Amateur hour turning into an entire summer on Tours

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Amateur Patrick Cantlay hasn't been just a one-week sensation on the PGA TOUR -- he has four top-25 finishes in as many starts.

They play like they have nothing to lose.

And they don't.

They tee it up against the big boys on exemptions or through qualifiers. And they take their chances seriously. A whole lot more seriously than we usually do.

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Video: Cantlay interview

An amateur contend? Pish-posh. Great kid. Talented. Wonder if he'll fold in THAT pairing? This is the big leagues, not a college event. Chances of making the cut? Maybe, but don't count on it.

We never learn, do we?

So maybe it's time to take what we've learned just in the last six weeks and ... start tweaking the way we think.

Patrick Cantlay. Tom Lewis. Harris English. John Peterson. Jordan Spieth.

All kids. Kids with serious game.

English, who played at Georgia, won the Nationwide Tour's Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational Sunday, Peterson, who played at LSU, tied for second. Lewis led the British Open in Round 1. Spieth, who contended two years running at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and heads to Texas in the fall, joined Tiger Woods as the only player to win the U.S. Junior Amateur more than once.

And Cantlay? Pick one. He shot 60 in the second round at the Travelers Championship and his golf ball and scorecard -- it was the lowest round ever by an amateur in a TOUR event -- are in the World Golf Hall of Fame. He hasn't finished lower than a T24 in four TOUR events, including a T9 at the RBC Canadian Open and T21 at the U.S. Open. And through 16 TOUR rounds, he has an adjusted scoring average of 68.55 (actual is 69.38) and, had he been able to accept checks, would have earned just under $350,000, which would put him about 144th on this week's money list.

By way of comparison? Steve Stricker leads the TOUR with a 69.23 average in 48 rounds and has earned just under $3.5 million this season. He also has 11 TOUR wins, has been on Ryder and Presidents Cup teams and is 44. Cantlay is a sophomore at UCLA.

Got your attention?

What we're seeing is the future. Maybe not multiple major winners or FedExCup or Road to Dubai champions, but guys who'll be the next wave of Rory McIlroys, Rickie Fowlers and Dustin Johnsons on the TOUR.

This isn't anything new. This gang is just the next group in a line of plug-and-play amateurs who tested themselves on TOUR, then jumped right in. Guys like Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Hal Sutton, Jerry Pate, Lanny Wadkins, Curtis Strange and a couple of guys we know simply as Tiger and Phil.

We think back to the phone call in 1985 when the voice on the other end of the line asked if Scott Verplank could really win the Western Open. Absolutely was the answer and, well, the then 21-year-old Oklahoma State star went out and beat Jim Thorpe in a playoff. It was the first time an amateur had won a TOUR event since 1954 when Gene Littler won the then-San Diego Open and went on to finish second in the '54 U.S. Open.

Six years after Verplank's win, Phil Mickelson won the then-Phoenix Open and, well, it just wasn't that big of a surprise.

Players have been testing the waters, as they always say, for decades. They go in with no expectations of winning. Most of them just want to experience the TOUR. See how they stack up against the guys who do this for a living. See what they need to work on.

Take Lewis, who was paired with Tom Watson a few weeks ago at Royal St. George's. Lewis was named for Watson, then wound up beating him by seven -- 65 to 72 -- in the opening round. Watson got him by four in Round 2 and then Lewis was paired with Mickelson.

"Playing with Phil made me feel terrible, really terrible around the greens,'' Lewis said. "If you're going to play with the best players in the world, you have to chip and putt like they do."

Fast forward to last weekend when college buddies English and Peterson were on stage all week at the Nationwide event. Peterson led the first three rounds and English was right there behind him. English got him at the finish and Oklahoma State junior Peter Uihlein tied for ninth.

Cantlay, meanwhile, closed with 68-69 and slipped into the top 10 at the Canadian Open. And Spieth? He turns 18 tomorrow and exited his junior days with a 6 and 5 win over Chelso Barrett in the Junior Am finals.

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Remember Russell Henley? The Bulldog got the amateur party started by winning the Stadion Classic at UGA in early May.

And lest we forget ... amateur Russell Henley, another former Bulldog, won the Nationwide's Stadion Classic at UGA this spring.

Whew.

It won't be long until we see a few of these guys full time. Henley, English, Peterson, Uihlein, Spieth and Cantlay are all candidates for the U.S. Walker Cup team, and Lewis headlines the Great Britain and Ireland team that will host the matches in September.

After that, Uihlein, Cantlay and Spieth will head back to class, while Lewis, English, Henley and Peterson -- all of whom wanted to play the Walker Cup -- are all expected to embark on professional careers. After all, what's a few months of testing the waters when you plan to be earning a living on TOUR for decades?

Just who will make it and who won't? Only time will tell. Crenshaw, John Cook and Hal Sutton were among those tagged back in the day to become the next Jack Nicklaus. Phil took forever to win a major. Tiger jumped right in. And guys like Jim Furyk and Stricker? They were afterthoughts.

All we know is they're learning. How to compete, how to win. And, yes, English and Peterson were fearless last week, perhaps because they weren't worried about their cards or making travel expenses for the week.

Or about being a little cocky. After all, they are still kids. And they're following their dreams.

Sunday night Peterson said, ""The top guys in college, the top 20 or 30 guys, can beat the top 20, 30 guys on the PGA TOUR Maybe with the exception of two or three guys who are constantly up there, like a Matt Kuchar or Luke Donald, those guys that are always there ... those top 20 college guys will beat those top 20 or 30 PGA TOUR guys, if given the opportunity.''

Go ahead and chuckle. We did.

Fearless is one thing. Reality -- when it sets in -- can be quite another.

But, yes, there are always exceptions.

Which brings us to one last thought for those kids out there who are dreaming large.

It was the spring semester of 1973 at UT-Austin and the class was about to fill up a bluebook during a history final when the guy a row behind me mentioned this would be his last final. Ever. Three years was enough. It was time to turn pro.

He had nothing to lose.

I turned around to see Crenshaw, who had already played in about a dozen TOUR events as an amateur and finished top 24 in two Masters, talking with a buddy about his future.

I admit I chuckled. He did sound a little cocky.

A few weeks later, Crenshaw won his third NCAA individual title -- he tied with Kite in 1972. A few months later, he made his first start as a TOUR member, played like he had nothing to lose and beat Orville Moody by two shots to win the San Antonio Texas Open.

Three years later, I was writing about his next three wins -- and his only three-win season.

And now? Crenshaw has added 16 more wins, two Masters jackets, a lot of ups and downs, an iconic Ryder Cup win, a golf course design business and a Hall of Fame induction to his resume. And, yes, I still look back on that moment in 1973 and grin.

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM and can be reached at melaniehauser@gmail.com. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR. Follow her on Twitter @melaniehauser.