PARKER — Unlike the majority of the field at the U.S. Amateur Championship, Nick Nosewicz is not chasing a pro dream. The 39-year-old’s been there, done that.

And, as co-owner of a local golf/ski shop, his clubs collect dust about six months a year while the Aurora resident tends to his business.

But that’s no issue for Nosewicz, who is redefining a golfer’s prime as he competes in this week’s U.S. Amateur. Nosewicz is a generation older than the tournament’s 22-year-old mean, but don’t tell him that, as he believes he’s still coming into his own on the course amid a career year.

“I don’t feel like I’ve hit my ceiling yet,” Nosewicz said. “I’m still hungry, I’m not satisfied and I want more. I just keep getting up early to play. I’m still chasing it. And maybe every year, I do something better than I did the year before.”

That’s been the case this year, when Nosewicz won the Colorado Golf Association Match Play Championship in June, his second title in the event along with his triumph in 2015. This week, Nosewicz is playing in his fifth USGA championship but first U.S. Amateur, and he started by carding a three-over 75 on Monday at Colorado Golf Club.

That puts Nosewicz in contention to make the 64-man match-play portion of the tournament that begins Wednesday at Cherry Hills Country Club — despite the age gap, and despite playing with a torn labrum in his right shoulder that he suffered when he slipped down a ravine at the Colorado Amateur Championship in late July.

He can currently swing the club at about 80% effort. But Nosewicz says that neither the injury nor posting four-over over his last six holes on Monday has diminished his optimism about making it to Wednesday.

“I have a good history in match play, and I come from a background of hustlers who like to (gamble in match play),” Nosewicz said. “The goal is to get into match play, and from there, it doesn’t matter if my opponent is No. 1 in the world or No. 100 — anything can happen.”

Nosewicz’s golfing roots run deep. His grandfather, Ed Nosewicz, won CGA’s Senior Match Play Championship four times and is a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. Nosewicz’s uncles were accomplished players, too: Jim Nosewicz played in the 1974 U.S. Amateur and Tom Nosewicz played professionally overseas and also qualified for the 2003 U.S. Senior Open.

So growing up, there were high expectations placed on Nick, who didn’t start to truly believe he could win on the links until he got to Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina.

“He had a lot of pressure when he was a youngster,” said father, Lenny Nosewicz, the namesake of Lenny’s Ski & Golf in Aurora, where Nick is the GM. “In the Carolinas, he learned to really play, because there, you’ve got to learn how to flight the ball down. That changed his golf when he went there and started to figure out how to play away from (elevation).”

Nosewicz spent 2007-08 traveling Arizona and California on the Gateway Tour, a small pro circuit that no longer exists. He lived in a mobile home and drove to all his tournaments. But his mom, Patty, got sick with cancer, so Nosewicz quit golf and moved back to Aurora to help his family and assist his dad in running the shop.

“I still feel like it ended too soon,” Nick said. “I would’ve liked to have been playing the game that I’m playing now, in that environment. But that wasn’t the hand I was dealt.”

Hence his endless drive in the amateur phase of his career.

While he doesn’t play during the wintertime when he runs the ski side of he and his dad’s business, each April for about the past decade, Nick and his wife, Elaine, go to their own version of “spring training.” Lately, their spot has been a resort in Cabo San Lucas, where Nick has annually reconnected with golf.

“He grinds, and I drink and get a tan,” Elaine said. “We play once a day, but he’s also grinding on the range or the putting green for like eight hours, too. I sit there, drink, get him more balls, whatever. He doesn’t touch a club for six months, but after that one week, he’s got it back.”

Heading into Tuesday, the cutline is hovering right around even par. Nosewicz believes that if he can hit fairways at Cherry Hills, he can shave a few strokes off his overall score to advance.

“If I can get off the tee and keep it in the fairway, and keep it below the hole, I’ll be in match play,” Nosewicz said.

Day 1 notes. China’s Sampsonyunhe Zheng led the field after the opening round, posting a six under at Colorado Golf Club. The Cal standout is the 49th-ranked amateur in the world… Another Chinese golfer, University of San Diego’s Andi Xu, also played well at three under, tied for eighth… Local Connor Jones (Mountain Range/Colorado State) is in a good spot, tied for fourth place after carding a four-under round. Jones, 21, is considered one of the state’s top amateur players right now… Brody McQueen, the fourth-youngest golfer in the field at 15, lit up Colorado Golf Club with a three under, tying him for seventh. The Marietta, Ga., native is coming off an individual state championship as a freshman… Gordon Sargent, the top-ranked amateur in the world, is one under.

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