JUNO BEACH, Fla. – First out for the Americans on Saturday morning at the Walker Cup, Cole Hammer effectively lassoed in the match that very easily could have gotten away. Hammer and partner Davis Thompson, both former No. 1-ranked amateurs in the world, were out to a big lead – 3 up on the 14th tee – but nearly let it slip away.
Alex Fitzpatrick had a hand in that drama, holing a big par putt at No. 15 that came in the middle of a three-hole Great Britain and Ireland back-nine run. Fitzpatrick horse-shoed out a par save at the par-3 16th, leaving the door open for the Americans to save the match. Hammer kicked that door closed with a 35-footer for birdie on No. 18 that gave the U.S. the first point on the board.
That turned out to be key an hour later, as the U.S. stood tied 2-2 with GB&I after the first session.
“It was a wild match,” Hammer said. “We tied 1 and 2, and we didn’t tie a hole after that I don’t think. It was a lot of up-and-downs, and we just had to stay in there and try to do our thing.”
That first point feeling!@cole_hammer6765 | #WalkerCup pic.twitter.com/O3XV2Gf7ve
— The Walker Cup (@WalkerCup) May 8, 2021
The golf world continues to get more and more glimpses of Hammer. After his U.S. Open debut at Chambers Bay in 2015 – when he was only 15 years old – his story has become less about his very memorable surname and more about his game. Hammer hysteria arguably peaked in the summer of 2018, after he won the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball (along with partner Garrett Barber) and the Western Amateur. He was a semifinalist at both the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur and a year later, ascended to world No. 1 for a total of 12 weeks.
Hammer, now a junior at Texas and the recent winner of the individual Big 12 title, easily made the 2019 Walker Cup team. His pick came courtesy of that No. 1 world ranking. But even before appearing in the matches at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England – as early as the spring of 2019 – Hammer felt his game slipping.
“I wasn’t hitting it well the last Walker Cup,” he said. “I can remember that vividly.”
He won only one point in Hoylake, and that came in Sunday singles. It left a bad taste.
Asked to assess his game on the eve of the 2021 Walker Cup, Hammer revealed a struggle to get back to basics. He was too shut and laid off at the top of his swing, which made it hard to hit the draw he wanted to hit. Hammer went back to work with Bruce Davidson at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, a man he worked with growing up.
Hammer “wanted with everything in his body” to make another Walker Cup team. He felt behind the eight-ball last fall after missing the cut at the U.S. Amateur and falling in the first round of the Maridoe Amateur.
Selection to the 16-man Walker Cup practice squad in December was a good sign, but here’s a move that revealed his position on the bubble: When, during that week, U.S. captain Nathaniel Crosby asked who was ending his year at the South Beach International Amateur (the last big men’s amateur event on the 2020 schedule), only Hammer’s hand shot up.
He ended up winning that event by five shots.
“I usually don’t play in the winter to take some time off from the college schedule,” he said. “It’s pretty rigorous; we play a lot of golf, but I decided I needed to. So I played in the Maridoe Am, did not play well, so I pretty much knew that I had to play well at the South Beach.
“Honestly it was probably the biggest win I’ve ever had in terms of confidence and in terms of showing myself that I can do it when it matters.”
Davis Thompson (left) and Cole Hammer of Team USA look on from the fourth green during Day One of The Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club on May 08, 2021 in Juno Beach, Florida. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Talking in late March about how his roster stacked up, Crosby went straight to Hammer.
“My hats off to Cole for having a stick-to-it attitude and coming back after an iffy summer for him,” he said, “and earning his way back onto the team when the last time he was the No. 1 amateur in the world and he was kind of a shoe-in.”
Part of Hammer’s struggles had to do with seeing a shot but not being able to hit it. Now, he said, he’s gotten more comfortable. The results certainly indicate that comfort.
“You know, if you had told me six months ago that I would be happy that I went through the process, I would have told you you’re crazy,” Hammer said the night before the first match, “but sitting here now I’m glad I did it.”
Here’s betting there are several other red-white-and-blue-clad compatriots at Seminole this week that are glad he did, too.