek Fathauer, 5 and 4. The turning point in that match came on the 286-yard, par-4 seventh hole. Thompson, already 1 up, drove the green with a driver, his ball stopping 14 inches from the hole to win it with a conceded eagle. "[It] was a nice gift, because you don't expect to hit it that close," Thompson said. "Even if I was on the green there, it's very difficult to get it on. It just worked out and gave me a little bit of momentum going into the back nine."

Thompson is an interesting story of patience and perseverance, having lived through the destruction of Hurricane Katrina first hand while playing golf for Tulane. In the immediate aftermath of the 2005 storm that pummeled New Orleans, he lost his Honda Civic and a few photos. Eventually, though, he lost his golf team as the school decided to disband the team. He ultimately transferred to Alabama, where he had a standout junior season that culminated last June with a T-4 finish at the NCAA Championship. He continued that momentum this summer with a runner-up finish at the Players Amateur.

"He's just an all-around solid player," Fathauer said. "I can't think of anything he doesn't seem to do well."

Yet, Thompson is still not always mentioned among the list of top American amateurs, something he takes in stride. "Sometimes I feel like I would like a little bit more recognition," said Thompson, a former Eagle Scout. "But at the same time it kind of gives me that little bit of edge to go out and prove to everybody that I'm one of the best players out here. And I try not to worry about it a whole lot. I've always been under the radar my whole life in golf."

The same can be said for Vegas, a 3-and-1 winner over Cheng Tsung Pan. Vegas who was introduced to golf by his father, a former caddie, learned the game in his native Venezuela while playing on nine-hole courses built amid oil fields. He eventually made his way to the U.S. to learn English and hopefully enroll in an American college. Living in Houston, he eventually landed at Texas where he just finished his senior year having already been the Venezuelan Amateur champion and hoping to for another national title.

"I really trust my game right now," said Vegas, who has yet to trail in a match since his opening-round face off with Clifford Blanchard. "I'm not afraid to play here.

Meanwhile, the player with the most confidence is also the one with the most experience. Knost, Vegas' opponent Saturday in the semifinals and the reigning U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, continues to have his way with opponents in match play competitions, beating Nick Taylor, 5 and 4, in a match that could have been even more lopsided. Just twice was the 22-year-old Dallas native not in the fairway as he made five birdies to knock off the Canadian Amateur champion.

"I've just been keeping it in the fairway," Knost said. "If you keep it in the fairway, you really don't have that long of irons into these greens. That hard part is getting it in the fairway though. But once you do that, you can attack."

Knost admits that with his success this past season in college golf--he was the Conference USA player of the year and a third-team All-American having won three events his senior year--along with his victory at the APL, he has gained a measure of confidence. "I feel I'm one of the top players out there," Knost said. "Maybe others don't agree. But I think I've proven a lot out here."

As have his semifinal compatriots.

TAP-INS

⿢ In four matches to date, Colt Knost has won the first hole all four times, making birdies three days and a par in the opening round.

⿢ While never having been to San Francisco previous, Casey Clendenon has been a bit of a home body here this week in the Bay Area, staying with a host family. Asked if he had seen any of the sites, he noted: "This is it. Olympic Club."

⿢ Clendenon is indeed used to close calls in this year's. Not only did he get through the one for his spot in the match play field here at Olympic last Wednesday but he just made it through 36-hole sectional qualifying in Louisiana by one stroke after opening with a 40 on his front nine.

⿢ When Jhonattan Vegas beat 15-year-old Cheng Tsung Pan of Chinese Taipei, he eliminated the youngest  U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist since 14-year-old Bobby Jones in 1916.

⿢ Vegas could have survived a look-a-like contest with Tiger Woods today, dawning the same outfit Woods typically wears on Sundays. "I just felt like today was the right day to wear [the red shirt]," Vegas said. "I think tomorrow I'm going to wear orange. That's my second luckiest color."

SAN FRANCISCO--Four days complete, three rounds left and for the final eight quarterfinalists at the 107th U.S. Amateur Championship the hardest thing right now is guarding against looking too far ahead. The spoils of winning the oldest amateur tournament in the country--invitations to the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open--are getting closer and closer into view, but there is still much work to do at Olympic Club.

"It's hard to stay focused and keep from thinking about all the stuff you're playing for," said Derek Fathauer, who knocked off medalist Jason Kokrak in the third round, 6 and 4, after beating U.S. Walker Cupper Chris Kirk, 7 and 6, in the morning's second-round match.

The 21-year-old Louisville senior knows from which he speaks. In July, he got to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links at Cantigny GC outside Chicago, and had a 2-up lead with five holes to play versus Cody Paladino, only lose the match on the 18th hole, making two bogeys on the final three holes. That experience, he said, has helped him stay more in the present this week.

Making it harder for the rest of the field too is the fact that this is as far as any of them have advanced in the tournament previously. Combined the final eight have played in 16 U.S. Amateurs but advanced to match play only four times previously.

The one with the most USGA experience remaining is Colt Knost, the reigning APL champion. The 22-year-old from Dallas beat Brendan Gielow, 3 and 2, in the second round, then took out the oldest remaining player in the field, 54-year-old George Zahringer, 2 and 1, in the afternoon's third round.

"Going through that week [at the APL] showed me a lot about myself," Knost said. "It gave me certain situations where I was down in matches and others way ahead and I learned kind of how to finish them off. I'm definitely going to rely on that experience."

With Canadian Nick Taylor taking out Jamie Lovemark in their third-round match, Knost is the only one of the eight U.S. Walker Cup players who remains in the field. (So much for building momentum into the matches.)

The only player left from the 17-player playoff for the final six match-play spots is Lamar senior Casey Clendenon, who defeated Jonathan Hodge, 2 and 1, and Andrew Putnam, 4 and 3, to join the Elite Eight. "I have nothing to lose, really," Clendenon said. "I just want to go out there and have some fun."

Arguably the marquee match-up of tomorrow's quarterfinals is Fathauer versus Michael Thompson, a former golfer at Tulane who transferred to Alabama when the New Orleans school suspended the program in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The two golfers are good friends and roomed together during this summer's Southern Amateur

Friday's Quarterfinals:
10 a.m. PDT--Derek Fathauer vs. Michael Thompson
10:15 a.m. PDT--Eddie Olson vs. Casey Clendenon
10:30 a.m. PDT--Jhonattan Vegas vs. Cheng Tsung Pan
10:45 a.m. PDT--Colt Knost vs. Nick Taylor

TAP INS

* Nick Taylor's run to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur comes less than a week after he claimed the Canadian Amateur title. The sophomore-to-be at Washington defeated Michael Knight in 38th holes at Riverside CC in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

* Sihwan Kim's consecutive win streak at Olympic Club came to an end at eight straight Thursday afternoon when he fell to Eddie Olson on the 19th hole of their third-round match. It was a little revenge for Olson, who lost to Kim in the California State Amateur earlier this summer.

* Derek Fathauer's twin brother, Daryl, has stuck around after playing in stroke play qualifying here at Olympic Club. Despite the two be identical twins, it's easy to tell them apart, Daryl's hair tightly shaved while Derek's is long and shaggy. Derek hasn't gotten his hair cut since spring break in March.

SAN FRANCISCO--Midway through the only scheduled double-round day at the 107th U.S. Amateur Championship here at Olympic Club and just a couple of things to ponder:

⿢ We're down to two U.S. Walker Cup team member remaining in the field with Colt Knost moving on to round 3 with his 3-and-2 victory over Brendan Gielow and Jaime Lovemark surviving his match with incoming Northwestern Josh Dupont, winning in the 21st hole. Chris Kirk obviously never figured out what was causing the ball-striking problems, as the two-time first-team All-American lost to Derek Fathauer, 7 and 6.

⿢ The USGA's final two selections for the Walker Cup team haven't been made any easier with the way the bracket is shaking out. Unless Knost can become the sixth person to ever win two USGA events in the same year (he won the U.S. Amateur Public Links title in July) or Lovemark, the NCAA champion, can pick up his play, we could crown a U.S. Amateur champion here Sunday that probably wasn't on the selection committee's short list earlier this week.

⿢ If Knost thought a lot of people were asking questions on whether he was going to turn down his Masters invite from winning the APL to turn pro, just imagine what it's going to be like, big fella, when you've also got to think about spots in the U.S. Open and British Open.

⿢ With all due respect to the remaining players in the field, the folks at NBC, who are televising the semifinals and finals this weekend, have to be sweating a little bit. Past the two Walker Cuppers remaining and either Sihwan Kim, winner of the 2004 U.S. Junior here at Olympic Club, or 54-year-old George Zahringer (Knost's opponent in the third round), there's not a whole lot of star power remaining here in the Bay Area.

SAN FRANCISCO--Sihwan Kim might not be a member of Olympic Club, like two of the 64 players that made it to match play at the 107th U.S. Amateur Championship. Still, the 18 year-old incoming Stanford freshman looked right at home on the famed club's Lake course after defeating Marius Thorp, 1 up, in his first-round match Wednesday. The victory runs his win streak on the 6,929-yard, par-70 layout to seven straight matches, having gone 6-0 while claiming the U.S. Junior title here three summers ago.

"This course is hard," Kim said afterward. "I have a tough time playing this course."

Funny, you could have fooled me. Kim shot the equivalent of four-under-par 66 versus Thorp, a native of Norway who was the low amateur at the 2006 British Open. After jumping to a 4-up lead through five holes, Kim looked like he was going to runaway with the match, only to watch Thorp chip away at the lead. Kim never made a bogey, though, and holed a 4¿-foot par putt on the 18th to close out the match. 

In the process, Kim became the closest thing the Bay Area has to a hometown favorite remaining in the field after Joseph Bramlett and Randy Haag bowed out during the first round.

Bramlett, junior member at Olympic Club and a sophomore-to-be at Stanford, had a 2-up lead on U.S. Walker Cup team member Chris Kirk through 13 holes, only to eventually lose the match on the 19th hole. Kirk struggled with his ball striking--hitting just six fairways and nine greens--but hung around thanks to a hot putter. After holing a 30-foot birdie try on the 14th hole, he made a clutch 12-foot par saving putt on the 15th to square the match.

The two took turns chopping it around the last two holes. Bramlett's approach shot on the 491-yard 17th found a horrible lie in the thick rough left of the green. Trying to chip on with his third shot, he hit under the ball and fail to advance it, letting Kirk win the hole with a bogey. On the 347-yard 18th, Kirk repaid the favor when his 9-iron approach shot plugged in the greenside bunker, resulting in a double bogey to extend the match to extra holes.

Kirk closed it out with a birdie on the par-5 first hole after coming up just short of the green in two while Bramlett could make no better than par.

"We had two totally different types of rounds," said Kirk. "I just kept plugging along. I feel with my game, I can make up ground even if I'm not totally on."

"I knew it was going to be a tough match," Bramlett said, having hit 10 of 15 fairways and 12 of 19 greens.

Haag, a 48-year-old Olympic Club member, also watched a late lead slip away. One-up on the 16th tee versus Derek Fathauer, he lost that hole to a birdie, then made a double-bogey 6 on the 18th to drop the match, 1 up.

"I haven't been able to play this hole for 23 years," Haag joked afterward.

When Kim was last playing a USGA event in the Bay Area in 2004, he was two inches shorter and a bit chubbier. "It looks like I've grown a lot but that's just because I've lost a lot of baby fat," he said.

Suffice it to say, Olympic Club brings back good memories even if the Lake course still seems a bit intimidating to the Buena Park, Calif., native. "It gives me a lot of confidence. If I just remember what I did that week. I just tried to think of good memories about specific holes. I think it helps me a lot."

TAPS-INS

Interesting, Chris Kirk only learned that he had drawn Joseph Bramlett 20 minutes before the match's 10:10 a.m. tee time. Kirk was eating breakfast in the clubhouse when Walker Cup teammate Colt Knost phoned him.

"It's funny because usually I don't warm up for much more than 20, 30 minutes," Kirk said. "This was the one time I was hoping to spend a little time working on my swing. I wasn't hitting it very well yesterday afternoon either. I need to go to the range and work things out. Hopefully I can find a friend to watch me and tell me what I'm doing wrong."

***
While Kirk advanced, not all his fellow Walker Cuppers fared as well. Webb Simpson, a semifinalist at the 2006 U.S. Amateur, fell to Alabama rising senior Michael Thompson, 4 and 3. Thompson made five birdies and one bogey to Simpson's three birdies and two bogeys. Billy Horschel also lost to high school senior Derek Ernst of Clovis, Calif., 4 and 3, as did Dustin Johnson, who bowed out to 35-year-old Ricky Jones, 1 up.

On the plus side, Knost defeated Jonathon Schram, 2 and 1, and Jamie Lovemark beat Estanislao Goya, 3 and 2.

***
Drew Weaver's dream of becoming the first player since 1967 to win the British Amateur and U.S. Amateur in the same year ended when he lost to Penn State's Travis Howe, 4 and 3.

***

George Zahringer, 54, defeated Gary Wolstenholme, 47, in the battle of the aged, winning the match 1 up. It wasn't pretty, though. Zahringer made six bogeys and a double bogey while Wolstenholme made five bogeys and two double bogeys.

SAN FRANCISCO--We have a match-play field here at the 107th U.S. Amateur. Well, sort of. The first round has commenced on the Lake course at Olympic Club although the final six members of the field of 64 are still being determined as a 17-for-6 playoff is also in progress.

For the most complete list of matches, go to the USGA's webpage.

A quick take at some of the more intriguing first-round showdowns:

10:10 a.m. PDT—Joseph Bramlett vs. Chris Kirk
    Bramlett, a sophomore-to-be at Stanford, is a junior member here at Olympic, living about an hour away in Saratoga, Calif. He was a second-team All-American on the Cardinal team that won the NCAA title last June and says he played a few times a week here in the last month to prepare for the event. He couldn't have gotten a tougher draw than Kirk, who was picked for the U.S. Walker Cup team earlier this month after posting back-to-back first-team All-American seasons at Georgia. This match is one you'd expect to see in the semifinals, not in Round 1.

10:40 a.m. PDT—Webb Simpson vs. Michael Thompson
    A face off between to first-team All-American caliber college players. Simpson enters his senior year at Wake Forest having won the Azalea, Dogwood and Southern Amateurs this summer, securing his spot on Buddy Marucci's Walker Cup roster. Thompson posted top-five finishes at the NCAA Championship and at the Players Amateur. After transferring from Tulane a year ago, the Tucson native is the No. 1 man on the Alabama roster as he begins his senior season.

1:30 p.m. PDT—George Zahringer vs. Gary Wolstenholme
    A battle of the ages, so to speak, as Zahringer (age 54) and Wolstenholme (age 47) are oldest and third-oldest players remaining in the championship, respectively. Zahringer was the low amateur at the U.S. Senior Open and is a former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, while Wolstenholme, a two-time British Amateur champion, celebrated his 47th birthday yesterday. Interesting site: with players unsure just how the draw would shake out this morning, all were milling around the club. After Wolstenholme learned of his tee time, he proceeded to find a seat near the fireplace in one of the first-floor main rooms, put on a sleeping mask and is currently taking a nap.

Note: Of the eight U.S. Walker Cup team members set to play at Royal County Down next month, only two failed to make it to match play: Jonathan Moore and Trip Kuehne.

Of the three perceived front-runners for the final two spots on the team, Rickie Fowler, Kyle Stanley and Brian Harman, Stanley has advanced while Fowler was bounced from the playoff after the first hole and Harman missed the cut entirely. Also on to match play is Drew Weaver, the reigning British Amateur champion who plays at Virginia Tech.

SAN FRANCISCO--College football has its Heisman Trophy jinx, where winners of the most prestigious award in the sport struggle repeating their collegiate success once they move on to the NFL. I'm a believer that amateur golf has a similar curse to deal with.

Call it the Havemeyer Hex.

Sure, Tiger Woods seems to have made out pretty well since claiming his recored third straight U.S. Amateur title in 1996. (If you like winning major championships and banking hundreds of millions of dollars.) But the gentlemen whose names have been inscribed on the Havermeyer Trophy since Eldrick's last appeared haven't shared in Woods' good fortune.

Discounting 2006 winner Richie Ramsey, who turned pro only last month, of the other 10 players to have won the amateur title since Woods just three were fully exempt on the PGA Tour in 2007--(1997), Matt Kuchar (1997), Jeff Quinney (2000) and Ryan Moore (2004). (Last week 2003 champ Nick Flanagan won his third Nationwide Tour event of the year, getting him a card for 2008.) David Gossett (1999) won a PGA Tour title but has since lost his playing status, while Hank Kuehne (1998) and Bubba Dickerson (2001) have only partial status.

"It's not an easy transition," Moore told me last year after managing to earn his card in just his first year as a professional. "It's a lot of tough golf, and [there's] great competition. Golf's a funny game. You just never know."

By comparison, of the NCAA individual winners since 1996 who have been professionals for more than a year, five of nine have full status on the PGA Tour. Meanwhile, five of seven U.S. Amateur Public Links winners, using the same criteria, are exempt tour members.

Of course when the 312 competitors arrived at Olympic Club for this week's 107th U.S. Amateur Championship they weren't going to try any less hard or be any less motivated to claim the oldest title the USGA hands out. It's safe to say Jason Kokrak, a U.S. Open qualifier this summer who played his final year of college golf at Xavier in the spring, wasn't worried about bad luck when he finished his final seven holes on the Lake course this morning to finish up the fog-delayed first round with a 69. He then went out and shot a 68 on the Ocean course to be the leader in the clubhouse at three-under 137, one stroke better than Alex Prugh. (Fifty-four players were still in the middle of their second round when darkness suspended play until Wednesday.)

Meanwhile, the publicity and recognition that goes along with winning the title remains unequalled compared to any other amateur event. And the spoils--spots in the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open--are pretty enticing.

So why the post-victory problems? I posed that question before to USGA executive director David Fay and he acknowledged some players seem to change their mindset, altering their on-and off-course routines to "live up" to their new status. There's also the argument that winning a match-play event doesn't translate to success in stroke-play professional tournaments.

Whatever the reason, the fella who leaves San Francisco with the Havemeyer Trophy had best hope the folks at the USGA gives him more than merely the secured carry case to haul it in.

How about an owner's manual?

SAN FRANCISCO--I know, I know. Golf is an outdoor sport and so you have to accept that weather will have its influence on tournaments from time to time. It's just that I must admit I didn't think I'd arrive today for the 107th U.S. Amateur Championship at Olympic Club only to find that the first day of stroke-play qualifying had been delayed four hours by ⿿ fog?!?

You see it's August and just a little over a week ago I spent a week in Indianapolis sweating off 15 pounds covering the U.S. Women's Amateur in near 100-degree heat. I actually think I've had the grand slam of weather combinations. Cold at Augusta National for the Masters; sunny and pleasant at Golden Horseshoe for the NCAA Championship; reasonable at Oakmont, with one monster shower late Wednesday night; rain and chills at Carnoustie for the British Open; steamy at Crooked Stick for the Women's Am.

But fog? Maybe I just haven't watched enough San Francisco Giants baseball games but I didn't expect this. At least not four hours of it. Five miles away at the San Francisco International, it's Chamber of Commerce weather. Sunny, 70 degrees. Light breeze. Down by the Pacific Ocean, though, you have trouble seeing your hand in front of your face.

Of course, it's really no sweat off my back, literally. It's the players that are the ones going stir crazy. Gary Wolstenholme, a two-time British Amateur champion was supposed to tee off at 1:35 p.m. local time but now won't go off until half past five. To kill time, he's been hanging out here in the media center at the clubhouse.

"I'm not even ready to thing about hitting balls yet," he said at 2:39 PDT, soft white clouds still blanketing the hills outside.

Of course, they will not be able to finish up play on time today, with 312 men competing on Olympic Club's Lake and Ocean courses. Provided there is no similar delay tomorrow, they might be able to get back on time, but more than likely it won't be until Wednesday at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the real question is this ⿿ what happens during Sunday's 36-hole final if the pea soup continues to linger?