When he was driving to New Jersey for a beach vacation with his three sons last week, Frank Fuhrer III stopped at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., to visit one of his relatives. He stopped to say hello, had lunch and toured the clubhouse where the 2009 Walker Cup matches will be held next month.

Goodness, how ironic.

Fuhrer, 50, was only the second player from Western Pennsylvania to make the U.S. Walker Cup team -- the amateur equivalent of the Ryder Cup -- when he was named to the American team in 1981 after his senior season at North Carolina, where he was a three-time All-American. The only other amateur from this area to ever be named to the team was Jim Simons of Butler (1971).

Among Fuhrer's teammates on the U.S. squad were Hal Sutton, Corey Pavin, Jodie Mudd and Jay Sigel. The matches were held at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach, Calif.. The U.S. beat the amateur team from Great Britain and Ireland and Fuhrer posted a 2-1 record in his three matches.

"Obviously it was a lot of fun and a great honor to represent the country," Fuhrer said the other day from Avalon, N.J., where he was taking a break from his job as president of Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale, the South Side-based beer distributorship company founded and owned by his father. "It really starts to hit you at the opening ceremonies the night before when they raise the flag."

Fuhrer was thinking about that when he was walking through the Merion clubhouse last week because Western Pennsylvania will have another amateur on the U.S. team when the biennial matches are held there Sept. 12-13. Nathan Smith, a Brookeville, Pa., native who lives in the North Hills, is the first player from this area to be named to the Walker Cup team since Fuhrer was selected 28 years ago.

It's somewhat eerie, the similar styles and personalities of Smith and Fuhrer. Each is quiet, unassuming and gentlemanly, and goes about his business on the course in a methodical manner. Each, of course, is a wonderful ball-striker.

"Nathan is a good kid and he deserves to be on the team," Fuhrer said of Smith, the reigning Pennsylvania Amateur and West Penn Amateur champion and the 2003 U.S. Mid-Amateur champ. "He will have a great time and will always remember the experience."

Fuhrer turned professional several years after the 1981 Walker Cup, getting his PGA Tour card in 1984 and playing only one full season before losing his exempt status. At 26, he decided he did not want to play golf for a living and joined his father's business. While waiting to regain his amateur status, Fuhrer put together one of the most amazing streaks in Western Pennsylvania history, winning the Pennsylvania Open, West Penn Open and Pittsburgh Open each in the same year (1986). His last significant victory came in 1992 when he won the Pennsylvania Amateur at the Pittsburgh Field Club in Fox Chapel.

Several years ago, the Atlantic Coast Conference compiled a list of the top 100 golfers to ever compete in the conference. Fuhrer was named to the list.

Now, he rarely plays golf, finding little time between running his dad's business and tending to his three sons. Last month, though, in only his third round of the season, he shot 69 at the Field Club.

"He was one of the three or four best amateurs all-time in this area," his father, Frank Jr., said proudly.

Before Tiger Woods, who was the last U.S. Amateur champion to win a major championship? Answer at end.

The suddenness of Y.E. Yang's stunning defeat of Woods in the PGA Championship is still reverberating, stirring a debate of whether Yang snatched the victory from Woods' grasp or the No. 1 player in the world gassed it away. In other words, did Woods wilt under the pressure?

When Woods sloppily and inexplicably bogeyed the final two holes, and Yang hit the hybrid of his 37-year-old life from 208 yards to 12 feet at No. 18, the finish was so shocking it was almost as though everyone -- players, announcers, fans -- couldn't believe it really happened.

And yet, believe it or not, those kinds of finishes are nothing new for Woods in a major championship.

Remember the 2005 Masters when he made that incredible pitch shot from behind the 16th green in the final round at Augusta National, the shot in which the ball hung momentarily on the lip and eventually became a Nike commercial? Woods bogeyed the final two holes after that stunning birdie to slip into a sudden-death playoff with Chris DiMarco, a playoff he won with a 15-foot birdie on the first extra hole. Just this year, he bogeyed the final two holes at the Masters after back-to-back birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 moved him within a shot of the lead. At the 2005 U.S. Open, Woods bogeyed two of the final three holes at Pinehurst No. 2 to finish two shots behind winner Michael Campbell.

Surprised that Yang delivered the knockout punch at 18, especially against the greatest player in the world? Maybe. Shocked that Woods stumbled to the finish? Don't be.

It's happened before.

Former baseball great Dick Groat, who has owned and operated Champion Lakes GC in Ligonier for 43 years, made a rather drastic decision that he feared might adversely affect his turf condition: He took down the ropes that kept motorized carts on the paths on four holes.

But, after allowing carts of the fairways on Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 13 at the 6,608-yard, par-71 layout this year, Groat hasn't noticed a difference. Except in the demeanor of his customers.

"We put the ropes up because we wanted to protect the fairways, especially when it's wet," Groat said. "But, I guess after so many years, our turf got to the point where the root system was so good it hasn't made a difference. And the players are thrilled. They don't have to worry about walking back and forth to their ball anymore."

Justin Leonard won the 1992 U.S. Amateur and won the British Open in 1997.