though he’s right-handed in most other respects. And like Mickelson, Chin became a golf lefty by mirroring his father’s swing. His father, Michael, by the way, is caddying for John this week.
The ability of the Cal-Irvine junior to hit the ball a long, long way could give him an advantage Saturday, according to semifinal opponent Johnson.
“I have a feeling that if (Chin) plays like this (Saturday), he’s going to be really hard to beat,” Johnson said. “He drives it as far as anyone I’ve ever seen. ‘Wow’ is all I can say.”
Chin, the Big West Conference Player of the Year, is making the most of his first U.S. Publinks appearance. He squeaked into match play and played 20 holes in his first match, but since then he’s won 8 and 6, 3 and 2, 4 and 3, and 4 and 3.
Meanwhile, Newman has gone 3 and 2, 21 holes, 5 and 3, 24 holes, and 3 and 1.
In that last match, Friday afternoon, Newman was 4-up, only to lose holes 13, 14 and 15. But Hammock hit his tee shot out of bounds right on No. 16, allowing Newman regain the momentum.
Asked how Newman might fare in the final Saturday, Hammock said, “He can putt well. If he does everything he did today, he’ll probably end up winning it.”
Newman should have plenty of support on Saturday. After he earned his berth in the final, he heard that his four siblings were planning to drive from Des Moines to Aurora overnight.
“There’s a whole caravan of Newmans coming out,” he said, noting that his plan in the meantime was to take long shower and watch episodes of “The Deadliest Catch.”
As for his plan in Saturday’s final, “I’m going to go out there and free-wheel it. The only pressure you have is what you put on yourself.”
In the course of Thursday and Friday, Newman knocked off the No. 22-ranked amateur in the world (U.S. Walker Cupper Billy Horschel) and No. 115 (Corey Nagy). Nagy was a semifinalist at the 2007 U.S. Publinks.
