1998 U.S. Amateur Champ Hank Kuehne Enjoying Second Act at Scioto C.C.

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On a sweltering late-June day in central Ohio, a man in an Oxford shirt and khaki pants walked up and down the range at Scioto Country Club, site of this week’s 46th U.S. Senior Open, looking like a visiting ambassador.

He shook hands and chatted up several notable competitors, including Ian Poulter, Darren Clarke and defending champion Padraig Harrington. But this wasn’t a politician, the club president or a high-level USGA Executive Committee member: It was 1998 U.S. Amateur champion Hank Kuehne.

When your last name is Kuehne, you have a lot of caché in the golf world, and for Hank, the eldest of three notable siblings, a return to USGA competition for the first time in 27 years – and first as a professional – this week’s championship at the iconic Donald Ross is more about just hitting a ball.

Now the director of golf at the Vaquero Club in suburban Dallas, Kuehne, who turned 50 last September, received a one-time exemption into the U.S. Senior Open, even though his last competitive PGA Tour event was the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Championship.

Going back to his competitive days – he made 129 PGA Tour starts (56 cuts) with a pair of runner-up finishes in the 2003 Shell Houston Open and 2005 John Deere Classic, and claimed a pair of Canadian Tour events in 2002, – the 6-foot-2 former All-American at Southern Methodist University befriended plenty of players who are household names.

On Monday morning, Kuehne, reunited with one of them, playing nine holes with Pat Perez, whom he first competed against as a 15-year-old junior golfer. After lunch, he reacquainted himself with more players from his past life as a touring pro.

“It’s great to be back out and see a bunch of old friends and people I spent a lot of time with,” said Kuehne, whose decorated older brother and fellow USGA champion Trip is on his bag. Vaquero Club instructor Steve Johnson is also here. “The golf course is fun. So I’m looking forward to it.”

If there is a modern First Family of Golf, it just might be the Kuehne clan. Sister Kelli was the first national champion, claiming the 1994 U.S. Girls’ Junior a month before Trip lost to Tiger Woods, 2 down, in a memorable 36-hole U.S. Amateur final at TPC Sawgrass, a match the then-Oklahoma State University standout led at one time, 6 up. Kelli would go on to win a pair of U.S. Women’s Amateur titles in 1995 and ’96 – as well as a British Women’s Amateur – before embarking on a professional career that surprisingly netted just one LPGA Tour victory, the 1999 Corning Classic.

Trip would eventually claim his elusive USGA title in the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur, and then subsequently “retire” from competitive golf after the 2008 Masters Tournament to spend more time with his family, specifically son Will, who played college football at the University of North Texas and SMU. When the now-54-year-old turned 50, he returned to playing high-level events, including a pair of U.S. Senior Opens in 2023 and ’24.

Three years younger than Trip – and two years ahead of Kelli – Hank would hoist the 1998 Havemeyer Trophy at Oak Hill Country Club, in Rochester, N.Y. When Trip failed to qualify for match play, he jumped on his brother’s bag and rode him all the way to the 36-hole final, where Hank defeated mid-amateur Tom McKnight, 2 and 1. McKnight remains the last mid-am to play in a U.S. Amateur final.

Thanks to Trip’s victory nine years later, the Kuehnes became the first trio of siblings to win USGA titles.

For Hank, the 1998 U.S. Amateur was a breakthrough victory. Just 2½ years earlier, he was involved in an automobile accident – with two football players as passengers – on Feb. 5, 1995, during his freshman season at Oklahoma State, where he spent one semester playing with Trip before transferring to SMU.

The change in scenery helped Hank, who once had a clubhead speed recorded at 140 mph, become a three-time All-American for the Mustangs. His U.S. Amateur title earned him spots in the 1999 Masters and U.S. Open, where he finished as the low amateur in his final event before turning pro.

Kuehne’s U.S. Amateur triumph opened up doors in professional golf, although he struggled at first. It would take four years before he had any significant success on the PGA Tour, posting four top-10s and making 14 cuts in 23 starts during the 2003 campaign. Kuehne made 30 starts in each of the next two campaigns (2003-04), making 27 cuts with four top-10s, including a solo fifth in the 2004 Nissan Open and a tie for second at the 2005 John Deere. He also won the Franklin Templeton Shootout, a silly-season event, in consecutive years (2003-04) with Jeff Sluman.

Kuehne, known to hit “bombs” that attracted spectators, even led the PGA Tour in driving distance in 2003, ending John Daly’s reign at eight in a row (11 overall).  

But all the torque he generated with his lower body led to back and shoulder issues, shortening both his 2006 and ’07 seasons. He first injured his shoulder hitting a 9-iron out of the rough during a 1999 PGA Tour event, and he’s undergone multiple surgeries for his shoulder and back. Kuehne eventually took a four-year hiatus to get healthy, but the high-quality golf didn’t return in either 2012 or 2013.

When asked about how the injuries ultimately affected his career, Hank quipped, “No, I’m just fat and old.”

At the time of his “retirement,” The Vaquero Club, a high-end private facility in the Dallas suburb of Westlake that opened in 2001, needed a director of instruction. Who better to hire than a local with golf caché?  Kuehne eventually was promoted to director of golf, where his staff includes head pro Steven Bendt, Johnson (director of instruction), assistant C.J. Lofland and a few others.

It certainly keeps the father of three boys – his oldest, Henry III, is a rising junior on the Creighton University men’s golf team – as busy as he was during his playing days. To stay sharp, Hank will often compete against Trip, who is a member at Vaquero. But he doesn’t compete in PGA North Texas Section events, nor does he try to Monday qualify for PGA Tour Champions tournaments.

With 353 members to satisfy, plus overseeing a professional staff, Kuehne often has to multi-task, from giving the occasional lesson to managing a budget to hosting outings or other events. In April, the club hosted the U.S. National Junior Team for a two-day match against Team Sweden. All three Kuehne siblings were on hand and spoke to the competitors.

“I do a lot of fire extinguishing,” he said after his Monday practice round. “There’s a lot of things that go into a golf club other than golf.”

But when he does tee it up, Hank loves to play against Trip. The matches are often intense just like when they were kids rising in the junior ranks. Nobody was happier to see Trip complete the family USGA championship legacy in 2007 than Hank, who couldn’t make it to Bandon Dunes for the historic moment. Trip, a three-time USA Walker Cup competitor and low amateur in the 2003 U.S. Open, defeated Dan Whitaker, 9 and 7. Ernie Kuehne, the family patriarch, was there to embrace his son as he was for the other USGA titles. Later that fall, all three posed for a portrait photo with their USGA trophies.

“I couldn’t have been happier for him just because he’d come so close before,” said Hank. “I think his was harder to win than any of them because he was a lifelong amateur. I couldn’t have been prouder.”

In 2023 when Trip qualified for the first two of his U.S. Senior Opens, Hank came up to SentryWorld, in Stevens Point, Wis., to get a taste of the championship. He could see the enormity of the event. Hank, obviously, knew he would be playing three years later.

While Hank had hoped to have his brother playing in this week’s championship, having him on the bag is more than a consolation prize. When he caddied during his 1998 U.S. Amateur run, Trip often reminded Hank to just “let it rip” and chase. Hank’s short game and ability to recover from tough situations was impeccable.

“That was a big golf course, and he was driving it well,” recalled Trip. “I gave him the driver a lot. Just send it down there and let’s go find it. He’s an incredible chipper and a great putter. He still hits his irons really, really well. Unlike my game where I like to be in the fairway and paint a pretty picture, he doesn’t care. I’ve seen him make more birdies from the trees and the high rough than anybody.

“I think he’ll get better when the light goes off [on Thursday]. Obviously, he’s played [professional events] before, but I’m sure … the [competitive] juices will start to come back. The practice rounds and stuff will be harder for him than the [actual] tournament. Once he’s in the tournament, he’ll be more likely to say, ‘I used to be a professional golfer, I’m competitive and it’s a USGA event.’ That’s his great gift, his ability to play golf. And that’s what I’m going to tell him.”

Don’t expect Hank to change his attire for the championship either. Even when most of the competitors wore shorts during the practice rounds in the stifling heat and humidity, Kuehne chose a shirt he normally wears at the Vaquero Club and a pair of khakis. It was not an ode to Bob Jones, who wore similar attire when he claimed the 1926 U.S. Open at Scioto, but rather his normal on-the-job clothing choice.

Such weather conditions are par for the course during Texas summers and while a long-sleeved, buttoned-down shirt might seem out of the norm, it does not impede his ability to swing the club. Yes, there were beads of sweat emanating from his bald head, but while he might sweat the cut or a 5-footer for par this week, the rising mercury or Heat Index won’t be an issue.

“Everybody’s gonna sweat,” he said. “I sweated a little more [than usual]. It still works.

“What do I expect? I am not sure. We are going to see in a couple of days. I expect to go out and play well. I expect some good shots and bad shots and then add them up and see where I stand…I just want to have fun.”

For Kuehne, that started on Monday and hopefully continues until Sunday.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.