O'Connor bows out at Michigan Amateur, but enjoyed the experience
As an Oakland Hills member himself, it was clear that O’Connor, 45, fully enjoyed himself this past week while playing on his home course with plenty of friends and family around to watch.
“It was really nice. Everyone was so supportive and very pleasant. It’s rare that so many friends and family are able to come out. That normally doesn’t happen. Being that this was my hometown, though, we had the whole crew there,” O’Connor said. “Instead of Arnie’s Army we had the Irish riff-raff (laughs). They were great.”
O’Connor played stellar in his first match of the day, beating Joshua Bauer 1 up, to advance to the semifinals.
In his second round of the afternoon O’Connor went up against the 21-year-old Wesley Gates, a Novi resident, who has just recently finished his season at Bowling Green State University. Though Gates and O’Connor had never played together before Thursday, the two have a long history.
“My dad’s the head golf coach at Detroit Golf Club, and when I was younger learning the game, Bill was the top dog there, so I kind of modeled my game after him,” said Gates. “I‘ve used him as a measuring stick over the years because he’s a terrific player. Beating him today was really cool.”
“Wes is a very nice kid I’ve known him since he was really young. It was funny, today when we finished he went ‘Mr. O’Connor it was a pleasure beating you today. I grew up watching you play and practice and it was great to finally beat you.’ So it was funny but it was also very sincere and sweet. He’s just a very classy guy,” said O’Connor in return.
Wes played phenomenal all round long and had every facet of his game working, but once in the clubhouse talk centered mainly on his drives.
“He hit it the longest of anyone I’ve played this week and they were all long. He drove it to like 135 on 12, which is unbelievable. It had to be 400 some odd yards,” said O’Connor.
For O’Connor, his quarterfinal finish was the best of any Oakland Hills Club member in the tournament and his best since his semifinal run in 1992, when the tournament was also hosted by Oakland Hills.
“It was nice to have everybody involved, I wish everyone had won today and I wish I would have won this afternoon as well (laughs). But that’s just the way it is. It was a lot of fun regardless” said O’Connor.
Loss withstanding, it was clear that this year’s tournament experience alone was enjoyment enough for Bill O’Connor.
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