At 15, Houston’s Cole Hammer (@cole_hammer6765 on Twitter) qualified for the US Open at Chambers Bay. In 2018, he has won three major amateur events–the Azalea, the US Four-Ball, and the Western, while reaching the semi-finals at the US Junior and the US Amateur (he was co-medalist at Pebble Beach before winning his first four matches). This week, he begins his college career at the University of Texas, playing the Nike Collegiate Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth (live scoring here). We asked Hammer to survey his summer, anticipate his fall, and tell us how his faith is woven into his game.
So let’s start with a little bit about this summer. You did a lot of good stuff this summer, but what really jumped out at you as highlights?
Yeah, this summer was amazing. I played really well two years ago when I was 15, but this summer honestly blew that away. Last year was one of my tougher years. I had much less success and coming into this year I had to focus really hard and was able to play well.
The highlights of my year, maybe the biggest point of my year was winning the Azalea, back in the end of March. That was the first amateur tournament I had ever won, and it felt good to get it done in the playoff as well under those circumstances. That kind of kicked off, started my year.
I won the (USGA) Four-Ball with my partner Garrett Barber. That was such a incredible experience. We just fed off of each other the whole time and both had had good seasons leading up to it, so we just really kept that momentum going. That was a lot of fun, and to be a part of the USGA champions club now… Then it really carried to the end of the summer. I had great finishes in tournaments, and the last month or so was probably the best golf I have played up to this point. Went to the semis in the US Junior, winning the Western, and almost getting it done in the US Am, losing in the semifinals. It was a really incredible summer and a lot went my way, so I was very fortunate.
In the Western and the US Am, it was kind of a pattern where you jumped out to the lead in your matches, then you would fall behind, and then you would come back to win. Was that just crazy nerve-racking, or was it a lot of fun?
Honestly, I didn’t think too much of it. I did notice that I would get off to somewhat of a quick start and then kind of flatten out in the middle and then really turn it on in the end. It is not fun being one or two down going into the fourteenth hole, knowing that you’ve got to make some birdies coming in and put some pressure on your opponent—much less fun than having a three-up lead or something like that. I have seen myself do it in a couple matches. In the US Junior I have done it a couple times and I just fed off that and I was able to tell myself, You can do this. You are mentally strong enough to do it. Luckily that paid off more times than not. That’s why I love match play, because it’s a mental test, and I feel like the more you play it, the stronger you become in that style of play.
No kidding. Well, now you move to a little bit different style of play: first collegiate tournament for you. What are you looking forward to with regard to college competition?
Well, I have been playing against these guys for a couple years now, so the competition won’t be too overwhelming for me. The only thing that has really changed is the fact that I am on a team now rather than just playing for myself. I think the best thing for me is to just play my game and not really worry about what is going on around me, because it’s easier to do that when the whole team is relying on you to play well. So if I can kind of stay inside my own head and keep to my game plan, hopefully things should work out. But I’ll tell you what, it has been fun having a team to practice with, guys that are actually really, really good at golf, so that’s definitely going to be beneficial for these next few years.
Yeah, it is a wonderful support system to have around you, so different than the game is usually played.
Right, no doubt about that.
Well, since you were 15 and qualified for the US Open, you have been open publicly about your faith and how that weaves through your golf.
Yes, sir.
How would you describe that? How does your faith fuel the way you make decisions as you compete and just as a young man?
I see my faith first. It goes faith, family, golf. Golf comes last and honestly golf is a priority in my life, but it doesn’t come close to exceeding my faith. So I like to incorporate my faith into basically everything I do and I think a big thing it has helped me with was just really thinking about things before I do them, and I think that kind of goes towards me as just a young man. I think that my faith describes who I am, and there is no other way that I would want that. I try to use that in everything that I do, and I read the Bible on a daily basis as I go throughout my day.
And that applies to golf as well, because I mean I am an example and I have to be a warrior for him out there. I try to be on my best behavior and use my faith and golf to glorify him. That’s the way I see it.
It’s common for young players like you obviously to have golfers that you look up to, but you certainly have people that you look up to with regard to your faith and who you want to model your life after. Who are some of the golfers that inspire you, and who are some of the people that inspire you in your faith?
Tiger Woods inspires me as golf goes. Tiger Woods was—I don’t want to say idol, because that is the wrong word—but he was someone I grew up wanting to be like on the golf course. I mean, he has done so much for the game. So Tiger Woods, I look up to him in golf. But staying in the game, because that’s what I do on a daily basis, I really look up to Webb Simpson. He has really done a lot and I think it is easy for me to compare what I am doing to him because we are going through the same things and he has experienced what I have experienced.
But even farther than that, (I would name) close friends of mine like Philip Barbaree and Cooper Dossey. Phillip is at LSU and Cooper is at Baylor. We grew up playing junior golf together, and I saw them with their faith and it made me want to keep fighting for that as well. So it was nice to have that small little group to kind of talk about things and know that we weren’t alone in that. So that was huge, but now I feel like I have such a strong faith that I can kind of live on my own now.