King golf coach Kamm has faced U.S. Open pressure

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Handling the pressure will be paramount when the U.S. Open tees off on Thursday at Shinnecock Hills in New York. King University golf coach Brian Kamm knows all about the P-word in a major championship. Kamm was in third place with nine holes to play at the U.S. Open in 1991 at Hazeltine in Minnesota. Those last nine holes were his undoing, finishing in 31st place, while Payne Stewart won his second of three major titles in a Monday playoff against Scott Simpson. "I was hanging in there the whole time, but the last nine holes, that is when a young rookie like me kind of folded," said Kamm, who was paired with Freddy Couples. "The great players like the Tiger Woods's and the (Scottie) Scheffler's, they play great the last nine holes, that is what makes them great." Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are the betting favorites at the U.S. Open, which will mix 72 holes over four days with fast greens, thick rough and the knowledge that adversity could be around the next bend. Dealing with that pressure is what Kamm teaches his players at King. "Obviously that is a nerve-racking thing too. You have a chance to win…," said Kamm, who was an All-American as a senior at Florida State, while learning the game under renowned golf professional David Ledbetter. "Pressure, you bring it on yourself, you have got to try to get really focused in that zone and just try to make one shot at a time and make it happen. "You can't be thinking about what is going on. That is why routine is so important. You do the same thing every time you hit your golf shot so whether it is for the U.S. Open or whether it is nine holes at Bristol, you are doing the same thing. That is what you have got to try to do." That is easier said than done in an event that is often called the toughest test in golf. "In a U.S. Open it can go so fast," said Kamm, who shot 69-73-73 over the first three days at Hazeltine, but a 42 on the back nine led to a final round 79. "It is so hard, you just hit a couple of shots and the next thing you know you miss it in the wrong spot and you make double bogey, that is what happened to me on 10. "I missed the green to the right that I shouldn't have and from where I was I had no chance. I chipped it and it went over the green and back in the rough again on the other side. You can get to playing ping-pong in the U.S. Open real quick." Kamm expects the short game to be key this week, adding the importance of staying in the fairways since approach shots to greens he describes as "upside down saucers" could result in shots rolling into the rough or 30 yards off the putting surface. "This is going to a very big short game golf course, can you get the ball up and down from all these little areas," said Kamm, who notes Jordan Spieth, Matt Fitzpatrick and Patrick Reed as short game specialists. "I think guys with great short games are going to have a chance to do well this week. You are going to miss some greens and you are going to have to get up and down." There is also the weather, which is always unpredictable on Long Island. "It could be dead calm and then 20 minutes later it is blowing 30 miles an hour so you are going to be at the mercy of the weather, who gets lucky with the weather at certain times and days and stuff like that," he said. "The U.S. Open is so difficult, so demanding and you have got to be patient. Sometimes a bogey is okay on a hole." Kamm spent around 20 years in professional golf, twice finishing with a PGA Tour career best tie for sixth at the Canadian Open. He also won once each on the Nationwide and Korn Ferry tours. He was around 20th place after two rounds at the PGA Championship in 1995 at Rivera, but finished 70th, playing the final round with Jack Nicklaus. The 64-year-old Kamm, who resides in Bluff City with his wife, has been golf coach at King since 2011, and has used his experiences in his recruiting efforts to bring talent to Bristol. Those efforts have led to Conference Carolinas championships for the men and women, and individual qualifiers for the NCAA Division II championships despite competing with larger schools with bigger budgets. "If I want to get somebody here I will tell them,'Look, I have played on the PGA Tour, I can help you get to where you need to be, I can teach you things that other people can't teach you'," said Kamm, who recently returned from a cruise with some of his former King players. "Anytime you are coaching people and you are telling people things they have got to believe in you and they have got to trust you. Knowing that I know what I know about golf so much, they all trust me." Kamm, who twice finished in the top 100 on the PGA Tour money list, gave himself two years after college to see if he belonged at the highest level of the sport. He did. "I just gave myself an opportunity. I just kept getting better and realized that I was good enough," Kamm said. "I was so lucky to be able to live a dream. You have a dream of being a professional golfer and playing on the Tour, I was able to do that so that was a dream come true."