When Steve Ziegler learned that, despite his best efforts, his attempts to avoid jury duty would be unsuccessful and he would miss last week’s HealthOne Colorado Open, he felt “as disappointed as I’ve been in a couple of years, really about anything, much less a golf tournament.”
It wasn’t a case of shirking his civic responsibilities. The former star at Legacy has an uncle who’s a lawyer and a grandfather who was a federal judge. And his major at Stanford — science, technology and society — often lends itself to attending law school. It was just that, well, like a whole lot of other people, he would have rather been playing golf than sitting on a jury.
“It was really just knowing how good my game was coming into the week,” Ziegler said. “But in some ways, it was kind of nice. It kind of took me back to looking at every tournament as a chance afforded to me. When you’re expecting to play in a tournament and it’s taken away from you, you start to realize what an opportunity it is to play.”
As it turns out, another amateur and senior- to-be, the University of San Diego’s Gunner Wiebe, almost completely maxed out on his chance at Green Valley Ranch, finishing second to Scottsdale, Ariz., pro Nathan Lashley, who won the event with a 16-under-par 268. Wiebe, the son of Champions Tour pro Mark Wiebe, finished two shots back.
Afterward, Wiebe said his lofty positioning on the leaderboard “wasn’t a fluke.”
He wasn’t bragging, merely recognizing the continuation of some spectacular play. In a Monday qualifying round in January, Wiebe earned a spot for the PGA Tour’s Farmer’s Insurance Open, beating out his college coach, Tim Mickelson, brother of Phil. Wiebe won a pair of tournaments for USD and in March won the Colorado Golf Association’s Match Play tournament.
“I’ve worked hard all year, but I’ve really put a lot into improving my game over the last six months, and I’m starting to see the payoff from it,” Wiebe said.
Last summer, it was Ziegler who played his way into the spotlight, winning not only the CGA’s Match Play but its Stroke Play championship as well, becoming the first person to win both titles since Brandt Jobe in 1985. This year hasn’t exactly been chopped liver either, with a tie for 12th in the prestigious Trans-Mississippi Championship and a tie for seventh in the Northeast Amateur.
“At this point, I feel as if I play up to the level I’m capable of, I can play with anybody,” Ziegler said.
The case Ziegler served on involved payment from a traffic accident, and instead of lasting a few hours or a day or two, it actually took six days to reach a resolution. It was not completed until Monday.
“It was pretty heated,” he said. “It was like I hit the lottery twice, not getting to play in the Open and getting a case that lasted so long.”
On Tuesday, he left for a camping trip up north, but Ziegler will be back soon to put some hard work into his own golf game. First up will be another major event, the Western Amateur tournament next week in suburban Chicago. Not long after that, Ziegler will return to Stanford. Earlier this month, Ziegler was named an academic All-American, in part, said the award sponsors, “because of his high moral character.”
Like serving on jury duty.
“It’s obvious that they must have heard about the case,” Ziegler said, joking. “It was a great honor; my goal for the year was to be a playing All-American and an academic All-American. Unfortunately, I was only honorable mention playing, but I did get this one.”
