Loyola Maryland golfer Michael Crowley Jr. overcomes nerves, odds to cement berth in U.S. Amateur Championship – Baltimore Sun

All Loyola Maryland golfer Michael Crowley Jr. needed to do to make his U.S. Amateur debut was drain an 8-foot downhill putt on the 18th hole at a qualifier at Chambersburg Country Club in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on July 21.

It was the type of challenge that might unsettle the typical weekend duffer, but not the Hunt Valley resident and Calvert Hall graduate.

“I told myself, ‘You’ve hit this a million times,’” he said. “… I kind of thought of all the putts I had made earlier that day and all of the practice I had done with my putting. I just tried to put a good roll on it, and it went in.”

If Crowley was calm, his father Michael Crowley Sr., who was caddying his 20-year-old son, was the polar opposite.

“I’m not hitting the shots, but I was definitely nervous for him,” said Crowley, a 50-year-old co-founder of Baltimore Consulting, a technology service provider. “I just know how hard he works, and I just wanted it so much for him. Obviously, I’d love him if he shot 100, but it’s such a high-failure sport that it’s so nice when a kid accomplishes something every now and then, which is rare. I knew this was a big deal.”

The younger Crowley is one of 312 golfers who earned a berth at the 122nd U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood and Arcola country clubs in Paramus, New Jersey, from Monday to Sunday. After two rounds of stroke play, the field will be trimmed to a bracket of 64 for match play.

Crowley is scheduled to tee off on the 10th hole at Arcola on Wednesday at 9:06 a.m. with Richard Dowling III of Shelton, Connecticut, and Hayden Hopewell of Royal Fremantle, Australia, and then the No. 1 hole at Ridgewood the next day at 2:41 p.m. in the same grouping.

Crowley will be the fourth Greyhounds golfer in the last three years to compete at the prestigious tournament, joining Evan Brown in 2020 and Brett Inserra and Patrick McCormick in 2021.

Loyola coach Chris Baloga said Crowley’s feat is not shocking considering his grace under fire.

“If you were to watch him as a bystander, for the most part, you couldn’t tell if he was playing well or playing poorly or if he needed these putts to advance or if he needed them just to break 80,” Baloga said. “He’s very matter-of-fact. … He’s really good at that kind of stuff. So it doesn’t surprise me..”

Crowley actually birdied the 513-yard, par-5 17th and the 340-yard, par-4 18th in the qualifier at Chambersburg Country Club to cement his position in the U.S. Amateur field. One birdie would have gotten him into a playoff, but he removed any mystery by securing both birdies to polish off a 9-under 137 score over 36 holes.

Standing on the tee box of the 10th hole, Crowley calculated that he had to finish the last nine holes at 3-under.

“I kind of had the number in my mind the entire back nine, but coming up on those last four holes was really when I started feeling an awfully good amount of pressure,” he said.

Crowley is no stranger to stress. He gave up an emerging career in lacrosse where he was beginning to draw interest from colleges to concentrate on golf for his sophomore year at Calvert Hall.

After winning the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association individual title as a junior in 2019 and finishing in the top 10 of the Maryland State Junior Amateur and the Greater Baltimore American Junior Golf Association Championship, Crowley did not play in 2020-21 as a freshman with the Greyhounds as he dealt with the transition from high school to college.

“It’s a different level,” he said. “You’re living by yourself and managing school and golf and everything, and I thought I didn’t really do a good job of that my freshman year. I thought coming back, things were much more organized this year, and I thought I played much better than I did my freshman year. I knew I was capable of playing much better than I did.”

Last spring, Crowley ranked third among his teammates with a 74.5-stroke average in 30 rounds and was tied for 20th at the Patriot League Championships on May 1. Baloga said Crowley has always displayed enviable power with his woods and irons, but had been troubled by inconsistencies with his accuracy and his putter.

“He worked really hard on it, and he got to be around good players more and saw what he needed to do to improve, and give him credit because he’s become one of those guys,” Baloga said. “He was by far our most improved player last year.”

This summer, Crowley has enjoyed hits and misses. He was tied for the low score at a U.S. Open local qualifier at Hillendale Country Club in Phoenix in Baltimore County on May 12 and finished second at the Delaware Amateur at Bayside Resort Golf Club in Selbyville, Delaware, from June 27 to 29. But he squandered a five-shot lead at that Delaware Amateur and missed the cut at the Philadelphia Open at Philadelphia Cricket Club in Philadelphia just two days before the U.S. Amateur qualifier.

Still, Crowley said the missed opportunities proved to be valuable teaching tools.

“I feel like I’m in a much better place with my game, and that just makes me excited. Whatever happens, I’m just going to learn from it and try to do the best that I can,” he said. “I think if I can do that, I can put myself in a position to play well.”

When Crowley knocked in that birdie putt to seal his spot at the U.S. Amateur, he hugged his father and let loose an uncharacteristic “mini roar,” his father said. The elder Crowley said his son’s presence at the U.S. Amateur is even more meaningful for the family because the course is near his hometown of Wyckoff, New Jersey, where his father, mother, sister and other relatives live.

“My dad is in his third bout with cancer, and he’s not doing that great,” Crowley said. “So I knew that it would be pretty cool if he could see him play in that. So that was just kind of going through my mind, but I didn’t want to share that with him because I didn’t want to put that on him.”

The younger Crowley figures to match up against golfers with more experience than him. But Baloga, who said he plans to attend one of Crowley’s first two rounds while recruiting in the area, said his length with his clubs and the USGA’s preference for making the courses as firm and fast as possible could emerge as advantages.

“I think his game sets up really well,” he said. “It’s just going to be a matter of him believing in himself. … Will he be nervous? Of course. But I think he’ll realize soon that he belongs there, and the quicker he can do that, the better. Hopefully, he has a great two days and makes the match play round.”