PARAMUS, N.J. – Nicholas Gross had just bogeyed The Ridgewood Country Club's par-4 seventh to lose the hole and allow his Round-of-16 opponent, Luke Potter, to tie their match Thursday afternoon at the U.S. Amateur. He then proceeded to badly hook his tee shot on the par-4 eighth into the left rough, his ball coming to rest in a gnarly lie about 2 feet from the USGA's 8-foot-tall, white championship tee sign for the par-3 sixth hole.
Gross never could’ve imagined what happened next.
As the 15-year-old Gross and his caddie, Rob Coyne, discussed with a USGA rules official whether Gross would be entitled to free relief, Potter and his caddie, John Brellenthin, walked over to monitor things.