Gossett Moves to Head of the Class

David Gossett’s U.S. Amateur final lasted 28 holes and his college career is going to last, well, how long?

“I think I’ll just know when it’s time to turn pro,” said Gossett. “I’m hitting good golf shots, my confidence is high. We’ll see. We’ll see how we do this semester in school. Yes, we’ll see.”

Judging from what happened Sunday at Pebble Beach, we could see him there by, oh, maybe the end of next summer.

“He’s got sort of a full plate right now,” said University of Texas Coach John Fields. “We’ll help him in any decision he wants to make.”

Gossett, a 20-year-old All-American, matched the biggest rout in the amateur final in 19 years, a 9-and-8 landslide decision over 17-year-old Sung Yoon Kim of South Korea.

Gossett’s reaction: “Pretty awesome.”

And the next level of the pros promises to be fairly similar. It’s bound to be tempting out there. Three agents representing management groups were following Gossett’s father, Larry, in the morning and afternoon rounds.

School begins again Wednesday and Gossett is going to be there for his sophomore year. If he stays longer than that, it would be a surprise.

“Today’s climate is so much different than the early ‘90s,” Fields said. “It’s also because of Tiger’s performance. The face of golf has changed dramatically since he left school early to turn pro.”

Actually, Gossett does have some incentive to remain an amateur, at least through next summer.

First, there is the NCAA championship at Grand National Golf Club in Opelika, Ala., but Gossett has even bigger items on his agenda. He’s already earned invitations to the Masters, the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the British Open at St. Andrews. If nothing else, it’s a nice itinerary.

And if it means anything, there is the Justin Leonard example. Leonard, the 1992 U.S. Amateur champion, stayed at Texas for four years before he turned pro.

Gossett’s victory was one of the most overwhelming in the history of the U.S. Amateur. It was the widest margin of victory since Hal Sutton defeated Bob Lewis 9 and 8 in 1980 at the Country Club of North Carolina at Pinehurst. The biggest rout before that was when Charles Coe defeated Rufus King, 11 and 10, in 1949 at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.

For the record, the worst loss in U.S. Amateur history was in 1895, the first year of the event, when Charles Macdonald defeated Charles E. Sands, 12 and 11, at the Newport (R.I.) Golf Club.

Gossett started slowly and finished fast. He shot an 80 in the first round of stroke play Monday and nearly missed the cut for the match play beginning Wednesday.

Gossett came back with a 71 at Spyglass and never looked back. He was never behind after the seventh hole of his first match.

Kim got only two breaks. There was a brief fog delay on the eighth hole--which Kim promptly lost to allow Gossett a 5-up lead. Kim’s other break was the one both players took for lunch after 18 holes with Gossett still ahead, 5-up.

“After 18 holes, I still thought I had a good chance,” Kim said through his interpreter.

He really didn’t. Gossett and Kim needed only 10 holes to end it in the afternoon. Gossett won the first two with a birdie and a par, birdied No. 7 and No. 8--the 25th and 26th holes--to go 9-up and ended it at the 28th hole when they both made par. Kim trailed by nine holes with eight to play.

Gossett was added to the Walker Cup team along with Hunter Haas, John Spider Miller, Bryce Molder and Steve Scott. The U.S. will play in Scotland next month--a trip Gossett is also scheduled to make for the British Open . . . if he can get the time off from school.

“I think coach will understand,” Gossett said.