Where does Jimmy Abdo get his fearlessness?

His father, Jim, wastes no time. “His mother,” Jim answers, as he looks across the table at his wife, Harriet, who 19 years ago escaped war-torn Lebanon with her newly adopted son, Jimmy, just a few weeks old at the time, in her arms.

“It’s in his blood,” Jim Abdo says of Jimmy. “He’s not afraid to battle.”

What Jim Abdo has always known about his youngest son everyone else learned last week at the Olympic Club, where Jimmy Abdo, a Division-III product ranked No. 4,929 in the world amateur rankings, orchestrated a spirited run to the quarterfinals of the 125th U.S. Amateur. Though Abdo fell a few victories short of the most improbable of titles, the Edina, Minnesota, native, in his mind, had already won.

“Losing sucks, but it’s hard to be dis

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