By Bob Harig at St Andrews, Scotland, for the Cayman Compass
The most frustrating part about being a parent and watching your son compete on such a stage as the Old Course is there is absolutely nothing you can do but cheer and hope. And maybe agonise.
That was the case Sunday for the final round of The Open, where Aaron Jarvis was completing an amazing few months of top-level golf while his parents, Robin and Lana, could only watch. Nervously.
Aaron came to the 18th hole with an outside chance of perhaps snagging low amateur honors at the 150th Open. That would have been a remarkable achievement for a kid from the Cayman Islands, where golf is not the sport of choice and just a single 18-hole course exists.
So, every stroke was important at this point. Jarvis had made a nice birdie at the 16th. He converted a tricky par putt at the 17th. And then, after pulling his drive on the massive 18th fairway at the home hole, he had left his approach short, in the dreaded Valley Sin.
Jarvis handled it beautifully, actually lipping out the birdie putt and settling for a par that gave him a final-round 73 and a final score of 289, 1 over par.
“Just amazing,’’ said Robin Jarvis, who watched his son from the other side of the first tee as he was completing his round. “You couldn’t ask for more. Playing in The Open at St Andrews in the year of the 150th. What an experience.’’
No doubt Jarvis was going to follow the scoreboard all day to see how Italy’s Filipo Celli fared. He had a sizable lead going into the final round for amateurs, had an early blip, and then steadied himself. So in the end, that honour wasn’t meant to be for Aaron, who had to settle for a creditable second to the promising young Italian.
No matter. Making the cut and besting the likes of Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington to hold his own on the biggest stage of all was enough. For now.
“What a week. It’s been a great week. Unbelievable,’’ Aaron Jarvis said.
It’s been an unbelievable year.
From being a surprise winner at the Latin America Amateur Championship in January to getting spots in the Masters and The Open and getting to meet the likes of Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia and many others, it has been some year for Jarvis.
At The Open, adjusting to the difficult conditions presented by links golf was Jarvis’ biggest hurdle. Last month, he played in the (British) Amateur in England at Hillside and Southport & Ainsdale, both excellent links courses. But he missed the cut, meaning just two rounds of competition.
And coming to the Old Course with so little links knowledge was part of the learning process.
“It’s a completely different game,’’ he said. “You’ve got to adjust and learn the slopes and run it up. Just adjust your game to links. It’s a completely different game to anywhere else.
“It’s more about just figuring out what you need to do to your game to make it work around links golf. I think it’s managing where you land the ball and dealing with tough lies, especially in the rough.’’
There was a bigger picture, too.
“Of course, making the cut is awesome, yet the goals and objective when he received this opportunity wasn’t just to come and make the cut,’’ said Zach Parker, Jarvis’ coach at the Leadbetter Academy in Orlando, Florida. “It was to come and give 100 percent of his effort and focus on fighting till the end and showcasing his game on the biggest stage.’’
Jarvis seemed to handle that just fine.
Now comes the part where Jarvis needs to come down from the emotional high of competing at this level. The Western Amateur is next, and it begins on Aug. 1 at Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park, Illinois, outside of Chicago.
Then it’s back to school for his sophomore season at UNLV.
“I think I’ll settle in once the next tournament gets started,’’ he said.
After the last few months, nobody would blame Jarvis if that took some time.
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It’s a shame that the U.S. flag was posted beside Aaron’s name on the leaderboard. Look forward to following this young man in the future!