Teenagers rally to defeat veteran opponents in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball final

The advantage talented teens have over older opponents is a paucity of mental scar tissue, offset perhaps by an experience disadvantage. So it was that the final of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball on Wednesday came down to youth, Will Hartman and Tyler Mawhinney, combined age 35, versus experience, Evan Beck and Dan Walters, combined age 74.

Initially, it was a standoff at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J., before the future, Hartman and Mawhinney, 18 and 17 respectively, prevailed, 3 and 1, over their elders, former pros and reinstated amateurs Beck, 34, and Walters, 40.

"It still hasn't quite sunk in yet," Hartman said. "But I think looking back on it tonight, it's going to be pretty cool. It's something that we'll remember forever."

Mawhinney echoed Hartman's thoughts. "It will definitely be something we remember for a long time, and something we can tell our kids or our grandkids."

Hartman and Mawhinney, future teammates headed to Vanderbilt in the fall, each already had modest experience playing United States Golf Association championships, Hartman playing the U.S. Junior Amateur and Mawhinney playing the U.S. Amateur last year.

But their experience paled in comparison to their opponents. Beck, from Virginia Beach, Va., was the 2024 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, who also was the runner-up in 2023. A former All-American at Wake Forest, Beck also was the runner-up in the 2008 U.S. Junior Amateur, where he defeated Jordan Spieth in the semifinals.

His partner, Walters, went to Rollins College, played in the U.S. Amateur in 2015 and served as the men’s associate head coach at Wake Forest for nine years. The two of them reached the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in 2022.

“Very disappointing is what I would start with,” Beck said. “They are great players, but I feel like we belong in this situation, and we just got outplayed in the final. Those guys played great. Hit a lot of quality shots towards the end and we just got outplayed.”

Walters concurred, while acknowledging they were playing an unknown entity, their younger opponents. “I'm not aware exactly of their record, but they obviously played some great golf today,” he said. “I think as Evan said, they hit some better shots in the last six, eight holes, and obviously we were 1-up through nine. Yeah, we got beat on the back nine. Hats off to them.”

The teens were one-down through 10 holes, pulled even at 11, then took the lead for good with a birdie at 14, then another at 15, and closed out the match with a par at 17.

"I think 11 through 14 was a pretty big stretch," Hartman said. "We were able to make a par on the difficult par 3 11th. I made a birdie on 13 and Tyler made an incredible birdie on 14.

"It was for sure a grind. "I think we played upwards of 70 holes, maybe even a little more, in the last 40 hours. It's going to feel good to take a break tonight.

Their victory earns both exemptions into the U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club later this year in addition to a 10-year exemption into the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and an exemption into the U.S. Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest.