After two days spent on what he called, ‘by far the toughest pair of courses I have ever played,’ Drew Preston is on his way home from the 109th U.S. Amateur Championship.

His two-day total of 12-over-par 152 fell four strokes shy of the eight-over-par total that was needed to move on to the match play portion of the championship.

Although he fell short of his goal to make it to match play, Preston walked out of Tulsa with his head held high, knowing that he had been privy to an experience that most 18-year-olds never receive.

While many of his fellow students dealt with typical first-week hassles such as shelling out hundreds of dollars for textbooks or waiting in line to collect a refund check, Preston’s itinerary included practice rounds with some of the top amateurs in the country as well as a formal dinner on the eve of the championship in which Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops delivered a motivational speech to the 312 competitors.

‘I really enjoyed coach Stoop’s talk,’ Preston said. ‘He talked about the admiration he had for good golfers and how they are able to keep their emotions in check and not let one bad shot affect them.’

As for the golf, Preston said he felt ‘excited but not nervous’ as he strode to the tenth tee at Southern Hills to begin his round Monday morning. However, after splitting the fairway and wedging to within 10 feet, Preston received a taste of why Southern Hills confounds even the best players, three-putting for a disappointing bogey.

‘The greens [at Southern Hills] were extremely fast,’ Preston said. ‘If you left the ball above the hole, as I did on a few occasions, you were in trouble.’

After a par at 11, Preston bogeyed the par-five 12th when his tee shot came to rest next to a tree and he was forced to hit his second shot left-handed.

He also found trouble at 18 when what he thought was a good drive, scooted through the fairway and into and awful lie in the rough, from which Preston could only advance the ball 100 yards, resulting in a double bogey. Preston was able to take some sting out of his mistakes with a pair of birdies however, and at day’s end found himself tied for 60th with a respectable 74.

‘With the exception of my putting, I thought I played pretty well on day one,’ Preston said. ‘I felt good going into my second round.’

However, at Cedar Ridge Country Club on day two, Preston experienced one of those dreaded, yet inevitable, days on a golf course when everything completely unravels and any semblance of touch or feel is lost.

After once again finding the fairway off the first tee, Preston could do little right. At the turn he was six-over-par for his round, and could see his chances fading rapidly.

‘I drove the ball very poorly in the second round,’ Preston said, ‘And with the rough being as thick as it was, if you didn’t bring your A-game you were in for a long day.’

Desperate, Preston fired at every flag in sight on the back-nine, but to no avail. He closed with an eight-over-par 78, eliminating himself from the championship.

After the round, Preston chose to place his focus on all that he got to experience throughout the week and not on what he failed to accomplish.

‘I really enjoyed the whole week a lot,’ said Preston. ‘I got to eat at a lot of cool restaurants and meet some great people. I wish I could have played better, but overall it was an unforgettable experience, something that I would love to do again.’

Preston is also of the belief that his experience in Tulsa will only make him more prepared to have a successful season with the Falcons this fall.

‘I think it helped me tremendously,’ Preston said. ‘The two courses that I played [Southern Hills and Cedar Ridge] really tested all parts of my game and exposed where I still need to get better. I don’t think that I will see anything that difficult throughout the season.’ ‘