For recent Florida transplant Jimmy Ellis, last week’s U.S. Amateur Championship was unusual in so many respects.
The 39-nine-year-old Ellis captured the stroke-play medal in suburban Minneapolis. Ellis shot 9-under-par 61 at Chaska Town Course, which served as a stroke-play co-host with Hazeltine National, in the second round to capture the medal by one shot. Ellis signed for a 10-under 132 in the 36-hole qualifier to decide the 64 players for match play.
It had been 14 years, dating to Jeff Wilson at Chambers Bay, since a mid-amateur won the solo medal at the U.S. Amateur.
The backstory of how Ellis – an oil-and-gas landman who owns Marcellus Mineral Group in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and relocated his wife, Erin, and their two children last year to Atlantic Beach, Florida – qualified for the U.S. Amateur is equally extraordinary.
In March 2023, the U.S. Golf Association announced a new pathway for amateurs to qualify for the men’s and women’s U.S. Amateurs and the boys’ and girls’ U.S. Juniors. State champions in junior and amateur tournaments would now earn berths in the respective USGA championships, beginning this year.
“As we looked to ensure the long-term sustainability of USGA qualifying, identifying additional opportunities for players to earn their way into a USGA championship was a critical element,” said Brent Paladino, the USGA’s senior director of championship administration. “Our team did a significant amount of research on the history of state and AGA [Allied Golf Association] amateur championships, looking at the quality of those championships and the strengths of those fields. Ultimately, winning a state or AGA amateur is a tremendous accomplishment and one that is deserving of celebration.
“Our hope is that these exemptions will elevate the importance of playing in state and AGA championships.”
“I bet if we play this tournament 100 times, there is zero percent chance I would be the medalist. Everything just went in. It was bizarre.”
Jimmy Ellis
Added John Suozzo, the USGA’s manager of championship administration who was involved in the process: “This new exemption category allows us to properly recognize the great achievements of these champions with an invitation to their national championship.”
This new pathway may well have been in the back of his mind when Ellis entered the Florida State Amateur this summer. He began the final round at Quail Valley in Vero Beach seven shots off the lead but posted a stunning 7-under 64 to claim the title and a ticket to Hazeltine.
Upon the realization that he won the U.S. Amateur medal after signing for his 61, he said: “That’s pretty crazy. It’s just a blind squirrel. I literally made everything today. I bet if we play this tournament 100 times, there is zero percent chance I would be the medalist. Everything just went in. It was bizarre. Yesterday [at Hazeltine], the greens were just uncomfortably fast. When I got on the putting green today [at Chaska], I was like, ‘This is nice.’ Every 10-footer felt like it was so easy whereas yesterday, 3-footers felt sketchy. It was just the perfect speed.”
Asked to compare his round to others in his career, Ellis said, “It’s ridiculous. It’s the best round I’ve ever played, and it’s not even close. I don’t think I’ve shot 63 in a tournament. I think my lowest score is 64 in the final round of this year’s Florida Amateur.”
Ellis played college golf at Florida Gulf Coast for one year before transferring to Ohio University, but he never seriously considered playing for a living. He used the COVID period to work on his game and return to competition.
Making his sixth USGA appearance and second in the U.S. Amateur, Ellis conceded that his expectations were modest. “To sneak into match play and try to upset some big name,” he said of his goal. “That would have been the cool thing to do.”
In the round of 64, Ellis drew Ethan Fang, a Plano, Texas, resident who survived a 14-for-11 playoff in stroke play and played at Cal-Berkeley last year before transferring to Oklahoma State this year. Consistent with Ellis’ week, this match was unusual as well. Ellis birdied the first hole, cruised to a 3-up lead after four and was 2-up through 10 holes. Then disaster struck. Ellis could not find the fairway and bogeyed Nos. 11, 12 and 13 to go 1-down. Fang rolled in a 15-foot downhill putt on the 18th hole to win the match, 2-up.
“I don’t know, the back nine, some of those holes are just pretty much impossible to hit the green, and it just turns into a short-game contest,” Ellis said. “And I’m not going to beat the young guys in a short-game contest. You’ve got to get the ball in the fairway, and you’ve got to somehow find a way to make pars, and I just didn’t do it.”
For Ellis, it was an unusual but very memorable week in Minnesota.
E-MAIL JIM
Top: Jimmy Ellis, 39, wins the stroke-play medal at the 2024 U.S. Amateur.
Chris Keane, USGA