Fitchburg, Mass. — World Golf Hall of Famer Johnny Miller’s son, Andy, will be among the 150 professional and amateur golfers to tee it up in next month’s Massachusetts Open Championship.
Miller, who had designs on following in his famous father’s footsteps, was a four-time All-American at Brigham Young University. He notched one win on the Buy.com Tour (now the Nationwide Tour) before earning his PGA Tour card in 2003.
The 33-year-old Miller made 13 of 25 cuts on tour and proceeded to drop out of sight. The then-25-year-old left golf to serve two years on a Mormon mission in Mexico. He’s now studying for his masters degree at the Boston School of Architecture by night, an architect by day, and an occasional golfer at Boston’s George Wright Golf Course.
In June, he’ll put his golf skills to the test once again when he’ll go up against a relatively star-studded field that may include Andrew Giuliani, son of former New York City mayor Rudy, and Olin Browne Jr., the son of Champions Tour golfer Olin Browne (Giuliani and Browne must qualify first). It won’t be easy for Miller, defending champ Jimmy Hazen, or any of the 150 guys who’ll try to conquer Oak Hill Country Club in Fitchburg.
Indeed, Mass. Open competitors should prepare themselves for lightning quick greens and a “torture chamber” of a back nine that requires dead-on accuracy to the pins, according to Oak Hill superintendent Scott Lagana.
“The defense of the golf course is the greens. If you get behind the pin it’s going to be treacherous on any hole,” Lagana said during Friday’s media day. “We’re not really trying to completely defend par, but we want to see what you guys can deliver with at the end of the last day.”
Hazen, who got his first look at the course Friday, took Lagana’s cautions seriously. “You’ve got to be patient and give yourself the right opportunities,” he said. “Play below the hole, give yourself as many chances as you can.
“The law of averages says eventually you’re going to make some,” Hazen added, “so just keep hitting them.”
Hazen, whose 6-under 204 was the winning score at last year’s tilt at Wellesley Country Club, joked about his prowess on the greens.
“As far as my putting,” he joked, “I’m supposed to talk the right way about that, so I’m an excellent putter.”
Oak Hill features a 6,600-yard, par-70 layout with a particularly challenging stretch run. “Most of the real action occurs on the back nine, where things get progressively more difficult,” said Thomas Bagley, championship committee chair of the Massachusetts Golf Association. “You need to be under par when you get to the 11th tee….You really have to play those last eight holes well in order to put up a good score.”
And about those greens, which Lagana will have running at 12 to 12.5 on the Stimpmeter. “Sometimes 30 feet below the pin is better than being 10 feet above,” Bagley warned.
Golfers will compete for $75,000 in prize money at the102nd Mass. Open from June 27-June 29. Forty golfers will make the cut after the second day and the winner will cash a check for $15,000.
Seven qualifiers across the state will determine 102 of the contestants. Miller is one of the 48 golfers with exemptions into the 54-hole stroke-play event.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out on the Waggle Room, Boston Golf Examiner, National Golf Examiner, and GottaGoGolf websites. You may also follow Kay on Twitter @golfexaminer.)
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