Beau Hossler
The U.S. Open is turning out to be like an R-rated movie: sure, you can sneak in if you're underage, but you're likely to see some things that'll stick with you for a long, long time.
One day after fourteen-year-old Andy Zhang carded an eight-over in just the first five holes of The Olympic Club, seventeen-year-old Beau Hossler worked some early magic only to get a hard, ugly dose of reality.
Hossler, a high schooler headed to the University of Texas, played his first eleven holes (in this case, holes 9-18 and 1) in an exceptional two-under par, which was good enough to get him briefly into the lead at two-under. This kid, who lost in his high school finals a couple weeks ago to a lad named Austin Smotherman, was now ahead of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and every other great golfer on the planet.
It didn't even last one hole.
Hossler carded a bogey on 2, his 12th hole, and then went four-over during his final six holes to tumble all the way to +3. It was a you-didn't-study-and-the-exam-is-today awakening for the kid, who seemed virtually punch-drunk (an expression; he's underage) as he staggered back toward the clubhouse.
"Obviously, I think I got out of my rhythm a little bit on those tee shots, and those really killed me," he said. "But I don't think at all it was based on the [U.S. Open] stage, I think it was just based on making some bad swings and unfortunately at the wrong time."
Jay Busbee, Yahoo! Sports