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Jamie Schmitt, a former Blue Springs High School golfing standout who won the Kansas City Amateur title in 2010, didn’t play his best round of golf Friday at the rain-delayed Watson Challenge.
And the Grain Valley resident isn’t about to make any excuses for a five-over 77, that leaves him tied for 26th among the 48 golfers who are vying to claim the title of Kansas City’s best golfer at the fifth-annual event.
“I got to play with Tom Watson today,” said Schmitt, who was paired with the Kansas City golfing legend, and Blake Graham, the Midwest Section PGA Player of the Year who beat Watson in a playoff to claim the title in the first Watson Challenge four years ago.
“I bogeyed the last three holes – the last three. I didn’t play very well today, and that is very disappointing because I would have loved to have been in Tom’s group again on Saturday.
“But I got to sit with Tom and his wife at the banquet Thursday night, and I got to sit with him and pick his brain during the rain delay this morning. I thought, ‘What the heck? I’m here and I have the opportunity to talk with Tom Watson,’ so I took advantage of it.”
Moments after Schmitt, Watson, who shot even par to tie for third, and Graham, who finished at 3-over (tie for 16th), teed off on No. 1 at Blue Hills Country Club at 8:30 a.m. Friday, the skies opened.
“We were off about an hour and a half or so, and my caddie (Ralph Banks) and I and Tom and his son (Michael, who caddied for his father) just talked about golf.
“When I was sitting with Tom at the banquet, I told him I had qualified for the U.S. Amateur Public Links, which is played up in Oregon.
“It’s a 156-player field, and the winner gets to play in the Masters. I figure I’m sitting next to a former Masters champion and five-time British Open champion. So I tell him about the Public Links and ask him if we can pair up in the practice round before the Masters – and he said yes.
“Now, all I have to do is go out and beat those 155 other golfers in that tournament.”
The disappointment of a five-over round was beginning to fade, and Schmitt turned animated as he talked about playing in the same group as his boyhood idol.
Jamie Schmitt, a former Blue Springs High School golfing standout who won the Kansas City Amateur title in 2010, didn’t play his best round of golf Friday at the rain-delayed Watson Challenge.
And the Grain Valley resident isn’t about to make any excuses for a five-over 77, that leaves him tied for 26th among the 48 golfers who are vying to claim the title of Kansas City’s best golfer at the fifth-annual event.
“I got to play with Tom Watson today,” said Schmitt, who was paired with the Kansas City golfing legend, and Blake Graham, the Midwest Section PGA Player of the Year who beat Watson in a playoff to claim the title in the first Watson Challenge four years ago.
“I bogeyed the last three holes – the last three. I didn’t play very well today, and that is very disappointing because I would have loved to have been in Tom’s group again on Saturday.
“But I got to sit with Tom and his wife at the banquet Thursday night, and I got to sit with him and pick his brain during the rain delay this morning. I thought, ‘What the heck? I’m here and I have the opportunity to talk with Tom Watson,’ so I took advantage of it.”
Moments after Schmitt, Watson, who shot even par to tie for third, and Graham, who finished at 3-over (tie for 16th), teed off on No. 1 at Blue Hills Country Club at 8:30 a.m. Friday, the skies opened.
“We were off about an hour and a half or so, and my caddie (Ralph Banks) and I and Tom and his son (Michael, who caddied for his father) just talked about golf.
“When I was sitting with Tom at the banquet, I told him I had qualified for the U.S. Amateur Public Links, which is played up in Oregon.
“It’s a 156-player field, and the winner gets to play in the Masters. I figure I’m sitting next to a former Masters champion and five-time British Open champion. So I tell him about the Public Links and ask him if we can pair up in the practice round before the Masters – and he said yes.
“Now, all I have to do is go out and beat those 155 other golfers in that tournament.”
The disappointment of a five-over round was beginning to fade, and Schmitt turned animated as he talked about playing in the same group as his boyhood idol.
And, as it turns out, they have something unique in common. Schmitt and Watson are the only two players in the history of the state to win the Kansas City Amateur (formerly known as the Kansas City Match Play) and the Kansas City Stroke Play.
“I’m 36. I grew up when Tom Watson was Tom Watson.” Schmitt said as he downed a glass of iced tea and began to cool down in the air conditioned hospitality room.
“When I was watching him play, he was one of the top five players in the world – and with all those British Open titles, he’s a legend in Europe. He might be even bigger over there than he is over here.
“And he has been so gracious and so generous to me the past two days. When we were at the banquet, his wife excused herself from the table for a minute, and I slid over to her chair to sit next to Tom. When she got back to the table, she sat and talked with (my wife) Megan, and I got to spend even more time talking to Tom.”
The time spent with Watson helped smooth over a rough round.
“There are so many shots I wish I had back today – I bogeyed the first hole, had a putt on No. 16 that I still don’t know what happened and I bogeyed the last three holes.
“But I’m on a streak where I’ve finished in the top five in every tournament I’ve entered, and I plan to get after it tomorrow and Sunday and finish in the top five again.
“Today was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I will never forget it.”
Gary McClure, 61, the pro at Drumm Farm in Independence, finished at 11 over par and is in 46th place.
