CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. – After the lowest point of an already upsetting summer, Ben James headed to the mountains.
Linville is an unincorporated, resort community set in the Blue Ridge Mountains in northwestern North Carolina, about five hours south of the University of Virginia’s main campus in Charlottesville. A few years back, Linville had a population of fewer than 300 people.
For James, it was the perfect place to get away from it all.
“Just wanted to isolate myself and just kind of worked on my game in peace, no one to bother me,” said James, who stayed in a log cabin for a few days last week just trying to rekindle the form that allowed him to win five times and capture the Phil Mickelson Award as the national freshman of the year last season for the Cavaliers.
Match scoring from the U.S. Amateur
James’ stellar NCAA debut, which culminated in him leading Virginia to the national quarterfinals, pushed him to No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and put him squarely in the conversation to make the 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team for next month’s matches at St. Andrews.
But James’ hot spring fizzled out quickly. He couldn’t crack the top 50 at the Sunnehanna Amateur, missed the cut badly and beat just eight players at the Travelers Championship, and after seeing a little light at the Southern Amateur, he tied for 142nd at the Western Amateur. He’s since slipped to sixth in the world and entered this week’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills on the Walker Cup bubble.
“I had just a lot of trouble this summer,” James said, “just with not driving it well and the driver being my strength, and just not having fun on the golf course.”
His driver and mind all over the map, James altered course. Not only did he disappear into the mountains for a bit, but he invited Jeff Pierce, who is best known for being one of Brooks Koepka’s coaches, to join him for part of the trip. He also leaned on his family, agent and even three-time Walker Cupper Stewart Hagestad to help lift his spirits.
“Kind of talked it out, what was going on mentally on the golf course, what was wrong on the tee box,” James said. “That was the problem, and I’m a really good driver of the ball, so had to get that fixed for sure. A little bit of everything, just talking it out, working on some swing things and learning how to be a kid and have fun because there’s no reason to take this more serious than it is. It’s just a game, and I’m going to work as hard as I can all the time, but it’s just a game, and I should have fun and love it.”
The retreat is paying dividends so far. James tied for 10th in stroke play on Tuesday before winning three matches to advance to Friday morning’s quarterfinals, the furthest he’s ever gone in a USGA championship. James has pointed to recent match-play losses, to Hagestad in the Round of 32 at last year’s U.S. Amateur and earlier this year to Ricky Castillo at the NCAA Championship, and said he gleaned from those two stars the importance of sticking to a game plan in this format, no matter what his opponent does.
When North Carolina’s David Ford, the world’s third-ranked amateur and one of four Americans already on the U.S. Walker Cup team, went 17 holes in the Round of 16 without making a bogey, James never let him get away. When Ford finally bogeyed the par-4 finishing hole, James calmly sank a 4-footer for par. He then stuck a wedge from 130 yards to a few feet at the first playoff hole to eliminate one of the pre-championship favorites.
“I never thought I could do that,” James said. “It’s just self-belief. It just keeps giving me self-belief that I can hold my head up high, and I can do some incredible things that I didn’t even think I could do.”
When James shook Ford’s hand on Thursday evening, Ford told the 20-year-old, rising sophomore, “See you in a few weeks.”
U.S. captain Mike McCoy had been telling James all week, “Just keep going forward,” but James still has no clue if he’ll hear his named called on Sunday evening when the remaining six spots are announced. James, the last bubble guy remaining in the bracket, now figures to be as close to a lock as one can.
He’d rather just earn his spot automatically by winning three more matches and lifting the Havemeyer Trophy.
“It’s hard not to [think about the Walker Cup], but at the end of the day, I just wanted to play good golf, and I know I haven’t,” James said. “But I knew I was due to play some good golf at some point this summer.”
Back in the mountains, that time has come. James’ rocky summer has steadied, and he’s rediscovered his game and his joy.
