ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – It’s 1145hrs on Wednesday, October 14.
The starter at the Old Course, Richard Burns, announces, “From the University of St. Andrews, Spencer Turtz!” The local crowd around the first tee claps and whoops, giving their hometown school some extra love.
After Round 2’s epic comeback that sent them to the championship final in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate, Turtz, a post-grad from Charlotte, told his parents, “St. Andrews feels like home. I’ve found my people here.”
Turtz played four years at the University of Wisconsin, then decided to come to St. Andrews for a post-graduate degree and another year of college golf.
A group of locals are talking to a few waiting American players about rugby. The Americans stare blankly, confused. Burns says to them, “Wind’s just picking up.” He pauses, then adds after a hard gust, “All of a sudden!”
There’s something poetic about the way Burns speaks, perhaps reminiscent of that other Burns, Robert, the famous Scottish writer. Perhaps they’re distant relatives.
“They say I have the voice for announcing, but the face for radio!” Burns says, chuckling.
The wind is into from the southwest, 25 mph, quartering from the left across the Swilcan Bridge. It will only get windier. Burns says the wind is “part and parcel of the experience.”
Turtz and Texas sophomore Brooks Simmons tee off.
They both aim slightly left and open up hard through impact. They send identical, knuckley fading balls down the fairway – the characteristic modern no-spin fade.
A few hours later, the men’s final will come down to this match.
The last “game,” as Burns calls it, arrives to the box: Texas’s Sterling Herd, a freshman from Austin, and St. Andrews’ other American, Luca Suarez, a junior from San Francisco.
Burns announces their names and the players venture forth down the ancient opening hole.
Burns watches Suarez and says, “We have a saying ‘round here about the American students; you can take the boy out of St. Andrews, but you can’t take St. Andrews out of the boy.” He lets it sit, watching the players grow smaller, then adds:
“It stays in your soul for the rest of your life.”
It’s 1454hrs and the wind is picking up. Jamie Henshaw, a sophomore from Scotland, is one stroke down in this medal match play. He and Matthew Comegys, a fifth-year from Van Alstyne, Texas, smash their drives down the home hole.
The opponents stop to take an obligatory picture together on the Swilcan Bridge at the request of staff. They look joyful, but restless, like they just want to get back to the match at hand.
As they make the famous walk, there’s a car alarm blaring behind the green. The university flags on the poles lining the fairway are rattling, tinkling in the howling wind.
Henshaw hits a good chip to 7 feet.
Comegys has 75-foot putt from the fairway through the Valley of Sin. “This is an awkward putt,” a spectator says.
He rolls it down the valley and up the valley, to 2 feet. Apparently, it’s not awkward for a player of Comegys’ caliber. “That’s the match,” the same spectator says.
Henshaw’s birdie putt slides past the hole, and he taps in.
As Comegys’ putt falls to give Texas a 1-0 lead, his teammates yell, “Yeah, Matty!” The car alarm is still blaring. Comegys' long brown curly flow, lifted by the wind, is winging around out the back of his white Longhorns hat.
When asked what was going through his mind after the round, Henshaw, from Edinburgh, says, “I just loved it. All the pressure forced me to focus. I just locked in. I felt comfortable out there. I just loved it.” He looks serious, but happy, reflecting on the day. A look of awe is in his eyes as the Scottish kid gazes far away into the horizon of the hallowed links.
It’s 1510hrs and getting darker. Grayish clouds have moved in. Turtz and Simmons stand together, tied on the 18th tee box.
Henry Maw, a University of St. Andrews senior, is caddying for Turtz. He wears purple reflective aviator sunglasses and smiles a lot. He says, “Vibes are high out here, mate. Electric.”
Turtz pumps his drive just short of the green. Simmons pulls it left, back near the adjacent first tee box, almost exactly where they started four hours ago.
Simmons is away. By the green, someone’s phone is ringing that old mechanical bell ringtone.
Simmons hits a driving pitch shot that comes in hot, skips twice, and freezes a foot away from the hole. Gimme range.
It’s the shot of the tournament. His coach, John Fields, gives him a well-earned high-five.
Spencer rolls his putt through the valley to 8 feet, from where he fails to convert. With that, the match, and the tournament are over for the University of St. Andrews’ men’s team.
The sun comes out for the final time over the buildings lining the 18th fairway as Herd marks his ball in the last pairing of the day. The match is now inconsequential to the total result, but still important to everyone. The crowd around the green is huge.
Herd and Suarez finish the match in a draw, leaving the final result, 4 ½ to 1 ½.
At the scoring table, Suarez shakes the hands of the officials. “Thank you for everything this week,” he says. He then shakes Herd’s hand, “Congratulations,” he offers, looking him in the eyes. They exchange a glance of mutual respect that contains the earnestness only known to competitors who have tested each other with everything they have, with all their skill and will, just like so many great players before them, on the most historic golf course in the world.
“What a player, real good player, good, good player. Real tact, real grounded,” Suarez’s caddie for the day, Stuart Gordon, says. “It’s such a pleasure to work with these guys. I’ve worked the last three collegiates. It’s my favorite event. I look forward to this all year.
“This is the first time the University of St. Andrews got to the final – men’s and women’s – a fantastic feat. I love working with these elite golfers. They are the future of golf.
“It was a good atmosphere out there. Golf brings us all together, doesn’t it?”
St. Andrews and Texas congregate in their respective team circles left of the 18th green by the first tee, where it all began, waiting for the awards ceremony to start.
Penn sophomore Kayden Wang, who competed in the consolation match against Washington, is sitting on the stone steps behind the final green, taking it all in. He says the day playing the Old Course is “one of one.”
“This course in St. Andrews, as well as this event, is like no other. I think being able to be here with so many great players, at such a historic venue, is truly an unforgettable experience. I’ve made memories here that I’ll keep for a lifetime,” he says.
“Walking up 18, I was thinking about all the people who have walked up this trail before me, who have walked over that bridge, and it was just a really special moment.”
He pauses, looking around at the panorama: “It’s hard putting into words.”
On the women’s side, the championship match was close for most of the day, before Texas pulled away over the final few holes of the latter matches. The deeper Longhorns, featuring the world’s top amateur – and individual co-medalist – Farah O’Keefe, won five of the six matches, with three decided by two shots.
Ellie Monk, a University of St. Andrews senior from Virginia Water, England, who has played in the Collegiate three years in a row, described it as a “highlight.”
“It gets better and better every year,” she says. “Despite St. Andrews being our home, the event is always special.”
As the trophy ceremony concludes, everyone starts dispersing. Then the sound of bagpipes rings out. Everyone turns around and comes together again. They listen as “Scotland the Brave” plays with the last bit of daylight fading over the links.
The University of St. Andrews team is huddled in a circle by the 18th green, arms over each other’s shoulders. Coach Ian Muir is talking to them, looking proud, patting the players to his left and right on their backs.
The 2026 Links Collegiate is over. Texas takes home both trophies, but all the players in the field take home something more. It will stay in their souls for the rest of their lives.