When he was but a lad of eight, Will Thomson was delivered to his first golf lesson. The pro asked the tyke what he’d like to work on, expecting something simple and cute.
“I want to learn how to hit a fade,” said the little boy who wished to work the ball.
By the time he was 10, Will already had carded his first hole-in-one, a 150-yard ace back on his home course outside Rochester, N.Y. That meant, obviously, he had to buy the first round of juice boxes for everyone in the bar.
The precociousness has only accelerated from there. Monday morning, 13-year-old Will Thomson teed off in the opening round of the U.S. Amateur at the Atlanta Athletic Club, officially becoming the youngest competitor in the 114 years they’ve played for glory over cash.
He striped it down the middle. Then hit 8-iron to six feet. Then canned the putt to birdie his first hole of the national championship. What pressure? This is more fun than Six Flags.
It would get thornier on his way to a five-over 77. Thomson, who at 130 pounds is built along the lines of a 1-iron, is a couple of growth spurts away from having the mass to properly attack either of the AAC’s two courses. As a result, he admitted that the experience Monday was both “awesome” and “a grind.”
This Amateur is a young man’s game. Still, Thomson was extraordinary in the company of those with considerably more hair on both their faces and their drives. One of his playing partners Monday, a wizened 23-year-old from California named Alex Marry, was nonetheless impressed.
“He was really composed. Stayed in the moment. All in all, handled it really well,” said Marry, whose ego seemed healed after finishing four strokes north of a 13-year-old (81).
To recover from his 77, to make it to the low 64 after Tuesday’s final installment of stroke play and advance to match play, would require a round of McIlroy-like stature. Thomson has some low numbers in him — he shot 68-66 to qualify for the Amateur. May be a little hard to duplicate on a toothier track, but if nothing else, Thomson will have a memorable two-day experience before returning to New York to start eighth grade at Barker Road Middle School.
“They think it’s cool, but they don’t really understand,” Thomson said of his classmates. “They don’t care that much because it’s golf. But some of them are pretty proud of me, so it’s nice to have that.”
His start was humble enough, going out at the age of three with his mother and father, batting around a ball with his toy set of clubs. He was beating dad, a 15 handicapper, within a few years.
The kid is a point guard back home, too, a pretty slick playmaker by all reports. Whether or not he can continue on the multi-sport track becomes more of a question the smoother that swing becomes.
He’s obviously growing comfortable playing in front of a gallery, for he brought his own Monday. His parents, three older siblings and his strength and conditioning coach were on one side of the ropes. His swing coach was on the other, carrying the bag. And Thomson couldn’t have thrown a Titleist without hitting a college coach following him on the front nine, each dressed conspicuously in team colors. Word is out on Thomson, already, long before he moves into his high school locker.
Swing coach? Strength and conditioning coach. Things are getting very serious very quickly. “The great thing about it,” said Joe Lusardi, his swing coach, “is that he is the one doing the pulling. No one is pushing him.”
At the first round of his first U.S. Amateur, the rising eighth grader admitted that there might have had to conquer just a trace of intimidation. “Not by the players, but just by the golf course,” Thomson said. “It’s really long for me (nearly 7,400 yards). I had a bunch of long clubs into the greens. I had a lot of good shots today, but it’s just hard to get close to the pins with hybrids and long irons.”
“I thought he was so much better than 77,” said his coach. “He hit a lot of good shots but there was a lid on the hole all day.” Thomson’s fast start was erased on his third hole of the day, taking a double bogey after getting a little too frisky with the hybrid. His second shot out of the rough, up hard against the cart path, traveled 15 yards into a bunker. He kept the hybrid in his hand and didn’t escape the sand. Ah, the confidence of youth.
It has been a summer of enlarged experiences for Thomson, from his surprising performance at the U.S. Amateur qualifier to the payoff in Atlanta. It gets much quieter from here.
The next big month circled on his calendar is October.
That’s when he gets his braces off.
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