b'GOLF IDAHOEven on my best days, I am not one of those guysespecially without a Dawgs &partner. Im a life-long lover of the game whose college life detoured into a brief Dreamers:stint as an overwhelmingly average NAIA golfer. The most pressure Ive felt on a golf course was in the moments before The alluremissing a four-footer in a horserace following an opening-round 104 in the of USGAWhite Tail Junior Invitational in 2013. It was never clear to me that I could be one of those guys.qualifying When I left the first tee in the Mid-Am Qualifier, chasing a tee ball that flew by Shane Ren, IGA Administrator of Mediamercifully in the direction I intended, IShane Rene gave it a run at the U.S. Mid-and Communicationswas feeling grateful to keep dreaming.Amateur Qualifier held at Shadow Valley.And when I stepped on the tee at thefind yourself in contention on the final short par-3 sixth at Shadow Valley Golf F or most of my adult life, Ive charitablyClub at 3-under par, Id officially venturednine holes, its easy to look aheadto described myself as a scratch golfer.into uncharted waters. The chunk- try and race off the golf course like a My index tends to float from +1-ish toblock nine iron and scramble for bogeypoker player leaving the table after 2-ish these dayswhich means I fistbrought me back to earth, but two morewinning a big hand. Your process gets pump a lot of par putts for 75. So, when Ibirdies over the next six holes hurled meshorter; instead of aggressive swings showed up to the 2025 U.S. Mid-Amateurback into dream land.at conservative targets, you make timid Qualifier in Boise last month to competeI was lucky to have my friend Jack onpasses through reckless windows. against a field sprinkled with former tourthe bag that day. We met playing clubSuddenly the hole becomes a lot smaller.pros and D-I dawgs, I knew Id need agolf at DePaul University and he has theIn the end, it was a string of bogeys daydream to fill out my scorecard.personality of a river eddy. He is a calmfrom 13-15 that did me in, leaving me with Local Qualifiers for the USGA haveand flat contrarian with an energy thatthree holes to play to make up as much become some of my favorite days since Inaturally pulls you back to centeranas I could. A par-birdie-par finish posted a started working for the IGA as an internideal looper for an anxious golfer. Idround of two-under 70, two shots out of a in 2023. The open nature of nationalinstructed him the day before to remindplayoff at 4-under for the last spot in the amateurs, to me, captures the soul ofme not to get cuteneedlesslyU.S. Mid-Amateur in September. the gamewere all a few good breaksshaping shots into needlessly tiny targetsPart of me was feeling queasy that Id and one great round from the experience which he did to great effect. successfully bottled the lightning I needed of a lifetime. And watching high schoolThe direction I didnt give him wasand let it escape down the stretch. But a standouts give pros and pedigreed collegeto tell me to slow down. When youmuch larger part of me was still high on players a run for their money in a playoffthe chasestill floating on that feeling for the final spot is fantastic theatre forthat some far-fetched dream had danced any golf nut. But the pressure to summonacross my fingertips, somehow restoring your best golf across 18 holes is a feelingmy faith that it was possible. you need to play with to understand. And even though Ive never posted Last year, my buddy Brien and I playeda round of seven or eight-under par like in the U.S. Four-Ball Qualifier and realizedJoe Panzeri and Taylor Schmidttwo somewhere around the turn that we wereincredible talents who emerged from going to need more birdies than we hadbusy work and family lives to recapture holes left to play. No helping of ham northeir glory days and qualify ahead of egg would save us. Still, it was fun to showthe fieldI will continue to mark these up as a dreamera couple of mens- opportunities on my calendar moving league sticks with just enough game toforward. Because in a game that likes vaguely resemble the guys who paid theirto humble us, USGA Qualifiers keep the college tuition with good ball striking.dreamers dreaming. GOLF IDAHO|SEPT2025 3'