Jonathan Moore has seen something like this before.
Back in 2007, when the now Oklahoma head coach was an amateur himself, he played on a Walker Cup team that featured Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson and won at Royal County Down Golf Club. He went against Rory McIlroy, who was on Team Great Britain and Ireland. That group of emerging golfers went on to win major championships, appear in Ryder Cups, make it to the Olympics and — in the case of Johnson and McIlroy — climb all the way to No. 1.
And when Moore sees the current group of five amateurs playing the daunting Shinnecock Hills Golf Club for another two rounds this weekend at the U.S. Open, he allows himself to imagine that it’s possible for Ryder Cowan (who golfs for his Sooners team), 17-year-old Miles Russell, Jackson Koivun, Eric Lee and Marek Fleming — collectively the most amateurs to make the cut at a U.S. Open since 2015 — to inherit that mantle as the future of the sport.
“Not only do I allow myself to think it,” Moore, who was at Shinnecock earlier this week for Cowan’s final practice round, told The Post on Saturday, “I believe that is what happens.”
Cowan, in his first major appearance, will have a chance to chase history Sunday, as he entered the eighth hole of his third round 1 over and seven shots behind leader Wyndham Clark. Russell and Koivun were paired together and both shot 4 over, as did Fleming. Lee finished his third round at 8 over to sit 12 over for the tournament.
And as Russell and Koivun navigated the front nine of their round Saturday, the buzz was palpable. Russell joked that maybe the fans would’ve followed them longer had they played better. For Koivun, the No. 1 golfer in the World Amateur Golf Rankings who just turned pro after three seasons at Auburn, his run to the weekend also gave him a bit of U.S. Open revenge after he missed the cut by one shot last year.
“He missed the cut last year by one and didn’t like the way that tastes,” Nick Clinard, Koivun’s coach at Auburn, told The Post. “He still talks about that to the day that he should’ve been playing the weekend, but for his second major, to go out and perform the way he has, obviously we’re all really proud of him.”
Clinard allowed himself to think ahead, too. “It’s just great for the game,” he said. A showcase of the future of American golf. A chance for them to show off a bit as the appetizer for the current faces of the sport teeing off in the afternoon. And for a brief time Thursday, Moore got to bask in Cowan leading the field after sitting 3 under through 10 holes.
“It’s one thing when a guy is maybe first off in the morning and makes a birdie on the first hole or something, and no one else has played and he’s on the leaderboard,” Moore said. “I’ve seen that happen, first on the leaderboard, but, I mean, this was the afternoon. It was 10 holes. And he was in the lead at the U.S. Open. It was surreal. It was amazing.”
Koivun sank a 21-foot birdie putt on the fourth hole Saturday and gained another stroke on No. 8 to finish 1 over through nine, but he fought through three bogeys on the back nine. Russell, ranked No. 1 in the American Junior Golf Association rankings, hit a nifty shot out of the bunker at the sixth hole to save par, and he finished 1 under through the final five holes.
But Russell, still only in high school, didn’t allow himself to think too much about being the future of the sport, even if that’s the label he — and the rest of the amateurs — will continue to receive. Koivun, acknowledging the compliment, wanted to take it day by day, too.
“Golf is a very difficult sport,” Russell said. “One day you have it. The next day, it’s gone. So I think you just kinda have to block it out and just keep doing what you’re doing, and hopefully one day, that’s true. But, I mean, for now, you just never know.”
For one weekend, though, they broke into the spotlight together, the next wave of golfers — just like the one Moore witnessed nearly 20 years ago — that might occupy spots on the leaderboard in the future.