Virginia High graduate David Talley believed he had the physical skills to make a strong showing this week during the Teen World Championship on one of golf’s toughest venues, the No. 2 course at Pinehurst, N.C.
The question was: Did he have the mental toughness to do it?
“I’ve always fought getting overly mad at myself,” Talley said. “It wasn’t like I was throwing clubs. It was an inward thing where I’d beat myself up.
“[But] I came in here with a different attitude. I was determined not to let it devastate me if I played bad. I got to combat that on the first hole [of the tournament]. Was I going to do what I decided to do, or was I going back to old habits?”
The Tusculum College-bound Talley, who finished 18th in this tournament last year, knocked his first tee shot of the tournament on Thursday out of bounds, and he wound up with a double-bogey on the hole.
It was a critical turning point. Talley regrouped, delivered the strong performance he expected of himself, and finished as the top American and the overall runner-up in the age 15-18 portion of the tournament.
He shot a four-over-par 220 to finish a stroke behind winner Lucas Cabarcos of Panama.
Talley opened Thursday with a two-over 74, shot 76 in a second round that had to be completed Saturday because of a lengthy rain delay on Friday, and then capped his tournament with a 2-under 70 on Saturday afternoon. Cabarcos clinched the win by shooting 4-under 68 on Saturday.
“I flirted four different times on Saturday with four-under, and that would have won the tournament,” Talley said. “If I hadn’t double-bogeyed that first hole, I would have won as well.
But I can’t look at it that way.
“Keep in mind that when the U.S. Open was here [in 2005], 2-over won it. The pins were pretty tough today; one of the caddies said they were the Sunday afternoon U.S. Open pins. I played as good as I can.”
Talley’s finish at the tournament, which featured 450 golfers from 34 countries, got him more than just a trophy. As one of top four Americans, he will play in another tournament today against the top four world finishers.
Billed as the Teen World Cup, its format is a combination of the Ryder Cup and the President’s Cup tournaments. As the top American finisher, he was named captain of the U.S. team.
“To finish second in the world … I never would have thought that,” Talley said. “I didn’t bring an extra shirt, because I didn’t expect to be playing tomorrow. Luckily, I bought a shirt at Pinehurst for tomorrow. It’s a nice surprise.”
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