A full-grown adult survives at U.S. Amateur

Nathan Smith is not old. He is only 30-freaking-6, you had to keep muttering Wednesday while wandering a U.S. Amateur that had the look of a 63-piece boy band.

Dagnabbit, that is not old. Call him a seasoned campaigner if any label is mandatory, but do not suggest he wear his golf slacks up around his sternum and start hitting his hybrid from 90 yards out just yet.

The thing is, Smith plays the part of coot oh so well. On Wednesday morning when he emerged from a 17-way playoff to make the 64-player U.S. Am match play field, he learned he was matched against University of Georgia junior Lee McCoy. And Smith put on his best Wilford Brimley act and said with a smile, “I’m sure he’s excited and licking his chops that he gets the old guy.”

That wasn’t at all what McCoy was thinking.

“I saw the list and I saw a four-time Mid-Am winner and a guy that’s played in the Masters four times, and I was like, I get to play the grizzled veteran in the first round. Fantastic,” McCoy said with a sarcastic tilt.

The oldest fellow in the match play field — here we reiterate, he is only 36, which is not old — and the kid who looks like he should have been helping Smith out to his car with his groceries put on quite a show Wednesday.

Theirs was the tightest, toughest grind of the 32 matches. The two passed around the lead like the gravy at Thanksgiving , neither gaining more than a one-hole advantage at any point. Finally, on the first extra hole, the veteran campaigner saved par from the sand, the kid blinked on his 10-foot par-saving putt and it was over.

This was McCoy’s first U.S. Amateur. For Smith, No. 14. He has played in all but two of these things since 1999, although making it into match play is still something of an unusual experience (this was his fourth time to advance).

There are so many golf fans out there of a certain age who would love to rally around Smith and celebrate the victory of wile over youth. Just look at the wall-to-wall Cialis ads on any given golf broadcast.

But the Pittsburgh financial advisor — another exceedingly large demographic around the ol’ country club — was not claiming Wednesday as a victory for the ages.

“I think the experience thing used to mean more 10 or 15 years ago,” he said. “I can remember playing with Rickie Fowler at the Sunnehanna Amateur, he’s in high school and he just blitzed the place. With the younger players and the college guys, it’s all about good golf. Experience, it’s helpful, but at the same time, you’ve got to just play great golf.”

Smith saved his best golf Wednesday for the finish, when, like all the guys in the tower on 18 say, it matters most.

Down a stroke coming to the par-3 17th, Smith cozied a 6-iron to six feet. He made the birdie and squared the match.

From there it was a matter of out-scrambling the kid. Smith saved par on the 18th with a delicate up-and-down from the back of the green (while McCoy missed a 20-footer to win).

On the first and only extra hole, a par 4, both players found the fairway bunker. Smith was practically kicking himself all the way to his ball, knowing he should have hit 5-wood instead of 3-wood and taken the sand out of play. But he got no mulligans.

Smith’s approach found the greenside bunker, while McCoy landed short of the green. One player got up-and-down, one didn’t. Smith hit it to three feet, McCoy to 10 feet. That was the difference.

For a man who spends more time juggling other people’s portfolios than playing golf, Smith looked pretty practiced. His boss may want to review his work schedule.