Liu back to school after big summer

Classes begin Monday for Jim Liu of Smithtown, his first day of the new semester at Knox School in Smithtown. "Back to reality," he said. Another reality is that, since the last time he saw his classmates, he became a national sensation in golf.

He broke one of Tiger Woods' records by becoming the youngest winner of the U.S. Mid-Amateur, when he still was 14. After he turned 15, he played creditably in the U.S. Amateur and last weekend he tied for 13th at the Junior Players, held at TPC Sawgrass. (Liu chokes down on a 9-iron for the famous island par-3 17th there and he birdied it once in his three rounds.)

Back to school does not mean back home to stay. He will represent the United States at the Junior Ryder Cup on Sept. 22-Oct. 1 at Gleneagles in Scotland.

The team will be captained by PGA of America past president M.G. Orender (whose wife, Donna, an Elmont native, is president of the WNBA). Competition is Sept. 27 and 28, before both teams travel to Wales for a round on the Celtic Manor course. They will attend the opening ceremony for the Ryder Cup.

That means Liu should get his first face-to-face with the icon whose junior amateur record he broke this summer. "I'm just looking forward to meeting all those great players," Liu said.

Chip shots

Daniel Kolenda, a vice president for CA Technologies and a major in the Army Reserve, said that his morale got quite a boost during his service in Iraq when he received care packages from AdoptaPlatoon. So he spearheaded a CA golf outing for that troop-supporting program. It will be Monday morning at Hamlet Willow Creek, Mount Sinai.