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WATCH: Texas A&M star Sam Bennett hoists 2022 U.S. Amateur trophy

Wade-Peeryby:Wade Peery•08/21/22
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(Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Winning the U.S. Amateur golf championship is one of the highest honors in all of golf. Tiger Woods had his name carved out on the trophy three times during his historic run as an amateur golfer. On Sunday evening, Texas A&M golf star Sam Bennett joined the elite company of Woods and a long list of the game’s all-time greats as he got to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy at the 122nd U.S. Amateur Championship.

Check out the video as he hoists the coveted hardware skyward.

The event was played at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. The Aggie clinched the title after defeating Georgia Southern’s Ben Carr 1-up in a 36-hole championship match on Sunday evening. During the championship match, Bennett never trailed Carr, taking a 3-up lead midway through match. He even stretched the lead to 5-up after the 21st hole, but that advantage would be short-lived. The Texas A&M star finished off the match after nearly draining his birdie putt on the 36th hole, a 15-footer. His tap-in putt would clinch the championship and etch his name among the game’s all-time greats.

By making the U.S. Amateur championship match, both Carr and Bennett earned invitations to the U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club and a likely invitation to the 2023 Masters at Augusta National.

In bringing home the U.S. Amateur championship, Bennett became the first player from Texas A&M to do so. He also became the first Texan to win the Havemeyer Trophy since Kelly Kraft did it in 2011.

He was not short on confidence this week. The Aggie star knew he had the potential to win the tournament and went out and backed it up in a big way.

“They’re great players. But I’m a better player. I’m the dog in this race,” Bennett said earlier last week.

He was ranked as the No. 3 player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and he ripped through a very talented field. Bennett dispatched of five of the top 27 ranked amateur golfers in the world — a very impressive feat on any course. One of the more famous golfers he eliminated was Stewart Hagestad, the No. 9 ranked amateur in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Hagestad has won the U.S. Mid-Amateur crown twice in his career, 2016 and 2021. He’s also qualified for the U.S. Open four times (2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022). His best finish in the U.S. Open came this year, when he finished 64th.

Bennett spoke about the death of his father in his remarks to the broadcasters on the Golf Channel following his victory on Sunday evening. Bennett lost his father in June, after he succumbed to a seven-year battle with early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

It will be exciting to watch the Aggie star’s golf career in the future and see how he progresses in the next few years.