In the 13 years of their partnership as Catholic-school classmates and golf-squad teammates, the only squabble James Feutz and Chris Tedesco have had has been over a girl.
“I dated a hot girl in fourth grade that James liked,” Tedesco said.
Other than that brief encounter, the two teenagers seem to share an unbreakable union. And they will rely on each other in a way very few outside Orlando-area academy golf will this week at the 64th U.S. Junior Amateur on the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain near Bremerton.
Feutz, from University Place, and Tedesco, from Gig Harbor, will be seniors this fall at Bellarmine Prep.
“Since the (U.S. Junior) qualifier, we have talked strategy,” Feutz said. “You don’t always see everything out there yourself.”
In earning two of the 156 spots in this elite field, the two 17-year-olds have taken different paths to the best junior championship in the world.
For Tedesco, the past 12 months have been his breakthrough – starting with his first Washington Junior Golf Association tournament victory last summer in Chehalis.
The result was a stark contrast to his first WJGA event years ago when he topped his opening drive and picked up the ball without putting out on the first green.
“You know, I’ve always been a decent ball-striker,” Tedesco said. “This year I got my wedges dialed in and started making some putts.”
And he came to the forefront with Feutz as co-captains of their high school team, getting it ready to win the Class 4A state championship.
By the time the postseason rolled around, Tedesco became the Lions’ most reliable contributor. At the 4A championships, he fired rounds 73 and 72 for a 1-over 145 total for an individual tie for third at The Creek at Qualchan Golf Course in Spokane.
“His ball-striking reached a point where I knew he could shoot good scores,” Feutz said, “and go low.”
Ever since Feutz arrived at Bellarmine Prep in 2008, he has been the area’s golf prodigy – a big-framed ninth grader who could hit golf balls as long and as straight as any teenager in the state.
In 2010, Feutz – already committed to UNLV – won the Class 4A title. It seemed his potential had no limit.
But in a freakish accident during a physical-education class, Feutz shattered the bone of a finger in his right hand playing basketball. As a result, he took time off to heal, missing big summer tournaments.
When he did return, the low scores didn’t. For a whole year, Feutz rarely broke par in tournaments.
“I think (the slump) was connected to the time I had off,” Feutz said. “During the bad times, I tried to take as many positives out if it as I could.”
He tied for 15th at the state tournament, seven strokes behind Tedesco.
“You never want your teammate not to be playing his best,” Tedesco said. “I did what I could to try and help him out.”
At his father’s suggestion, Feutz sought counsel from famed swing instructor Brian Mogg, a Lakes High graduate who has started an academy at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place.
“We basically worked on a quicker backswing, and not … so long and loose,” Feutz said. “We tightened up some of the swing’s hinges.”
At the U.S. Junior qualifier in late June, Feutz appeared dead in the water after opening with a 77 on the Olympic Course.
But he rallied for his best round in months – a 66 – to nab one of the spots in this week’s championship. Tedesco qualified in that same tournament in a sudden-death playoff.
“We’ve gone to school together for 13 years at St. Charles and now Bellarmine,” Tedesco said. “We have always been the two kids who play golf. And it’s not like football, either, because when you are good at golf, you are not really cool.”
Todd Milles: 253-597-8442
todd.milles@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/golf
