*The quotes in this story come from John Peteson’s interview with Matt Moscona on After Further Review. Watch the full interview at the bottom of this post.
By Hunt Palmer
John Peterson is taking the week off next week to play golf. Just not like you might think.
The former LSU national champion hasn’t played professionally in over five years. He maintains a full-time job in Fort Worth, playing as an amateur with buddies on the weekends.
The world’s best players will assemble at Oakmont Country Club for the 125th US Open next week, and Peterson will be there as the first alternate by virtue of his performance in qualifying.
He advanced through the first stage in Abilene, Tex., in May and earned a spot in “Golf’s Longest Day” in Illinois where the top four finishers over 36 holes get a spot in the US Open.
“I went up to Springfield and caught lightning in a bottle and kind of felt like it was 10 years ago,” Peterson told Matt Moscona on After Further Review. “I had it that day. When I looked up, the ball was flying out of the window that it used to and gave them hell for all 40 holes.”
Peterson shot 4-under over 36 holes and advanced to a four-man playoff for one spot. After he and PGA Tour player Zac Blair, who finished 18th in the Corales Puntacana Championship on Tour six weeks ago, birdied the first playoff hole to eliminate two players, it was Peterson and Blair for one spot.
Peterson, playing under the perceived pressure of finding his way back into a major championship, felt freed up.
“I just went up there for fun,” Peterson said. “I don’t play for money anymore. It’s not my job. My livelihood doesn’t depend on whether or not I’m able to make birdies, so I’m able to freewheel it at this point in my life. And I think that a freewheeling golfer is a dangerous golfer. It certainly was on Monday. I wasn’t overly nervous. I certainly had the competitive jitters throughout the day, but my maturity level on the golf course was exponentially higher than it was 10 years ago.”
Blair hit his approach inside two feet on the fourth playoff hole to make birdie and earn the guaranteed spot at Oakmont. Still, Peterson is next on the list should anyone withdraw between now and next Thursday. Three of the last four years, the first alternate has gotten in the field.
“Just for a moment there in that four-man playoff, I felt like I was young again,” Peterson said. “I felt like I could do it. I was just proud of the way I battled.”
He and his caddie for the day will fly up to Pittsburgh on Monday to begin practice rounds.
“The guy that caddied for me is a CPA, so it’s funny, you’ve got a CPA and a garage guy going up there and beating all these PGA Tour players that play every day,” Peterson joked. “It’s a hell of a story. It really is.”
Peterson is hopeful that he will get in the field. Of course, he’d like to test himself against the best players in the world on one of the country’s toughest courses.
There’s another angle, as well. Peterson has four children now who were glued to the television as their father tried to qualify. They’ll be headed up for the event should Peterson get the call. Peterson told his wife, Amanda, that would mean a lot to him personally.
“That’s what I told her, I said, ‘look I just want to play one time where my kids don’t have to go to YouTube and look at stuff from 2012 to see what I used to do.'” Peterson said. “Obviously, I didn’t have kids then. And now they’ll remember that as a second grader and a first grader. They’ll remember dad doing what he used to do on TV.”
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