Texas A&M senior Cameron Champ impressed fans and professionals alike with his performance at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis. this past weekend. The Aggie was one of only two amateurs to make the cut and finished at even par in a tie for 32^nd. Brooks Koepka won the tournament at 16-under par.
Champ started his tournament strong with two sub-par rounds of 70 and 69, landing him in a tie for eighth at 5-under par heading into the weekend. With tougher conditions in the final two rounds, he did well to shoot 73 and 76 to finish at even par for the tournament.
Champ had a birdie chance on the closing hole to tie for low-amateur honors, but the ball slid past the cup, and the title went to his long-time friend Scottie Scheffler.
“My goal going into this week was to get in the hunt for low amateur and I accomplished that,” Champ told The Sacramento Bee. “I was disappointed that I couldn’t get that honor, too, but I’m really happy for Scottie because he’s a good friend of mine.”
Champ led the entire field in average driving distance for the week at 334.40 yards. The field average was 302.4 yards. Big-name players Louis Oosthuizen and Rory McIlroy took note of his power when they played practice rounds with Champ earlier in the week.
“Louis came up to me and said, ‘Wow, your kid is good,” Sean Foley said to The Sacramento Bee. Foley has been Champ’s swing coach for seven years and is currently working with former U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and The Players champion Si Woo Kim. Foley also coached Tiger Woods for several years.
Champ received some valuable advice from McIlroy, a four-time major champion.
“He told me on Tour it’s all about hitting it furthest and straightest, so just keep hitting driver, which is pretty much what I did this week,” Champ said to The Sacramento Bee. “But playing with [McIlroy and Oosthuizen] boosted my confidence. Their experience is obviously 100 percent better than me, but it was great to watch them play.”
In the 2016-2017 season, Champ had one of the best-ever campaigns for an Aggie golfer. Over 34 rounds, he maintained a 71.50 stroke average. The junior won one title, recorded five top-five finishes and was given First Team All-SEC honors. Champ was the top Aggie finisher at the SEC Championship where he tied for fifth individually and went undefeated in the team match play portion of the tournament.