Jason Li had his eyes peeled to the television two weeks ago while Phil Mickelson outdueled Brooks Koepka to claim the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. Like the rest of us, Li was amazed at Mickelson’s composure as he approached his final putt on the 18th hole surrounded by waves of cameras and swarming fans who rushed the green, only to sink it and surpass Jack Nicklaus, among others, to become the oldest golfer ever to win a major title at age 50.
“One of the amazing things about golf is just watching them be so good and so nonchalant about it,” said Li, a senior on Carnegie Mellon’s men’s golf team. “You watch Phil in the final round, and while we all have old memories of him choking or throwing it away, he just looked so composed. That’s what I appreciated the most about it.”
Speaking of Nicklaus, Li is a finalist for the Golf Coaches Association of America’s NCAA Division III Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award — marking the Sewickley Academy alum’s second consecutive year as a finalist. In 2020, he lost out on the honor to Rob Wuethrich from Illinois Wesleyan. His mindset of winning it this time around, however, channels Mickelson’s approach (and reaction) to rewriting history.
Composed. Humble. Nonchalant.
“Looking at the other guys who are nominated, it could literally go to everybody,” said Li. “We all have some type of merit that deserves the award. It would be special, but I know every single one of us up there as a finalist deserves it. I’ll let the people in charge of making those decisions make the hard decision.”
Don’t mistake Li’s even-keeled temperament as a lack of confidence. He is coming off another standout season for Carnegie Mellon in which he led the Tartans to a fourth-place finish at the 2021 NCAA championships — the highest ever for the program — en route to his fourth consecutive selection to the University Athletic Association (UAA) all-conference team.
Li shot even-par or lower in seven of his 14 rounds to finish with a team-best average of 72.1, recorded three top-three finishes and claimed his first collegiate individual medalist honor after carding a 2-under par 214 at the 54-hole Golfweek Spring Invitational at the True Blue Golf Club on Pawleys Island, S.C. He then placed eighth at the NCAA Championships after shooting the second-lowest 72-hole score in CMU history of 291.
“Being a finalist just kind of validates the hard work that I’ve put in,” said Li. “It’s something that you don’t really think about during the year. You just want to play well and put together solid rounds. I happened to play well enough this spring to put myself in this position. It’s pretty special.”
The pandemic has made Li’s recent success all the more validating. The Tartans had just won a tournament the week before their 2020 season was cut short, hitting stride at the perfect time with the thick of their schedule on the horizon. Then, it got taken from them.
“As a team, we knew we had a lot left to prove,” he said. “This whole year has been about our hunger and drive to work toward something we felt we had a chance at last year.”
After graduating from CMU with a business degree, Li’s focus has shifted toward pursuing pro golf. His first chance will come in mid-July in the U.S. Amateur Qualifier in Rochester, N.Y. A solid performance there would earn him the opportunity to compete in the U.S. Amateur Championships Aug. 9 at Oakmont Country Club.
“That’s the next big circle on the calendar,” said Li. “I know professional golf is in my future. I want to give it a shot.”
First Published: June 2, 2021, 9:45 a.m.
