Jack Crousore had high expectations for his freshman season at the University of Minnesota when he arrived on campus a year ago. The adjustment, however, was tough.
A year later, Crousore can point to monumental growth in one area in particular: course management. And there may be no better validation of that growth than his Aug. 7 victory at the Hoosier Amateur, played at the Pfau Course in Bloomington, Indiana.
Crousore, who hails from Bluffton, South Carolina, has family ties to the Midwest and to Indiana University, where his older sister Annie attended school. The 20-year-old, who carried his own bag around IU’s course this week, put his biggest focus on hitting fairways. That led the way to rounds of 69-68-69 that ultimately left him at 7 under and three shots better than runner-up Carson Baez of Davenport, Florida. Liam Nelson, of Chicago, had a share of the lead with nine holes to play but withdrew because of illness.
Baez, who plays for Richmond, has found himself in contention quite a bit lately. He lost a playoff for the individual title at the National Golf Invitational in May and also lost a playoff for the Southeastern Amateur title in June.
The highest local finisher was four-time Bloomington City Golf champ Jason Bannister, who got off to a quick start to put himself in contention with a 68 and followed up with rounds of 72-72 to finish at 211, five shots off the top.
Bloomington South grad and Ball State freshman Happy Gillmore finished strong with 12 pars and a birdie over his last 13 holes to finish with a 74-81-72 and move up to a tie for 58th at 227. South senior Colton Watson was 77th (77-82-79—238) as one of the younger competitors while Bloomington’s Mitch Oard tied for 78th (76-82-81—239).
Crousore, however, just could not be overtaken this week, particularly after opening his final round with four consecutive birdies. “A couple of really bad swings” off the tee led to a triple-bogey on the par-4 eighth and the leaderboard remained tight until No. 13.
“I had this short-sided bunker shot, back left bunker, and I ended up making it for eagle,” Crousore said of that hole. “When I made that, I kind of was like OK, there we go.”
Crousore, 20, struggled to break into the Gopher lineup consistently last fall. But by March, when the team competed at the Colleton River Collegiate at Crousore’s home course, Colleton River Golf Club, the freshman led the team in scoring. He was the Gopher’s leading scorer four more times in the spring, culminating with a team-best T-7 finish at the Big Ten Conference Championship.
At the Pfau Course, his focus was to keep it where he could see it, particularly off the tee where fescue frequently comes into play. The biggest part of Crousore’s game plan since March, regardless of the course, is to get the ball on the green as quickly as possible — a concept that sounds simple enough but is still a good reminder for Crousore not to be tempted by tucked pins, especially when there’s trouble nearby.
IU’s Maddie May takes women’s event
With experience, Maddie May has found the kind of headspace that can produce a title-saving mid-round rally. Over 54 holes at the Hoosier Women’s Amateur, May, who will be a redshirt senior at Indiana University this fall, built a five-shot lead with a record opening round, watched it dwindle, then pulled away for a nine-shot victory on what she now considers her home golf course, the Pfau Course.
That kind of calm is truly learned.
“I definitely have learned that,” she said. “There’s been a couple tournaments — you go through it where you have those buffers or you have those leads, I’ve lost them plenty of times. I think you just learn that all you can control is yourself.”
May hails from Christchurch, New Zealand, and first competed in the U.S. when she was 13 years old. She would annually travel to San Diego for the Junior World Championships and signed with Ole Miss in 2021. She joined that roster in the spring of 2022 but transferred to Indiana for the 2023-24 season.
May now benefits from a home track in Bloomington, Indiana, that sharpens every tool in the bag.
“Around the Pfau, anything can happen,” May said after her victory.
Truly. Her week began with a tournament — and personal (Pfau) — record 67 that included four birdies on the front nine. She lost ground with a 40 on the front nine the next day but held her five-stroke lead with a 2-under effort on the back nine.
“Keeping to my game plan and being able to stay in the present moment and hit shot by shot on that back nine really helped me to pull myself back into it and post a score that gave me that buffer heading into today,” she said.
A final-round 74 left May with a nine-shot victory over Nicole Johnson of Edwardsville, Illinois.
In June, Maddie May won the Indiana Women’s Open Championship. She tied for ninth at the Indiana Women’s Amateur last month.
Jim Gordillo added to this report.
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