Michigan Golf Journal September 2021

3 September 2021 www.michigangolfjournal.com 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 Continues on next page >>