Doug Ghim noticed something as he approached the 18th tee at Beverly Country Club on July 30, 2014 — the presence of several photographers. That set off an internal alarm.
But if it affected him, Ghim didn’t show it. He reached a greenside bunker in two on the lengthy par-5 and had what he called a “brutal” bunker shot to a front-right pin. He blasted to 10 feet, leaving himself a quick, curling putt.
“I tried to two-putt,” he recalled. “Didn’t want to do anything stupid.”
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Instead he sank the putt and signed for an 8-under 63 — the course record.
“Good thing I didn’t know,” Ghim recalled thinking.
One day later, completing stroke play in the Western Amateur Championship, he came home in 65. A Beverly official told him: “It took 47 years to break that course record, and you almost did it two days in a row.”
Yes, Ghim has game. He was the first Chicago-area native to earn medalist honors in the Western Amateur, shooting 69-63-73-65, since Roy Biancalana in 1983.
Ghim, 20, has continued to flourish at the University of Texas, where he will be a junior in the fall, and he’ll put his game on display this week during the 114th Western Amateur at Knollwood Club in Lake Forest.
“With the rain we’ve been getting, the rough is really going to pop, which will make Knollwood that much more difficult,” said Vince Pellegrino, the Western Golf Association’s senior vice president of tournaments. “The fairways are generous. The greens are on the larger side but very tricky.”
As for the 156 contestants, which includes top collegians such as Florida sophomore Sam Horsfield and Illinois junior Nick Hardy, Ghim described this as “arguably the strongest field we play all year.”
Ghim grew up in Arlington Heights, learning from age 6 from father Jeff.
“I haven’t had any other swing coach,” he said. “He set the foundation for me very early and told me it’s important to love the game more than anything else. If you do, you will go far. It’s not about the trophies; it’s about the respect and the love of the game.”
The Ghims were not members of a private club.
“We were twilight chasers in search of discount rates,” he said. “Being from humble beginnings gives me a greater appreciation for where we play now.”
Ghim made the 2016 Palmer Cup team and won his singles match in the finals of the NCAA Championship against Oregon. The Ducks prevailed 3-2.
At a blade of grass under 5-foot-9, Ghim said he has some physical limitations: “I can’t bomb it 350 yards like Rory (McIlroy), but I don’t hit many wayward shots. And my strength is putting; I feel comfortable over shorter putts.”
At Beverly, where the course record had been set by Tom Weiskopf during the 1967 Western Open, they’re still talking about Ghim’s 63.
“Doug is a small guy who hits the highest and softest irons that I’ve ever seen,” head professional John Varner said. “He knocked down the flagstick all day. If he missed a putt, I must have been looking away from the green. It was the greatest surgical assault on our classic track that one could ever imagine.”
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114th Western Amateur Championship
Where: Knollwood Club, Lake Forest.
When: Tuesday-Saturday.
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Format/schedule: 36 holes of stroke play Tuesday and Wednesday cuts 156-player field to 44; 36 holes Thursday cuts to low 16; two rounds of match play Friday; semifinal and final matches Saturday.
More information: thewesternamateur.com.