FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Ohio State senior Will Grimmer is set to compete in next week’s Memorial Tournament on a sponsor exemption. But what happens should his Buckeyes advance to the championship match?
The NCAA Championship final will take place Wednesday at Blessing Golf Club. The first round at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, begins the next day.
“I’d play both, no matter what,” Grimmer said. “I might be a little more tired, but if I walk in as a national champion the Thursday of Memorial, that’d be pretty cool.”
Grimmer, who played Muirfield Village last Tuesday, opened his final NCAA Championship in even-par 72 on Friday at Blessings Golf Club to help Ohio State post a 9-over 297, the second-best score of the morning wave. He said the key was valuing par on the tough 7,550-yard layout, especially considering his lack of length.
“I remember how demanding and long this place was,” said Grimmer, who played Blessings in 2013, before its extensive remodel. “I had the expectation that it was going to be a challenge, it was going to be a grind.”
NCAA Men’s Championship: Individual scoring | Team scoring
Speaking of grinds, Grimmer has a busy summer planned. The Monday after Memorial, he will tee it up in a 36-hole sectional qualifier as he hopes to qualify for a third U.S. Open. The next day he’ll leave for Roland, Ark., where he’ll compete in the Palmer Cup.
After that, he’ll either head to Pebble Beach or play the Sunnehanna Amateur, followed by the Northeast Amateur. He’ll close his summer with starts in the Players Amateur, Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2, which is where he made his first U.S. Open start in 2014.
Of course, he could also qualify for the U.S. Walker Cup team for the biennial matches this September in England.
“I thought a lot about turning pro after NCAAs,” Grimmer said. “Obviously, getting an exemption into Memorial is tempting to go make the cut and make some money. But I felt like the Walker Cup would mean a ton to me and it’d be an honor to play on that team, but even if I don’t, I felt like the amateur schedule sets the best up for me to really get a solid, competitive schedule heading into Q-School this fall.”
Grimmer is No. 128 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, so he’s not a favorite to make the Walker Cup team at this point. But with so many top Americans turning pro after NCAAs, his chances are much improved, especially if he has success this summer.
“There are some guys who have made a name for themselves staying amateur longer and embracing some of the tournaments that have been great to them,” Grimmer said. “I’ve been so lucky since my freshman year of college to play in all these events. They’ve been great to me, and I wanted to give them all one more run and try to win a couple of them this summer and see if I can go get on the Walker Cup team.”