Jeff Middleton for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Sunday, Judy 20, 2025
From the moment he can first remember, David Fuhrer II was holding a golf club.
Coming from a family full of golfers that has made a decades-long impact on the Pennsylvania and national golf scenes, it’s no surprise that he would pick up the game at the age of seven, either.
Now, 12 years into his competitive golf journey, Fuhrer is continuing that family golf legacy after winning the 125th Western Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at the Sunnehanna Country Club.
Fuhrer played high school golf at Fox Chapel before heading to college. Now a sophomore at George Mason University and an Oakmont Country Club member, he returned to Pittsburgh from school about a month and a half ago, having played 12 different tournaments throughout his season.
During the week before his win, Fuhrer spent most of his time practicing his short game, which involved changing from a reverse grip to a traditional putting grip.
“I started making everything,” Fuhrer said. “I thought that was kind of a funny, in-the-moment change that really helped me out. I finished the first round with the lowest score of my life, a 63, and that gave me a ton of confidence.”
Not everything was smooth sailing for the 19-year-old, though, despite his career-best opening round.
During his final round, Fuhrer experienced a couple of bumps in the road, including on hole 4, where his second shot found a pond near the green. He escaped the hole with a double bogey but only a two-stroke lead.
Then, on Hole 5, Fuhrer saw his two playing partners – JF Aber, who finished fourth, and Scott Jordan, who finished ninth – both make birdies while he made par and lost another stroke.
With just a one-stroke lead, Fuhrer then saw the short game he worked on tirelessly before the tournament come up big time, making two birdie putts from 12 and 50 feet on holes 9 and 10 to recapture the momentum on the back nine.
“At that point, I wasn’t looking at the leaderboard, but I was pretty sure I had the lead,” Fuhrer said. “I was feeling really good coming off two birdies and that momentum swing.”
After one of his best drives of the tournament, Fuhrer chipped on the green and sank a four-foot birdie putt to seal his victory and avoid a playoff. Upon sinking his winning putt, he pumped his fist, removed his hat and went straight to his caddie and friend, Grant Thiele, who played golf at Fox Chapel before Fuhrer from 2014 to 2018.
Not only did it seal a victory for the young amateur, but it carried on a legacy that his uncle, Frank Fuhrer III, began when he won the tournament twice. Young Fuhrer II hopes to play professionally one day, too, and continue following his family’s footsteps in the sport.
“For me, this win said a lot,” Fuhrer said. “Going into the college season coming up in a few months now, I know that my game is where it needs to be, but I’m also not finished. I’m going to keep grinding. I don’t want this to be a one-time thing … this is just one step in the journey.”
Fuhrer III is one of the best amateur players to ever grace the Pennsylvania links, having been inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Golf Hall of Fame in 2014. Fuhrer III won the West Penn tournament in 1978 and 1979 and played 25 events on the PGA Tour.
“It means a lot,” Fuhrer said. “It’s really cool to keep kind of a family tradition. At a really young age, my dad pushed me into golf, and I grew a really big love for the game. So it’s really cool to follow in my family’s footsteps and see the success that past generations have had.”