Welcome to The Opening Tee Shot

My friends, it's been a week.

Let me say up front this week's newsletter is all about the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur. We'll resume normal "programming" next week, but I wanted to share a behind-the-scenes peak with the JGP newsletter readers.

When I wrote to you last week I was still at home, getting constant updates from my husband on how our son Hamilton was playing. I wasn't able to head out to Dallas for the first part of the tournament due to scheduling conflicts and honestly, the U.S. Junior is such a logistical planning nightmare for any parent.

If you also recall in the last newsletter (and if you're new here — welcome!) I mentioned Hamilton was in the Round of 16. He was matched with Tyler Watts and I wasn't sure how it would go because Tyler is such a fierce competitor. Hamilton was down by 4 and my husband texted me that he thought this might be it for Hamilton unless something really special happened.

Thankfully, something special did happen!

Hamilton rallied back and before we knew it, the match was over and he had won. It was about 6pm EST at this point and I couldn't stand it anymore — I had to go to Dallas to watch my son in the quarterfinals, I didn't care what it took.

I told our other two kids to pack their bags and get ready, we were flying to Dallas! I booked a last-minute flight, drove to Atlanta in the middle of the night, was on the plane at 5 a.m. and landed around 7 a.m., arriving at Trinity Forest Golf Club after about 4 holes into the Quarterfinals. I had no idea what the day held and we were operating on an hour of sleep.

Waiting for the 5:30 a.m. flight to Dallas after driving to the Atlanta 

airport through the night.

Hamilton faced off against Sohan Patel for the quarterfinals, another amazing junior golfer. It was a grueling match but after Hamilton won and moved on to the semifinals, it finally hit me that he could actually win this thing. Sohan was so sweet too! He came up to me after the round and told me he thought Hammy would bring it home, which I thought was a classy move.

The semifinal match was another brutal test because at this point it was over 100 degrees in the Texas heat. I knew Luke Colton would be one of the toughest tests ever, not only because he's at the top of the junior golf game right now, he's also a Texan and more accustomed to the conditions. Both boys battled it out and before I knew it, Hamilton was moving on to the finals with Nguyen Anh Minh. 

The night before the finals was a crazy experience too. Hamilton was invited to the Texas Rangers vs. Atlanta Braves game. We didn't know until about 5 minutes before that he was throwing out the honorary first pitch! He was more nervous doing that than anything in the Jr. Am, I can assure you. And let's just say he ended up throwing the pitch like a golfer and not a baseball player 😉 Though he's a lifelong Braves fan, he loved the experience of being on the field.

Waiting to go on the Texas Rangers field so Hamilton could throw out the honorary first pitch

The day of the finals started early with a 7:45 a.m. tee time. Hammy said he felt great and I noticed he was so calm. I think at this point he felt like he had already won, no matter the outcome. He was so excited to be competing for this opportunity. We packed up and headed to the course for another long, hot day.

As a side note, I don't think it was brought up on TV but Minh didn't have any family there with him because they were all back home in Vietnam. As a mom I couldn't help but think how tough that had to be for him competing on such a big stage, but he was an amazing opponent. 

Hammy would go on to win 2 and 1 after 35 holes. There were some moments when the outcome seemed so uncertain, but he was finally able to call himself the 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur champion. It was a dream come true for me watching my child accomplish something he had worked so hard for.

As parents, you know your child is capable of achieving success on the course, but so much is out of our control. And as we also know, anything can happen in junior golf. I promise you I had plenty of nerves last week and didn't always listen to my own advice. Thankfully, Hamilton was well-equipped and knew what to do when he was presented the opportunity.

So what's next?

Hammy has earned a spot into the U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. He hadn't qualified already, so now we are planning a last-minute trip to San Fran. He has also officially made the Junior Ryder Cup team and will compete at Bethpage Black in September. If you have any advice or guidance on either area, please send it my way! We know nothing about either one! Next June he will compete in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and he will accomplish a goal he set for himself of competing in a major while in college. 

Lastly, I want to say thank you for all of the kind words! I've read them all and appreciate the emails and Instagram messages. If there's anything I can do for you or answer any questions, please reach out.

Thank you for indulging me here with this long newsletter. I wanted to share it with you because I know all of you understand how much it takes to get these junior golfers pointed in the right direction. You're doing the right thing too and one day, you never know which trophy your junior golfer will be holding.

Enjoying a victory dinner at Pecan Lodge in Dallas, Texas. It was some of the best brisket I've ever had!!

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Don't forget, you can always hit reply to this newsletter or email us at sara@juniorgolfplaybook.com.

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