Surber Re-Grips After U.S. Amateur Setback

Russell Surber was generally the No. 3 or 4 golfer for the University of Texas men’s team as a freshman last season, but that didn’t prevent the 1998 graduate of Flintridge Prep from entering the U.S. Amateur championships at Pebble Beach with some high expectations.

“I would like to have won it,” Surber said. “That was my ultimate goal. I didn’t go in there looking to advance to a certain round.”

Surber, a three-time selection to The Times’ All-Region golf team in high school, was seeded No. 17 after shooting six-over par, 74-74--148, in medal play. But he was defeated by No. 48-seeded Scott Lander of Kingman, Ariz., 3 and 2, in the first round of match play.

“I played really good in stroke play,” Surber said. “But I struggled in match play. I started out well, but then I had problems in the middle part.”

Surber was leading Lander, 2 up, after six holes but he lost the seventh, ninth, 10th and 11th holes to fall behind.

“I broke down a little bit mentally,” Surber said. “I could have been a little bit more patient, a little more calm. I started rushing things a little bit and it cost me.”

John Fields, who is entering his third season as the coach at Texas, expects Surber’s disappointment to improve his game in the future.

“[Russell] has a tremendous attitude and he’s a hard worker,” Fields said. “He’s certainly a talented golfer, but he has a real good ability to bounce back from a disappointing round or tournament.”

A good example of that came at the end of Surber’s senior season at Flintridge Prep.

Surber tied for 11th in the 1998 CIF-Southern California Golf Assn. tournament at the SCGA Members’ Club in Murrieta after finishing fifth and sixth the previous two years. He and his father, Tom, then drove to Tucson for the start of the Southwest Amateur championships the next day at Star Pass Golf Club.

Surber shot a three-over-par 74 in the first round, followed by scores of 70, 66--which tied the course record set by Phil Mickelson--and 73 to win the tournament with a 283 total.

“When he plays badly, it just causes him to redouble his efforts,” his father said. “I remember one time after a bad round when he said to me, ‘I’m never going to be embarrassed like that again.’ ”

Surber began playing golf when he was 7.

He was Flintridge Prep’s No. 1 player all four years, helped the Rebels to a 75-4 dual-match record during that time and led them to their only berth in the Southern Section team championships in 1997.

“Russell was one of the kids who really set a precedent here,” Coach Bob Loughrie of Flintridge Prep said. “He’s always been a kid who could go out and practice for hours.”

In addition to honing his skills at area golf courses, Surber spent countless hours working on his short game on a professionally built green and sand trap--complete with lights--at the family home in La Canada-Flintridge.

“His dad told me there were times when he had to tell Russell to go to bed because he was out there practicing at 1 or 2 in the morning,” Loughrie said. “He just has that kind of desire to succeed.”

That desire should serve him well in the future.

Surber would like to earn All-American honors this season while playing for a Texas team that includes David Gossett, recently crowned U.S. Amateur champion.

His long-term goal is to play on the PGA Tour.

“That’s been my dream since I was little,” he said. “I always liked the idea of playing on the PGA Tour and that hasn’t changed.”