Shoots 3-under 139 and wins four-way playoff to punch California ticket
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
Since concluding his run on the York boys golf team, success has continued to find Jordan Less.
Following a strong freshman season at Northern Illinois University, Less recently qualified for the upcoming prestigious U.S. Amateur golf tournament.
Less, a sophomore-to-be at NIU, will compete Aug. 14-20 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles in the premier amateur golf event in the country. The field will play two rounds of stroke play after which the top 64 players will compete in six rounds of single-elimination match play to determine a champion. The U.S. Amateur is the oldest USGA championship, created in 1895.
“It’s something I always dreamed about,” Less told the Independent recently. “I was talking to my coach on the phone and four years ago I wouldn’t have seen myself playing in something like this. All the hard work I have put in got me into the U.S. Amateur.”
Less noted York coach Jim Borel sent him a text message of encouragement recently. “Coach Borel sent me a nice message,” he said. “He said he always believed in me and said bigger things are waiting.”
Less won the Amateur qualifier held at Weibring Golf Club (Illinois State University’s course in Normal) in dramatic fashion. He finished his 36 holes 3-under par after rounds of 68 and 71, but had to wait until the next day to engage in a four-way playoff for three qualifying spots. The delay was brought about after several groups could not finish their final rounds due to darkness.
“Tuesday night I knew there was going to be a playoff on Wednesday,” he said. “I went to bed and watched a couple of shows on Netflix (episodes of “How I Met Your Mother”) to keep my mind off it and realized no matter what happened the next day I would be a better golfer because of it.”
Less left zero doubt in the playoff, birdieing the first hole.
“It was about 360 yards to the hole and it was a little downwind,” he explained. “I drove it on the green side 350 yards and got up and down for birdie.”
Less said his short game was working during the tournament. “I had my putter rolling,” he said. “Throughout the summer I have been waiting for it to get hot and luckily it did at the qualifier. I look forward to putting like this the rest of the season. One of the courses for the Amateur (Riviera), the putter is going to be a big key to success.”
Less’ successful summer comes after his promising start at NIU last season. As a freshman, Less competed in nine tournaments and posted the second-best average for the Huskies at 74.42 for 18 holes. His stroke average was the second-lowest for a freshman in the Mid-American Conference.
Less, who tied for ninth in the state as a senior at York, logged three top-20 finishes this past spring for NIU, including placing a season-best ninth at the Tiger Invitational in April for which he earned MAC golfer of the week honors.
“I finished the spring season really well,” he said. “It gave me more momentum going into the summer. I’m playing just as well.”
Less, who has decided on a finance major at NIU, said he will head to California Aug. 10 where he and personal coach John Perna will do course mapping and strategic planning for the Amateur.
