COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. -- A special treat at any U.S. Open is seeing fresh faces pop up on the first page of the leaderboard. Amy Anderson, an 18-year-old amateur from North Dakota, has captured everyone's attention.
"I wasn't expecting it," said Anderson, after she was asked about being the first-round leader. "I was pretty nervous on the first tee this morning and then settled down...First day leader, that's way more than I could have really imagined."
The small-town girl is a rising junior at North Dakota State, and her brother, Nathan, is on the bag this week.
"I never really played around the mountains," said Anderson. "My brother is figuring 'em out pretty well, and that's helped a ton...I think he knows [my game] a little better than I do. He just tells me what to do and I do it."
The Andersons belong to Oxbow Country Club in southeast North Dakota, where a family membership costs just $225 per month. Indeed, Oxbow is a town of about 300 people without a grocery store or a gas station. And since the winters are long, Anderson has been practicing outdoors for just two months this season.
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