'We're Going to Give it Hell'
By Joe McDonald
RIGA Senior Writer
The wait is over for Tom McCormick and Michael Hamilton.
The two-man team from Kirkbrae begins its quest for the 2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship Saturday at Philadelphia Cricket Club in Philadelphia, Pa. After five previous attempts, McCormick and Hamilton finally qualified for this event last September at Point Judith Country Club and they’ve had all winter to think about their chances on a national level.
“Mike and I are still inching into the season, so we’ve got to work through some stuff, but we love the golf course and we think it fits our games,” McCormick said. “We’re going to give it hell. It’s a first-rate facility and tournament. They treat you like absolute gold – like kings. The facility is fantastic and the golf course is unbelievable.”
There are two separate courses – Wissahickon (1922) and Militia Hill (2002) – on the historic property. McCormick and Hamilton will be in the first group to tee off (7 a.m.) Wissahickon Saturday and then 10:24 Sunday at Militia Hill. After two rounds of stroke play, the top 32 teams will qualify for match play.
“We got super lucky,” Hamilton said of their tee times. “I think we got one of the best draws. We’re going to be the first group to play all 18 greens on Saturday, so that’s an advantage.”
There’s a balance for all amateur players between work and golf, especially for national tournaments. As Hamilton and McCormick prepared for competition this week, they also spent hours on their computers for work responsibilities. They arrived Monday, played Tuesday, practiced for several hours Wednesday, played a practice round Thursday, while also studying the fly-overs.
“We didn’t want to go into the practice round blind and it worked,” Hamilton said. “Doing that (video) prep work was smart. The courses set up way better for us than I thought. We could get hot.”
McCormick agrees.
“If Mike gets hot, and I get hot, we’ll be ok,” he said.
Course management is critical in these types of tournaments and the prep work should pay dividends. For example: Even though Hamilton is long off the tee, the team learned there are a few holes he would be better off hitting 3-wood because of the course design.
Normally, after an individual or a team qualifies, it’s only a few weeks until that tournament. The U.S. Amateur Four-Ball is set up differently and the team from Kirkbrae has been thinking about this since last fall. McCormick and Hamilton has played only five competitive rounds to start the season, but they’re still confident in their respective games. They both understand how hard it is to qualify for a USGA event, but fortunately both have played in national events in the past, so they have the necessary experience to handle it.
“We haven’t had the amount of reps that maybe some of the other competitors have had, but that doesn’t mean we can’t play well,” explained McCormick. “To play at this national level you need reps, but the positive is we don’t have any pressure on us. We’re from the smallest state in the country, nobody expects anything from us, so we can go in and enjoy the experience. We’re certainly going to enjoy it.”
Not only are they playing as a team, they’re also proud of the fact they’re representing both Kirkbrae Country Club and the Rhode Island Golf Association.
“It’s pretty cool,” Hamilton said. “It’s always a fight with Massachusetts, because Massachusetts seems to have the better crop of players, but I always feel like there’s a chip on all of our shoulders and we want to prove that we’re better.”
It also helps that McCormick’s long-time caddie, Matt Pierce, will be working with the team. In fact, he’s worked with both players over the years, but the 21-year-old has been by McCormick’s side for nearly 10 seasons.
“It’s definitely exciting,” Pierce said. “It’s a good way to learn, too, as a golfer.”
