LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. — Piercen Hunt stood outside the clubhouse Thursday at Wigwam Resort and uttered a four-letter word that, in his mind, best described his approach to golf during 2022.
Lazy.
Of course, that one has led to others over the past 12 months for the 2021 Wisconsin State Amateur champion from Hartland, most not suitable for print here. But you get the idea.
Hunt came to The Patriot All-America Invitational for the third year in a row — fresh from a two-month break from competitive golf — eager to spend the last three days of 2022 forgetting about the first 362. It's been that kind of year for the University of Illinois junior.
"It's been incredibly frustrating," Hunt said. "The spring season, for school, wasn't horrible, but there was just so much inconsistency. A lot of really bad habits crept in. I got pretty lazy through the summer and then this fall. It showed in every aspect of my life and the golf scores were a really easy way to track it and all the missed cuts in the summer and not really helping my team out too much in the fall.Â
"It was as much of a reality check as I needed. I had some pretty good talks with my coaches at school. I feel there are changes I've been making that are helping, but I still have a good ways to go before I feel like I'm back where I want to be."
Thursday's opening round of this college golf showcase showed glimpses of the golfer that went from being a two-time WIAA Division 1 state champion at Arrowhead (Hartland) to a State Am winner in a span of five years (and all before he turned 20). Hunt made three birdies and was 1-under with four holes to play before the last two of his four three-putts left him with a 2-over-par 73, tied for 58th place among the 84 golfers competing on Wigwam's Gold Course in the main portion of the 12th annual event honoring fallen or severely wounded soldiers in partnership with the Folds of Honor Foundation.
Hunt is seven strokes behind co-leaders Ben Lorenz of Oklahoma, David Nyfjäll of Northwestern and Pearse Lucas of NCAA Division III Sewanee, who combined for 17 birdies and one eagle in shooting matching rounds of 5-under 66. Golfers played lift-clean-and-place after nearly an inch of rain fell Wednesday on Phoenix's West Valley, forcing cancellation of the Am-Am.
Photos: Hartland's Piercen Hunt tees it up on Day 1 of 2022 Patriot All-America Invitational in Litchfield Park, Ariz.
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
2022 Patriot All-American | Piercen Hunt
Piercen Hunt |Â 2022 Patriot All-America
Meanwhile, at Sterling Grove Golf & Country Club in nearby Surprise, UW-Eau Claire golfer Cole Jahnke made five birdies and one bogey in a 4-under 32 on the front nine to rally for a 3-under 69, putting him in a tie for eighth place just two strokes behind leader Andi Xu of the University of San Diego. Max Schwarz, who transferred to the University of Wisconsin after four years at Division III Emory University, shot 74 and was T-38 out of 64 golfers after the first day of the three-day event.
"My last tournament round was the last one of our fall season (on Oct. 25)," Hunt said, referring to the Islesworth Collegiate in Windermere, Fla., where he shot 77-72-73 and placed T-34. "It's kind of been like early off-season work, getting all my swing changes and everything I want put in place the last couple months. ... This was my window where I had the opportunity to make any changes I needed to (with Illini coach Mike Small).
"(Thursday) it felt pretty good tee-to-green; I didn't really make too many mistakes. I just shot myself in the foot with the putter."
Indeed, Hunt had four three-putts in his round. The most damaging came on the par-3 sixth hole where Hunt came up a half-club short on the 196-yard par-3, leaving himself with a fried-egg lie in the bunker that he could do no better than blast out to about 35 feet from the cup with an awkward angle for his par putt.
"My whole thing with putting, as the years have gone on, is make it simpler," said Hunt, who would size up each putt, stand over the ball and take an aggressive run at it without so much as a practice stroke. "Take out all the different factors that make me think when I'm over the ball. My routine is really quick. I line it up, but once I'm over it, it's pretty much take my grip, look at the hole and then fire away."
Hunt left Wigwam Resort eager to take aim at the next two days of the tournament, hoping to continue to build confidence in the work he's done to break out of his slump.
He knows there isn't much he can do about his recent past, except be motivated by it. As thrilling as it was to help Illinois win another Big Ten Conference championship by one stroke over Michigan State, it was every bit as crushing the following week when the Illini finished T-6 at the NCAA New Haven Regional and missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships by just four strokes.
"Everything I'm working on is to build for the future," Hunt said. "More than anything else, there just has to be some sort of shift immediately. You can be in a slump for a few events or for a couple of months even, but when you play like crap for a year there's something wrong beyond just being a golfer.
"The last year has been super-disappointing. Given where I was a little more than a year ago today and looking at where I'm at right now, it sucks. I'm definitely super-hungry to reverse that and make this last year-and-a-half of amateur golf worth it."
