BLUFFTON, S.C. – Shotaro Ban isn’t used to the kind of heavy heat that blanketed Berkeley Hall Golf Club on Saturday and made it necessary to drink nearly a bottle of water, by his estimate, per hole. Welcome to summer in the Lowcountry. It’s not completely unexpected by a California player such as Ban, but it certainly is a shock.
“The second I stepped out of the airplane, I couldn’t even breathe,” Ban remembered of the first time he played in the Southeast.
Ban, who’s approaching a fifth year at Cal, entered the Players Amateur with a resume that’s missing some surprising milestones.