Zach Edmondson is constantly walking alone. The other golfers in his group aren’t talking to him. He’s usually storming forward after a shot and leaving his caddie, who’s also his father, attempting to try and catch up.
As he walks from the tee to a bunker or from the fairway to some rough, Edmondson is alone.
Friday probably is some combination of the best and worst day of his life. He is making his debut in the U.S. Open, a monumental moment for the 25-year-old East Carolina alum who normally plays on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada.
But Edmondson also is at 26 over par through two rounds at Oakmont Country Club. He isn’t just missing the cut. He’s putting forth the worst total through the tournament’s first two days by an 8-shot margin.
“You know what? He’s playing golf, and we’re all watching.”
It can be tough to watch Edmondson in his moments of struggle. His shoulders are slouched. His jaw is consistently clenched. It’s the body language of a man having the kind of off day people dread. Yet Edmondson doesn’t get to call it after 18 holes on his worst day. He has to play 36 thanks to a Thursday weather stoppage before he even teed off.
It was a day of just barely missed putts and daring shots landing in the worst of places. The talent clearly was there from Edmondson, who made it into the Open field Monday as an alternate. But it was those glimpses of talent that resulted in the greatest heartbreaks.
On hole No. 5, two shots after his drive into the right bunker, he struck a ball from the fairway and seemed to place it perfectly a few feet behind the pin. There was even some early applause before the ball stuck in place for a second and rolled 26 feet down the left edge of the green to the rough.
He walked off, alone. His father, Preston, 58, fell behind in his white sun hat with his white goatee. Preston is a golfer himself, competing in local senior tournaments in the Carolinas. His Twitter feed paints the portrait of a proud father seeing his son live out mutual dreams.
It’s two days before Father’s Day, but on No. 7, Preston made his way out in front of his son to the fairway for once and began figuring out distances and reading the hole. The next shot ended up in the left side bunker, and a fed up Edmondson was seen waving his arms at his father and complaining.
Edmondson is by no means a boy at 25 but sometimes looks like one with his baby face and tight curly hair that just wraps around the back of his Titleist hat enough.
So it was even harder to hear the comments and laughs as Edmondson walked down the 8th fairway, alone, and spectators couldn’t help but notice that massive number on the scorecard at the time — +23.
“Plus-23? That’s not good,” one woman said. Her boyfriend confirmed.
“Oh, plus-23. That’s a rough day,” said another.
“His day’s done,” said a few more, laughing.
But one Oakmont volunteer heard this and had some compassion, saying, “You know what? He’s playing golf, and we’re all watching.”
There came a point in the day when fans couldn’t help but root for the guy who things simply wouldn’t work out for. When his impressive 51-foot putt attempt just missed the cup, the half-full grandstands roared with what it had. The same for his impressive chip shot on 8.
His day was, from a golf perspective, a disaster in almost every sense of the word. That disaster was happening at the U.S. Open, though. So how much of a disaster was it, really? When Friday was all said and done, the USGA couldn’t even find him when requested for interviews.
But as Edmonson finally finished the 18th hole with a close bogey putt, and after he shook hands with the golfers who hardly spoke to him all day, his father hunted him down and embraced him at the hole. He wasn’t alone.
Brody Miller: bmiller@post-gazette.com or on Twitter @byBrodyMiller.
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