Golfer Charles “Ollie” Osborne graduated from Manogue just two short years ago, and is now on a promising journey to the PGA. Currently a junior at SMU, Ollie competed in the U.S. Ameteur tournament on Sunday, August 16th with his father by his side as caddie. Ollie prefers his caddies to be people he knows, so when his brother wasn’t available his father stepped in. He came up short to Tyler Strafaci, a senior from Georgia Tech, by 1-up.

The tournament took place at Bandon Dunes Golf Course in Oregon, with a thick layer of fog rolling up on the back nine holes. Even with cold temperatures and, at times, zero visibility, Osborne and Strafaci continued to play an amazing round. Osborne was up five holes after twelve, however, Strafaci caught up towards the end. Strafaci two-putted for birdie on the hole 36, a par 5, before Osborne’s 8-footer to halve and extend the match went by the right side of the cup.

“He has a really good short game. His chipping and putting are off the charts and yeah, I’d take away that I want to get better at those things. He obviously putted lights out the entire day,” Osborne said. Both players earned a spot in the U.S. Open and Masters next year and Strafaci will go on to represent America at the British Open. The past year leading up to this was going good for Osborne up until COVID-19 hit and quarantine was set in place. In the fall and early spring he was playing well and getting his second college win and top 5. However, during quarantine he knew he wouldn’t be playing in any tournaments for a while and had a difficult time getting motivated. Once school finished up, he started practicing and working out again to prepare for summer and the events he had lined up.

“I played pretty good in one of the first three tournaments of the summer but it wasn’t great,” says Osborne. “I was playing well, but I wasn’t posting great scores. I knew my game was close and I just had to play my game going into the week.” Even with this fall season cancelled, he will continue to play in more tournaments starting this spring and hopefully take his golf career all the way to the pros.