Cole Hammer, 15, didn't flinch in U.S. Open debut

— -- UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- On the first tee box of the rest of Cole Hammer's life, the magnitude of the moment literally brought him to his knees. The kid was in a deep squat with his head down, swallowing hard, blinking his eyes and ignoring the older players who were hitting their drives, not to mention the Goodyear blimp hovering in the gray clouds above.

Hammer, 15 years young, had said two days earlier he had no idea what it would be like in the seconds before his first shot in a major championship, and at 9:12 a.m. local time he was finding out the hard way. His white Ping hat was in his hands when his father and caddie, Gregg, leaned down to him and whispered a direct order in his ear.

"Stand up," Gregg told his boy. The father wanted his son to reorient himself, to steady his racing pulse, to let the blood flow naturally throughout his 5-9, 125-pound body. The televised images of Cole in quivering thought turned into a rapidly spreading social-media assumption that the teen wonder was crying, or at least on the verge of tears, while he waited his turn at No. 10.

As he stood by his son's junior-sized, red, white and blue bag, Gregg would later say he never sensed Cole was emotional before they started their magical adventure on the back nine at Chambers Bay. Soon enough, Cole arrived at his old man's side and conceded that he was nervous -- "Very nervous, but not horrible," he said -- but fully aware that big boys don't cry at the U.S. Open. "I wasn't emotional at all; I was praying," Cole said after finishing his round of 7-over 77. "I always pray before my first tee shot, and that's what I was doing. I was asking for patience, and just honoring God."

Done with his prayer after the 20-somethings grouped with him, Kevin Lucas and Pat Wilson, had struck their drives, the third-youngest man ever to play in the U.S. Open snapped to his feet and planted his cap on his head. Suddenly it was showtime, or Hammertime, for the kid born nine years after MC Hammer released "U Can't Touch This."