George Washington University Athletics
Summer Spotlight: Golf's Logan Lowe
7/24/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Since his junior season ended with Atlantic 10 Golfer of the Year honors, a school-record 71.71 scoring average and two tournament victories to his name, Logan Lowe hasn't slowed down. The California native has kept a busy tournament schedule with events in North Carolina, Washington, Ohio and Maryland, and next month, he will compete in the U.S. Amateur.
Lowe earned a spot in golf's amateur national championship by winning his sectional qualifier at Woodmore Country Club July 16-17 with a 5-under par 139 thanks to rounds of 67 and 72. With that, he heads back to his home state to compete in the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hills from Aug. 13-19. It's the second straight year he's competing, after he advanced to the match play portion of the event last summer at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Before competing in the U.S. Amateur, Lowe will try his hand at qualifying for a PGA Tour event in the Barracuda Championship, which will be held July 30-Aug. 5. To do that, he'll try and advance through two rounds of qualifying beginning with a Thursday round at Dayton Valley Golf Club in Nevada.
Between it all, Lowe took some time to catch up with GWsports.com about his busy summer.
What has your tournament schedule been this summer?
I've been struggling with my game a little bit. It's been close all year; I went through a swing change over Christmas break this past year. When I go through swing changes, it's really good for a few months and then I start to develop different habits that aren't necessarily good. So I've been battling that since the beginning of summer. I started in North Carolina for the North and South Amateur where [former teammate] Christian [Cichan] actually caddied for me at Pinehurst, which was a lot of fun. From there, I flew straight to Seattle for the Sahalee Players, then I flew home for three days, then I flew to Columbus, Ohio for the Trans Mississippi Amateur. Then, I flew to D.C. for the U.S. Amateur Qualifier.
What clicked for you to go out and shoot a 5-under 67 in the opening round of your qualifier?
My game has been close to where I want it pretty much all summer. I've been doing some good things but wasn't really able to put it all together. Once I got to D.C. I had time to just practice and work through a few things that I didn't like to see in my swing and game. I had a few days to grind out those little things that had been bothering me. On Monday, I was lucky to have [former teammate] Jack [Porcelli] come down and caddy for me. That was cool to have him on the bag, a teammate and a really good friend. I got off to a good start and as I kept playing I gained confidence and made a lot of birdies.
Having a teammate on your bag twice this summer must have been special. After getting the win with Jack, do you have plans to bring him out for the U.S. Amateur?
I wish I could â€" he's starting work around that time so he can't make it out there. I'm not quite sure what I'll do for a caddy; I might have my mom do it or one of my friends in the area. But it's been awesome having Jack and Christian caddy for me this summer. Our team is really close; I'd describe them as brothers, so it was really cool to have them on the bag and have their help and support with everything. It's something pretty special to have a good friend like that on the bag for you.
The U.S. Amateur will be held in your home state at Pebble Beach. How excited are you to play at one of the more famous courses in the world?
There's obviously a lot of golf history there. All the greats have played there and a lot of them have won there, so it's going to be really special. It's one of the more beautiful courses being on the ocean, and the weather won't be too hot. It's going to be one of those events you always remember no matter how it goes. Last time I played the course I played pretty well, so I'm excited to get back there. It's cool to make it to the U.S. Amateur two years in a row with the added bonus of both being in my home state. My parents are going to make it down there with me, so it'll be a really fun week altogether.
You've had success in the Amateur in the past but have met a couple of unlucky draws, what do you like about it? It's also a very grueling tournament, so what is your approach?
I think the reason I enjoy this event is because it's the biggest stage in amateur golf. There's no event that draws all the top players together the way the U.S. Amateur does. That's extra motivation to try and compete with the big guys on the amateur level. And then the way I approach it is the number one goal is to try and make it to match play. Once you get there, it's a tough balance between trying to pace yourself because once you make it to match play you are deep into the week and you're playing a bunch of 36-hole days â€" and then trying to figure out how fired up to get in match play. I just take it one match or one round at a time and just feel it out and hopefully you have enough energy and your game is good enough to keep going in the event.
Last year, I lost to eventual champion Doc Redman in the Round of 64 and the same thing happened in the U.S. Junior Amateur [in 2015]. In the Round of 16, I lost to Phillip Barbaree, who went on to win. It's pretty funny that both the USGA events I've played in I've been knocked out by the eventual champion.
Players Mentioned
