Scott Harvey
Winning the U.S. Mid-Amateur has its benefits,
with one in particular likely being the most
wonderful of them all.
When Scott Harvey defeated Brad Nurski 6-and-
5 at Saucon Valley's Old Course in September's
36-hole final, he had essentially punched his
ticket to the 2015
Masters Tournament. But the 36-year-old, and
his trusty caddy, were
hard at work to block out the potentially harmful
thought.
"The night before the final, I kept getting text
messages and kept
having all these thoughts about how if I win
tomorrow, it's the
Masters," Harvey said. "I turned my phone off
that night and tried to
block it out of my mind.
"If I can keep all that stuff blocked out of my
mind, I'll be okay," Harvey
told Rocky, his caddy.
Harvey said he worked so hard to not think
about The Masters that when
Nurski missed his putt attempting to extend the
match on the 31st hole,
Harvey and his caddy were too busy looking at
the next hole's pin sheet to
realize what had just happened.
"I remember getting to my car afterward and I
had 407 text messages,"
he said.
Now, both Harvey and Rocky will be treated to
the grandeur that is the
Masters Tournament in April at Augusta National.
"He's a good friend of mine and I want to share
that experience with him,"
Harvey said of his caddy.
Aside from the Masters invite, winning the U.S.
Mid-Amateur comes with
a few other benefits that Harvey is excited
about. He earned a two-year
exemption to the U.S. Amateur, as well as a 10-
year exemption to the
Mid-Amateur. The USGA will also award him by
sending him to the South
American Amateur in Lima, Peru Jan. 22-25
where he'll represent the
United States in a 72-hole stroke play event.
And he's now closer to his dream of making a
Walker Cup team as the
USGA selected him as one of 16 players to
participate in a Walker Cup
practice session, which took place Dec. 17-20 at
Frederica Golf Club in St.
Simons Island, Georgia.
"Just to be a national champion is an honor,"
Harvey said. "It's icing on
the cake."
Harvey says he cannot wait to watch Tiger
Woods hit balls on the range,
but more importantly, he's eagerly anticipating
playing a practice round
with Ben Crenshaw.
"My dad used to play a lot with him," Harvey
said. "They would travel the
country together.
"My dad always spoke fondly of him and in his
email back to me,
[Crenshaw] spoke so fondly of my dad so to get
a chance to spend some
time with a guy my dad spent a lot of time with
… it'll be fun."
Harvey will be one of six amateurs in the field in
2015, including U.S.
Amateur champion Gunn Yang and runner-up
Corey Conners, U.S.
Amateur Public Links winner Byron Meth, Asia-
Pacific Amateur champion
Antonio Murdaca, and British Amateur winner
Bradley Neil.