How Midlands golf mainstay is preparing for US Senior Amateur

Eddie Hargett figures he always faces two challengers every time he tees up: the golf course and Father Time.

Now 61, the Blythewood resident understands that he must battle the calendar in order to achieve success in competition.

So far, so good — a fact on display recently and hopefully for the next few days.

He finished second in the North and South Senior tournament over three of Pinehurst Resort’s courses that ended Tuesday, teams with Geno Berchiatti in the SCGA’s Mid-Amateur Four-Ball over the weekend at Bulls Bay in Awendaw and will test his skills in the U.S. Senior Amateur that begins Aug. 28 at the Country Club of Detroit.

He relishes the North-South performance highlighted by a 4-under-par 68 on Pinehurst No. 2, and the Mid-Amateur Four-Ball is gravy. The U.S. Senior Amateur is the big target.

He’s no stranger to the USGA stage. This will be his sixth national championship event, and, he said, “I’ve been first alternate (in qualifying) for 17 other USGA tournaments and never got in.”

This time, his Pinehurst performance shows his game is worthy of any challenge.

“It’s coming around,” Hargett said. “I’m driving the ball better and putting better. Putting’s the big thing; you have to putt great to win at that level.”

He’s a late-comer to golf, and he works continuously to maintain the ability to perform at a high level.

“I’m in the gym every day, even on the days I’m playing,” Hargett said. “Whether that’s right or wrong, it works for me. I want to keep (the ability) that I have. You can go downhill in a hurry.”

Again, so far, so good. He has earned the South Carolina Golf Association’s Senior Player of the Year award in 2019 and 2020, and he’s in the thick of the battle to win the prize again.

A strong performance in the Senior Amateur would be a huge steppingstone toward the player-of-the-year trifecta. The field of 156 will play two rounds of stroke play with the low 64 moving into match play.

“I feel as good, if not better, than ever,” he said.

In talks with a CC of Detroit member, Hargett discovered he will be playing a “flat, classic golf course with bent grass greens and thick rough that’s really penal. It’s all about the bunker complexes and green speeds.”

Of course, he said, the USGA will tuck some pins close to trouble, and he got a taste of that in his qualifying round over Colleton River Plantation’s Nicklaus Course.

Since he had played in the State Amateur the previous four days, he didn’t get in a practice round at Colleton. He arrived to discover tees “all the way back and pins where they had never been before.”

No problems; he posted a 2-under-par 70 and earned one of the four spots at stake in the national tournament.

That stretch — four days at the State Amateur and U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying the next day — typifies Hargett’s competitiveness and his love for the game. He plays a lot of golf; if he’s not in a tournament, chances are he’s at Columbia Country Club working to improve.

“Playing in things like the State Amateur, I’m giving up so much distance off the tee to the young guys,” he said. “But I just love to compete.”

In the U.S. Senior Amateur for players 55 and older, the playing field is more level, but the challenge is the same. He still has to beat the golf course and Father Time.

Chip shots. In addition to Hargett, South Carolinians in the U.S. Senior Amateur field include Rock Hill’s Rick Cloninger, senior player of the year 2012-15, and Laurens’ Walt Todd, senior player of the year 2016-18. ... Clemson’s Jacob Bridgeman (Inman) won two matches before falling in the Round of 16 in the U.S. Amateur in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. The luck of the draw pitted Bridgeman against high school senior Jonathan Griz (Hilton Head Island) in the Round of 64, and the Clemson All-American prevailed 1-up. Trent Phillips (Inman/Georgia) also advanced to match play and lost in the Round of 32. ... Columbian Donald Taylor fired a 3-under-par 69 to advance into the U.S. Mid-Amateur in qualifying at the CC of Lexington. Christian Sease (Sunset) earned a place in the national tournament in qualifying at the Patriot GC at Grand Harbor in Ninety Six.