The week started out a little rough for Minnesota's Gunnar Broin at the 124th USGA Amateur Championships at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska. But he's still in it, it's a hometown venue, and a course he knows well since he worked as a caddy there.
Despite that rough start though, Broin says he is confident heading into match play starting Wednesday.
This week has been a dream come true for Shorewood native Gunnar Broin.
"I played in the U.S. Open earlier this year and that was a dream come true too, but this is a little bit more special being in, basically in my backyard," says Broin prior to teeing off in his match against Spain's Luis Masaveu.
(NOTE: That match was in progress while this story was written)
Broin made golf headlines as one of the top amateurs to participate in the U.S. Open this year at Pinehurst, even making the cut and playing on the weekend. Broin is a grad student playing for Kansas for the upcoming school year.
Speaking prior to the start of the U.S. Amateur, Broin joked that there were two things he'll always remember about the U.S. Open experience: Needing six shots from 10-feet to make it in the hole, and being within 15 feet of Tiger Woods.
Now he's on more familiar ground, but just because Broin has caddied for several years at Hazeltine doesn't necessarily equate to success.
"No, it does not, not even close," he said. "Like I, I triple-bogeyed my first hole and the first hole is not a triple bogey hole," he says.
However, he's got his lucky coin with him.
"I'm carrying this nickel this week. My coach gave it to me," Broin explained. "It's just just a normal nickel. He gave it to me a couple of days before the tournament started and I was just putting around, I was making everything. So I'm using that as much as possible this week."
And he also has his family cheering him on.
"They'll be a rowdy bunch on the first tee and the whole day," he says. "I'm trying to feed off of them as much as possible."
Broin says win or lose, he's just trying to enjoy the moment as much as possible.
The U.S. Amateur is one of golf's oldest and proudest tournaments. It's at Hazeltine for the second time (2006). The course is a grueling test, with fast greens, incredible length and rough that is over five inches deep in places and seems to swirl around the ball making it all but unplayable for the rest of us amateurs.
Making it that much harder is the amount of golf they are required to play. The tournament began on Monday and if you advance to the final match play on Sunday, you'll have played seven straight days including a double round on Friday.
Past participants and winners of the U.S. Am are a who's-who of golf's legends including Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods who famously three-peated as champion, and more recently Bryson DeChambeau who is the reigning U.S. Open champion.