James Piot: U.S. Amateur Champion

By Tom Lang

James Piot’s life will never be the same again.

But everyone in his life is saying his new title of 121st U.S. Amateur Champion won’t change who he is.

The 22-year-old golfer from Canton, who is entering his 5th-year senior season at Michigan State, on Aug. 15 earned the most prestigious amateur championship in all of golf worldwide.

He beat Austin Greaser of Ohio, 2-and-1, by sinking a 20-foot par putt on the 17th hole (the second time of the day) in the scheduled 36-hole national tournament, at historic Oakmont Country Club in western Pennsylvania, in what’s considered the most grueling golf tournament anywhere.

“It's the greatest feeling in the world,” Piot said to the national media on site. “I mean, as an amateur it's the best thing you can do. It was making that putt on 17 was just like, ‘Oh, my God. I might've done it.’”

By winning the elite amateur tournament, Piot earned a lifetime membership into Oakmont, and is to receive presumably automatic exemptions into three professional majors next year: The Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open. That alone is career-defining bucket list golf for anyone in golf – and he’s still a college student.

(And on a personal note, I say the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic should extend an exemption invitation to Piot – yesterday for goodness sakes – for their July 2022 tournament at Detroit Golf Club. That’s where Piot has already won high school events and this year’s Michigan Medal Play Championship, with a 10-under par 270.)

Piot admitted that thoughts of the traditional invitation from The Masters first crept into his mind going into the U.S. Amateur’s semifinal round. 

“Fingers crossed, they usually invite the winner and the runner up (of the Am) to The Masters,” Piot told me. “With 36 holes (in the Am finals) you can battle back, but 18 holes means you’ve got to show up and play. So, the tee shot on the first tee (in the semis), with that big crowd, I’m like ‘Holy crap, this is for The Masters.’ So that was right there in the back of my head, and if you lose you get nothing except an exemption into the Am for next year… but, if you’re sitting there thinking about Augusta over a two-foot putt, your chances decrease a lot.”

Piot was playing in the U.S. Amateur for the second straight year. In 2020 at Bandon Dunes, he was second in stroke play to enter the match play portion the No. 2 seed. He won his first match but was then bumped out in the round of 32.

This year he finished his unfinished business by cruising through the match play rounds, winning three of his six rounds with identical scores of 4-and-3. In the finals Piot was 1-up after the morning round of 18 holes. But after a lunch break and change of shirts from a dark color to a white one with a green Sparty golfer logo (which has been a team exclusive all along but might get public sales in the future), there was a 4-hole swing where Piot found himself down three after 27 holes. 

“I told myself on that tee box (on 10), I said, ‘I'm going to play this (last) nine 4-under.’ That's what I put in my head. Just self-belief.”

The tables turned hard at that point when Piot won four consecutive holes (10-13), and five of six, to go 2-up with three holes remaining, eventually grabbing the win 2-and-1.

Standing at that 10th tee, Piot was down three holes and TV commentator Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay said it would be very difficult for Piot to get back into the match.

“I gave him the nickname when he was 9-years-old of ‘Spunkdog,’ because he’s got so much fight,” said Brian Cairns, his long-time teacher at Fox Hills Learning Center in Plymouth. “He’s in a corner by himself, he’ll come out every time by himself. He’s got spunk. You saw how he walked; you saw how mellow he was. You saw his shoulders go up on the back nine. He made the swings when he needed to make them.” 

MSU coach Casey Lubahn was at Oakmont over the final weekend, while MSU associate head coach Dan Ellis was on Piot’s bag all week – in part because he missed qualifying for the U.S. Amateur himself by just a couple shots.

“Dan is a perfect blend for James,” Lubahn said. “James is a green light guy; he wants to aim at every flag. He wants to go, go, go make birdies. And I’m the same way, go, go, go. Yet Dan is the most brilliant, strategic thinker I’ve ever seen on a golf course. So, he was able to balance James’ aggressiveness, give him enough caution and enough savvy. And they are so fun together. They are both kind of goof balls so they can relax between shots. They’re perfect for each other. I’ll say Dan is a brilliant player, the best associate head coach you’re ever going to have, but caddying is his real skill.”

As mentioned, the people who know Piot well said he won’t change his life much in the short term at least, and will compete with the Spartans this fall and spring while finishing up his degree in Finance. His Spartans have unfinished business as well, going after a Big Ten title.

“I just want to enjoy my last ride with the boys,” he said. “My school credit load might shift in the spring… but I’m looking forward to the college season and getting back out there with the Spartans … we’re going to have a really good team and our goal this year is Big Ten Championship, and hopefully we can do that.”

After receiving the U.S. Amateur trophy, Piot looked it over and was asked if any past winners’ names stood out to him.

“I was just trying to see if it was real or not. I couldn't believe it. I mean, I honestly was like, did I just win the U.S. Am, in the back of my mind,” Piot answered. “I didn't really sit there and stare at all the names.”

Yet from now on and forever in history, James Piot’s name will be on that special trophy for so many others to search and admire.

Photo credit: Greg Johnson