17-year-old Hossler amazes at U.S. Open

He has a golf name.

Beau.

He has a golf game.

U.S. Open qualifier.

He has a golf body.

Pear-shaped.

Beau Hossler spent the weekend on the fringes of contention in America's national golf championship.

Are you as amazed as I am that he's 17 years old?

Hossler wasn't even the youngest player in the Open. Andy Zhang, 14, beat him out on the calendar if not on the course.

Watching Hossler, one thing that came to mind was whether he has a date for his high-school prom.

His junior prom, that is. He won't be a senior until next semester.

Then I kept thinking what I was doing during June of my 17th year. The answer is nothing, which prepared me for a career as a sports writer.

At that age I knew how to tie only one of my gym shoes. I couldn't recite more than 23 letters in the alphabet. I was still learning what the big hand on a clock does compared to the little hand.

Teenagers must be different now from my day. They must be born at age 10 if one of them can wind up beating the likes of Phil Mickelson in a major golf tournament at San Francisco's historic Olympic Club.

Seriously, how does a 17-year-old kid not only qualify for the U.S. Open but also lead it for a few minutes during the second round?

(By the way, when was the last time somebody wearing braces on his teeth led a major?)

Those of you with teenage children will have to explain to me how a high-school junior can do what Beau Hossler just did.

When I was his age, I couldn't tell you for sure that I would make it across the street without walking into a speeding bus.

Yet this is what Golfweek magazine quoted Hossler as saying between the third and fourth rounds of the U.S. Open, when he was asked whether he could win the dang thing.

“Absolutely,” he said. “There's not a doubt in my mind ... it's definitely there for me.”

Forecasting essentially was the only thing Hossler got wrong at the Olympic Club. A high-school junior just making the cut is like being perfect on his SATs.

Personally, at 17 every time I shaved the fear was I would wind up bleeding into the emergency room. Any girl who weighed more than 100 pounds frightened me.

Hossler looked like he wasn't afraid of anything: Not the best golfers in the world, not one of the toughest golf courses in the world, not the galleries or the moment or adversity.

Sunday's first few holes could have daunted Hossler when he hit the ball into the rough a couple times and into bunkers a couple times.

Instead, the youngster scrambled for pars and stayed alive for a while longer. Tiger Woods, meanwhile, was shooting himself out of contention early.

Hossler eventually faded, too, but it isn't too shabby that Woods had to rally to finish ahead of him.

Times clearly have changed if a 17-year-old can play the way young Mr. Hossler did in the U.S. Open.

So, what's next, a high-school freshman challenging Albert Pujols? A fifth-grade quarterback playing in the Super Bowl? A kindergartner acing Wimbledon?

Beau Hossler made 17 look like the new 27, so it might not be long before 5 is the new 25.

mimrem@dailyherald.com