Catching up to a game that left him behind

Harry Rudolph III was the California Amateur champion in 1991, a starring member of Arizona's 1992 NCAA championship team that included Jim Furyk and David Berganio Jr., an All-American alongside David Duval, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard, a protege of Paul Runyon and Gene Littler. All the signs pointed to PGA Tour stardom for Rudolph, who nonetheless got lost along the way.

Rudolph never made it to the PGA Tour, despite several attempts, and eventually walked away from the game entirely.

Now 39, Rudolph has returned, as an amateur, who has advanced to U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying next week.

Golf writer Tod Leonard of the San Diego Union-Tribune recounts Rudolph's precipitous fall into golf oblivion and his attempt at resurrecting his career as an amateur.

-- John Strege