BLUFFTON, S.C. –– Before he took the podium to accept the U.S. Junior Amateur trophy, Philip Barbaree took out his phone and glanced at his text messages.
He had 122 of them. By the time he sat down for interviews some 30 minutes later, that number had grown to 155.
Among the messages was one from Barbaree’s swing coach, Cameron McCormick, who had just watched his third pupil win the U.S. Junior (Will Zalatoris won the 2014 title and Jordan Spieth, now winner of two major championships, won twice, in 2009 and ’11).
The message read: “You delivered my man.