Is Everything Ok with John Augenstein’s Golf Game?

Over the last year, John Augenstein has played some of the best golf in the country by a collegian. And because of that great golf, he has been invited to Augusta National Golf Club to compete in the Masters.

Yet, after two starts in a row this Spring he finished tied for last on the team and scored two strokes higher on average than the year before, I can’t help but ask, is everything okay with John Augenstein?

Now it’s important to note that I am not questioning his hair. His hair is epic. Its resplendence stands on its own.

What I’m worried about is if Auggie played too much competitive golf at an level over the 2019 Summer that he couldn’t maintain the peak.

I tracked ever stroke play tournament he has been in since last February. Thank you WAGR. And I put it in Google Sheets to create a graph. Then I couldn’t figure out how to make the graph I wanted so I’m just going to tell you the most important information.

At first blush, the 2020 Gator was not encouraging, but compared to the 2019 Gator, he was .7 strokes higher over three rounds. Not too alarming. It’s a finicky course that can inflate scores.

In Cabo, however, he was exactly two strokes better last year. He average 69.7 and this year it was 71.7.

That’s not so good. But it isn’t unreasonable or even alarming considering the amount of extra golf Auggie played over the summer. He played every round of the US Am and the Walker Cup. That’s 13 more rounds of competitive golf.

And by “competitive” I mean it’s lit-tra-ly the best amateur golf in the world. That’s after playing stroke play and match play in the SECs, Stroke play in NCAA Regionals, and stroke play and match play at NCAA finals.

He took all of August and most of September off. Rightfully so.

So far this college season, over 15 rounds, his scoring average has been 70.5. That’s 1.5 shots under par (on your basic par 72 track). Yet digging a little deeper, his lowest scores came in the Fall, shooting 65, two 67’s, and a 68 in September and October.

The 65 and 68 were at the Nike Collegiate Invite, which is ranked as B level tournament (out of A-F). He placed second. Then at the Crooked Stick Invite (another B level) he opened with a 67. But that’s where things get hairy. He only carded one more round in the 60’s over his next 11 rounds, and only one other under par, a 71 at the Gator.

What can we surmise? John Augenstein is really good at golf and continues to have tremendous lettuce. But also that he performs well against the best competition.

Last year, he didn’t play great in the early Spring before turning it on by April and into the Summer. He’s an absolute gamer. He finished in order at the SEC, NCAA Regional, and NCAA Stroke play, 9th, 9th, and 19th. Then 34th, Cut, DNF, and second at the Northeast Am, The Players Am, Western Am, and US Am. (Thanks to WAGR)

It seems as if he plays well for about three tournaments, falls off for three, then rebounds with great golf.

So he has two tournaments before the Masters (three if you count the Vanderbilt home tournament, but that is just days before the first round at ANGC).

His next test comes at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate. We’ll see if Auggie can find his footing and start going low again.