SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – Shinnecock Hills is widely considered one of golf’s cathedrals.
Visit milkshakeslot.online for more information.
For Matt Robles, it’s his dojang.
When Robles wasn’t cutting his teeth at the local muni in Downey, California, a blue-collar city in south Los Angeles, just miles from Compton, he was sharpening his mind at the taekwondo training hall. One of the five tenants of the Korean martial art is to respect one’s instructor; if not, physical punishment is warranted, usually in the form of duck walks or frog jumps.
This week, Robles’ grandmaster is William Flynn, whose beautiful-yet-punishing design will host this week’s 126th U.S. Open. Robles, a 20-year-old rising junior at Santa Clara, is one of 62 open qualifiers, 34 first-timers and a record-tying 20 amateurs in the 156-man field, each competitor hoping to not just solve this intricate test but survive the exposed, undulating layout that will surely be pummeled by up-to-40-mph gusts over the next few days.
Robles will hit the first shot of major career at 2:42 p.m. ET Thursday, part of the last threesome off the 10th tee that won’t finish until at least dusk.
“I’m going to have to be super disciplined out there,” Robles said. “If you don’t respect this course, it’ll bite you.”
Robles is still pursuing his black belt in taekwondo, though it’s been two summers since he last tested. He’s been too busy with his main sport, which Robles was introduced to at 7 years old when his parents enrolled their only child in a Saturday-morning introductory class at Rio Hondo Golf Course, one of Downey’s two, city-owned golf courses.
Robert Douglas, who has been at Rio Hondo for a quarter-century, first as a high-school golfer and now as the course’s assistant pro, has been Robles’ instructor from that first lesson. Though inexperienced and unorthodox, Robles possessed crazy speed from the start. He quickly outgrew Rio Hondo’s 235-yard range, where these days he can’t even hit 3-wood without the ball flying over the 50-foot-high net and into the adjacent 17th fairway. There are few drivers hit on the course, too, as it tips out under 6,400 yards.
“To go from there to Shinnecock, it’s insane,” Robles said. “The only similarity we’ve got is the Poa greens. But without the support that that course provided me growing up, from the coaching to the amount of range balls I hit on their dime, I wouldn’t be here.”
Added Douglas: “It’s nothing too fancy, but we’re like a little family there.”
Robles, the son of an IT professional and stay-at-home mom, didn’t play many junior tournaments outside of southern California, sticking mainly to the SCPGA’s Toyota Tour Cup. While he won a handful of times and developed into a top-50 recruit nationally, Robles wasn’t courted by many top programs in the region. Sure, Robles’ swing wasn’t aesthetically pleasing and his iron play was shaky, but he could move it and hole putts.
“I kept asking myself, why is this kid getting overlooked?” said Santa Clara head coach Andrew Larkin, who was enamored by Robles’ potential. Robles didn’t have the prettiest action and the misses were big, but Larkin knew that once Robles embedded himself with more resources, he’d blossom.
“He’s the type of kid who takes advantage of every opportunity he gets,” Larkin added.
Growing up in Downey, where the best post-round hang was Uncle Henry’s until the 1950s deli recently closed because of a fire, Robles might as well have been planets away from private clubs such as Los Angeles Country Club, Riviera and Bel-Air. Now, Robles, the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year and the 409th-ranked amateur in the world, has taken divots on some of the most hallowed turf in the country.
Before qualifying for the U.S. Open, Robles thought last summer’s U.S. Amateur debut at Olympic Club was as good as it gets. He missed match play that week by only a few strokes. He’s refined his game, particularly his iron play, remarkably since then. He still swings it in the mid-120s, but he barely resembles the freshman who showed up to school with the stiffest shafts possible and a swing-out-of-your-shoes mentality.
“After the U.S. Amateur, he goes, ‘I finally feel like I can be here and compete out here,’” Douglas said. “And I reminded him that this is the same thing. He’s one of these guys because he qualified to get in. He’s earned his right to be here. He’s one of the best players in the world this week.”
Added Larkin: “He’s not going to be afraid out there. He’s definitely the kid who is such a good worker and so driven that he can take himself from anywhere to the highest level.”
Including all the way from Downey and Rio Hondo.
“We’ve never had anyone from our place come this far,” said Douglas, who doesn’t have kids of his own and who lost his dad, Gordon, to cancer in 2017; U.S. Open Sunday, of course, falls on Father’s Day. “We’ve always dreamed about being out here, player and coach, and to see it finally be here right in front of us, it’s pretty special.”
Added Robles: “As much as I would love to control the result, I can’t. I’m just going to out there and do everything to the best of my abilities, and wherever I land at the end of the week, I land, and I’m just going to take this as honestly the coolest experience of my life.”