The 36-hole final of the U.S. Amateur on Sunday will thrill the one-worlders out there in the golf audience.
In one corner is Gunn Yang, 20, a one-man travelogue, who was born in Gangwon Province in Korea, lived in Australia for five years and has spent his high school and college years in San Diego.
In the other corner is the pride of Kitchener, Ontario and the Kent State Golden Flashes, Corey Conners, 22.
For a second consecutive year a U.S. Amateur final is in the hands of imports (in 2013, England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick defeated Australia’s Oliver Goss). It also is the second time in the 114-year history of the event that two foreign-born players are competing for the title.
As well as coming from different hemispheres, Yang and Conners hail from different ends of the amateur rankings. Conners entered the Amateur 44th in the world; Yang a distant 776th. There is folly in trying to organize players before they are fully formed.
“(The ranking) doesn’t really matter,” Conners said. “There’s so many good players that you can’t get too bogged down by the numbers.”
The pedigrees of the finalists couldn’t be more different. While Conners is a three-time All-MAC selection and was voted Kent State’s outstanding male athlete in 2014, Yang, a sophomore at San Diego State, has appeared in only four of his school’s tournaments.
Dismissing the lopsided appearance of the matchup, Conners said, “I’m expecting it to be another good match. He’s obviously playing well. He’s obviously beat some talented guys (including the world’s top-ranked amateur Ollie Schniederjans of Georgia Tech in the round of 16).”
Yang said he is not satisfied with just getting to the final and already having earned an invite to the Masters and U.S. Open. “Obviously I want to put my name on the trophy with all the best players around the world,” he said.
And take note Tiger Woods, there is life after back surgery. Yang is playing for a U.S. Amateur title 15 months after having endoscopic spinal surgery for a herniated disc.
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