Happy Birthday, Uihlein

Peter Uihlein will spend his 21st birthday in a pretty good mood.

On Sunday, Uihlein defeated Stanford's David Chung, 4-and-2, in the 110th U.S. Amateur Championship in match play at Chambers Bay in Washington.

"Yeah, it's definitely the best birthday present I've ever had in my life," Uihlein said in a press release on USGA.com.

"I'm looking forward to going back home tonight and seeing the boys and hopefully having a good time."

Two months after coming up short of a national championship for OSU, Uihlein, a junior on OSU's golf team, won arguably the most prestigious event in amateur golf.

"It's pretty sweet," Uihlein said. "Definitely add my name to that list of trophies. That list right there is pretty special."

After winning the second hole, Uihlein  never relinquished his lead and became the fourth OSU player to win the championship.

"I obviously got off to a good start," Uihlein said. "I was a couple up after the first 18. But I knew even when I was a couple up early, I knew there was a lot of golf left, and I knew he was going to make a run eventually."

Chung spoke highly of his champion opponent after the match.

"You know, I came basically this morning expecting Peter to play really good golf and he did," Chung said. "I just didn't really come with everything back at him today. I was a little flat out there, and I couldn't really spark any momentum."

Uihlein had equally complimentary words for Chung.

"David's a great player," Uihlein said. "I mean, he proved that winning the Porter Cup, winning the Western. He's always had such a great match play record. I think he was runner‑up in the Junior and then followed up by semifinalist in the Junior.  Now he's runner-up here."

Uihlein joined Labron Harris, Jr. (1962), Bob Dickson (1967) and Scott Verplank (1984) as the other Cowboys who have won the coveted title.

With the win, Uihlein qualified for next years' Master Tournament, the U.S. Open and the British Open.

Furthermore, USGA named Uihlein one of three players who will represent the United States at the 2010 World Amateur Team Championship on Oct. 28-31. Fellow Cowboy golfer Morgan Hoffmann was named as an alternate.

When asked what Uihlein's celebratory drink of choice would be, he responded with confusion.

"I've never had any alcohol before, so I don't know what you're talking about," Uihlein said.