Golf
U.S. Open Final Qualifying 2024: Who’s in, who’s out and everything you need to know from ‘Golf’s Longest Day’
The label “Golf’s Longest Day” is one of the game’s better cliches. Even so, it still almost undersells all that takes place as the USGA fills out the field for the 2024 U.S. Open. With 10 Final Qualifying events spread out around the U.S. and Canada, each 36-hole affairs, a total of 687 amateurs and professionals (out of 10,000-plus who initially entered) are trying to say something that many aspire but few can boast of accomplishing:
I qualified for a major championship.
There were 44 spots available Monday, with the number varying by site. Those who advanced will join the 23 who have already gotten through the first three Final Qualifying events held two weeks ago and the 85 who were fully exempt. (Click here for a complete list of the field so far).
Here are roundups from each of the Final Qualifying sites, letting you know who’s in and who’s out of the 124th U.S. Open.
Summit, N.J. • 72 players for 4 spots
Ben James, the fifth-ranked amateur in the world, who narrowly lost out on the NCAA title after being assessed a controversial one-stroke penalty last month, cruised through U.S. Open qualifying at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J. with rounds of 67-64. He was co-medalist alongside PGA Tour player Max Greyserman, who birdied eight of his final nine holes during a back-nine 28 and 64 in his second round.
Meanwhile the long-hitting Chris Gotterup, who ranks third on the PGA Tour in clubhead speed, came into his final hole of the day eight under and inside the cut line. Greenside in two on the 18th, his tough greenside bunker shot just snuck onto the green. Three putts later and his double-bogey 6 left him one shot outside of the four-man playoff at seven-under. Gotterup won his first PGA Tour event last month, the Myrtle Beach Classic, by six shots. He shot 66-64-65-67 there for 22-under-par total.
Forty-six-year-old Jim Herman, a three-time PGA Tour winner, was the last man to prevail after dropping a 15-foot putt for birdie on his third playoff hole. He topped Michael Miller, Raul Pereda and Peter Bradbeer for the last spot. This will be Herman’s sixth U.S. Open appearance and first since 2020.
“It was get in or go home, so here we are,” said Herman, who had the day’s first tee time in New Jersey. —Luke Kerr-Dineen
Rockville, Md. • 64 players for 3 spots
Australian Marc Leishman, a LIV Golf member, appeared headed to earning a start in his 12th U.S. Open before his bid unraveled over the second 18 holes.
Leishman, who has won six PGA Tour events and tied for second in the 2015 British Open, opened with a seven-under 64 to lead the field, but was undone by two double bogeys in the first 10 holes and two bogeys in his last five holes in the afternoon and posted a three-over 74 and tied for seventh.
That was a surprise, but so were the medalists to some degree—Korn Ferry Tour player Tim Widing of Sweden, 123rd in the world ranking, and Isaiah Salinda, 227th in the world.
Widing, however, won back-to-back tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour in April, and Salinda won on the Korn Ferry Tour in February. Amateur Wells Williams, who recently completed his sophomore season at Vanderbilt, was the third qualifier, finishing a stroke behind the medalists.
Among those who failed to qualify were Kevin Chappell, who has played in eight U.S. Opens, finishing third in 2011 at Congressional Country Club. Sebastian Munoz of Colombia, meanwhile, also did not qualify after finishing in a tie for 14th at the 2022 Open at the Country Club of Brookline, and tying for 49th last year at Los Angeles Country Club. —John Strege
Alpharetta, Ga. • 68 players for 3 spots
Tell us if you’ve heard this one before. Two Georgians and a Dane make their way to The Golf Club of Georgia’s Lakeside Course for Golf’s Longest Day. All three will now be teeing off at Pinehurst No. 2 next week. Not the best joke, but nothing but the facts here. Those Georgians are amateur Jackson Buchanan and Chris Petefish. That Danish golfer is amateur Frederik Kjettrup.
Buchanan got off to an Alpharetta-best 64 in the first round with a 67 follow-up to sail into the U.S. Open with a 13-under 131. The University of Illinois golfer and 2024 Big Ten Golfer of the Year is set to make his major debut coming off of a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championship at the end of April. Buchanan eagled his first hole of the second round at the Lakeside Course and then proceeded to conclude that same 18 with an eagle. A double bogey and two bogeys kept things somewhat interesting, but his first round yielded just one bogey and nine birdies. That’ll get the job done, especially when remembering that Buchanan finished as the second alternate last year after missing qualifying by one shot. Well, he did it this go-around.
Fellow amateur Frederik Kjettrup plays college golf at Florida State and recently became the 2024 ACC Conference individual co-champion. He even made Seminole history back in March 2023 shooting a record-low 18 under at Shark’s Tooth Golf Club in Panama City Beach; that became the lowest three-round score in program history. Kjettrup made one bogey over Monday’s grueling 36 holes, including seven birdies on his combined back nines. A 66-66 with just one botched hole is nothing to scoff at.
The final golfer from this region to make it to Pinehurst No. 2 is Chris Petefish, who shot a bogey-free two rounds to tie Buchanan at 13 under. The 29-year-old turned pro in 2018 and has two runners-up on the Korn Ferry Tour. He’s coming off four missed cuts on the KFT, including one at the UNC Health Championship last weekend, but all that matters now are his rounds of 66 and 65 at The Golf Club of Georgia and that he’ll be making a golf pilgrimage to North Carolina soon.
These certainly weren’t the three biggest names in the field as LIV golfers Andy Ogletree and Hudson Swafford missed out. The former went seven under for the day and the latter didn’t play all 36 holes. Other notables Ollie Schniederjans, Christo Lamprecht and Aldrich Potgieter weren’t able to finish the job. —Greg Gottfried
Durham, N.C. • 84 players for 7 spots
A former U.S. Open champion is not likely to bow out quietly in a 36-hole Open qualifier, as Webb Simpson expertly demonstrated on Monday at Duke University Golf Club. Simpson, who won the Open at the Olympic Club in 2012, began with a three-under 67 in the morning, stumbled on the front nine in the afternoon, before finishing with four birdies on his final six holes for a closing 69 that earned him a place at Pinehurst next week.
Simpson’s 36-hole total of four-under 136 tied him for fourth, good enough to qualify for his 13th U.S. Open.
“This one was a lot more special for me because I love Pinehurst, I have a second home there, I love No. 2,” Simpson said. “I really wanted to be there. It’s not fun to not be in the field, but certainly thankful that I was able to get it done today, barely.”
Frankie Capan III, 23, was the top qualifier with 68-66 for a six-under 134. A Korn Ferry Tour player, Capan qualified for the second consecutive year. He, too, is a former champion of a USGA event, teaming with Shuai Ming Wong to win the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball championship at Pinehurst in 2017.
A stroke behind Capan was Brian Campbell, the low amateur in the 2015 U.S. Open, tying for 27th.
Seven players tied at three-under par for the final two qualifying spots, including Henry Higgs, who recently won back-to-back tournaments on the Korn Ferry Tour. Higgs and Carter Jenkins both made birdies on their two playoff holes, advancing in a seven-for-two playoff.
Among those who failed to qualify was Miles Russell, the 15-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Fla., who made the cut in the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic in April. Russell, who has received a sponsor’s invitation to play in the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic later this month, had rounds of 68-72. —John Strege
Ontario, Canada • 66 players for 7 spots
Mark Hubbard continued his good run of form by torching Cherry Hill Club in Ontario, Canada. His rounds of 64-63 featured just one bogey and his 15-under total left him three clear of Canadian Adam Svensson.
Hubbard has made all 15 cuts on the PGA Tour this season and tied for 26th place at the PGA Championship after opening with 65-68 to vault into contention heading into the weekend. This will be his second U.S. Open start, after playing his first in 2020.
Rico Hoey and fellow Georgia Bulldogs Davis Thompson and Greyson Sigg both advanced out of Canada. Hoey used a second-round 63 that featured seven birdies and an eagle.
Aaron Rai fired a bogey-free 63 in his second round to finish nine under, one ahead of Canadian amateur Ashton McCullogh, who birdied four of his last six holes to finish the last man in at eight under par.
Some notable names missed out, including Matt Wallace and Keith Mitchell, who each finished one outside the qualifying line and seven under. Ben Griffin, who finished a shot behind Robert MacIntyre a day earlier in the RBC Canadian Open, was in contention after his first 18 holes, but his second-round 69 was not enough to get the job done. Bud Cauley, Sam Ryder, Doug Ghim, Martin Laird and Stewart Cink are others who did not qualify. —Luke Kerr-Dineen
Columbus, Ohio • 68 players for 5 spots
An emotional Justin Lower, using his experience from playing Korn Ferry Tour events at the OSU Scarlet Course, shared medalist honors with fellow PGA Tour player Seamus Power of Ireland to earn his first start in a major championship.
“It means everything,” a teary-eyed Lower, 35, said after firing rounds of 64-68 to finish at 10-under 132. “I told myself I wouldn’t do this [cry], but, yeah, it’s really cool. Obviously, it’s a lot later than I thought I’d play in one. The Sunday [at the U.S. Open] usually falls on Father’s Day. I lost my dad when I was 15. Just to be able to play on that day would be really cool.
“I hadn’t been playing that well, but I just kept my head down,” said the second-year tour player from Canal Fulton, Ohio, who has missed his last three cuts but is a solid 86th currently on the FedEx Cup points list. “It was nice to see some putts go in.”
A two-time PGA Tour winner, Power, 37, is one of three players who teed it up in the qualifier who is competing in this week’s Memorial Tournament, the signature event in nearby Dublin, Ohio. He got through by matching Lower with 64-68 that included a birdie at the home hole to secure his berth.
Four players finished at nine-under 133 to advance to a four-for-three playoff—tour player Brendan Todd, veteran pros Otto Black and Chris Naegel and amateur Gunnar Broin, who completed his collegiate career last month at the University of Kansas. Black, of Detroit, forced the playoff when he birdied the 16th and 18th holes for a 65. He played in the same group with Power.
Todd, a three-time tour winner who is in the Memorial, was first in for a spot at Pinehurst when he stuck an approach to two feet at the 18th for an easy birdie. The playoff ended on the second extra hole, the par-4 ninth, when Black missed an eight-foot par putt. Naegel, 41, of Wildwood, Mo., qualified for his third U.S. Open. He finished T-56 in each of his previous two appearances. Broin, a Minnesota native ranked 486th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, will play in his first Open.
Missing out on the playoff by one spot at eight under were seven players, including tour players Hayden Buckley and Luke List and Reynoldsburg, Ohio, club professional Wyatt Worthington II, who recently played in his third PGA Championship at Valhalla. Buckley suffered a painful finish with a three-putt bogey from 40 feet on his final hole, the par-4 ninth. He missed from four feet on his second putt for an afternoon 68 that dropped him out of the playoff.
Andrew Putnam, the third player in the Memorial field, shot even-par 71 in the second round to end up at five-under 137. —Dave Shedloski
Jupiter, Fla. • 73 players for 5 spots
Let’s start with the playoff. All finishing the day at three under, amateurs Brendan Valdes and Thomas Ponder, along with journeyman pro Willie Mack III, needed two extra holes to suss out who got the final qualifying spot at The Bear’s Club. Ponder found the water on the first playoff hole and made double bogey. Then Valdes missed a makeable par putt on the second to hand Mack a spot at Pinehurst. Mack parred both to clinch a U.S. Open bid.
“I’m just excited. Ready to get out there,” Mack said. “I had a tough time last year, so to keep plugging along and get to the U.S. Open. It’s exciting. You just gotta keep fighting. My dad always told me never to give up and I keep that in the back of my mind.
“I won a tournament a couple weeks ago, a six-hole playoff, I’ve got a lot of confidence going right now.”
It was a down-to-the-wire finish for Mack, but Matt Kuchar, Daniel Berger, Dean Burmeister and amateur Luke Clanton got to put their feet up after just 36 holes.
Kuchar, a nine-time PGA Tour winner, was medalist at seven under over 36 holes, despite a double bogey near the end of his first round. Even with that gaffe, the 45-year-old will move on and tee off in his 21st U.S. Open.
Another Jupiter resident Daniel Berger and LIV golfer Dean Burmester ended the 36 holes knotted up at six under. Berger shot a topsy-turvy 65-73, especially when compared to Burmester’s 68-70, but both made it through. The two have eight U.S. Open showings combined.
Unlike his three fellow golfers who didn’t need a playoff, amateur Luke Clanton will be making his first U.S. Open appearance. He’s coming off one of the greatest seasons in FSU history becoming the first Seminole ever to win three consecutive tournaments, earning victories at the Seminole Intercollegiate, Valspar Collegiate Invitational and Lewis Chitengwa Memorial. Clanton started his qualifier with a bogey on just the second hole but righted the ship for a 70-68 to clinch a trip to the promised land. FSU teammate and fellow amateur Frederik Kjettrup is also in the field after earning a U.S. Open spot at The Golf Club of Georgia.
Some who missed here include Joaquin Niemann, Patrick Rodgers, Anirban Lahiri, Cameron Tringale, Graeme McDowell and Branden Grace. After joining LIV, Niemann earned a special invitation to the Masters. He did not receive a similar invite from the U.S. Open, and now he’ll miss out on a chance to rep the fledgling league at Pinehurst. —Greg Gottfried
Springfield, Ohio • 64 players for 4 spots
All the drama at a qualifier delayed one hour, 45 minutes at the start due to fog came in an all-Australian playoff that ended in the gloaming between former World No. 1 Adam Scott and 2022 Presidents Cup teammate Cameron Davis. It was Davis, 29, who got through thanks to a three-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole after his bogey on the 36th hole had given Scott a second life.
The playoff was set up when Davis, 29, missed a seven-foot par putt on No. 18 to drop into a tie with Scott at seven-under 133. Scott, 43, who led after the first 18 holes with a 64, bogeyed three of his last six holes, including the home hole, for an afternoon 69. The 2013 Masters champion looked like he might earn the last berth and ensure he would keep alive his streak of major championship appearances when he chipped in for birdie at the first playoff hole only to watch Davis hole a 15-footer on top of him.
After they tied the 38th hole with pars, Davis stuffed his approach at the long par-4 12th. Scott came up short of the green out of a fairway bunker and then left his birdie try from off the front of the green two feet short. Then Davis ended it. As first alternate, Scott still could earn a berth in his 92nd straight major, or he could remain in the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking after the Memorial, in which he is not entered. He currently is 60th. The last time he didn’t play in a major was the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills in Tulsa.
Veteran pro Zac Blair, 33, returns to the site of his first start in a PGA Tour event after his five-under 65 earned medalist honors at nine-under 131. Blair, of Orem, Utah, ranked 139th in the world, finished at nine-over 289 in the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
Tour player Beau Hossler, 29, of Austin, Texas, and Carson Schaake, a 29-year-old mini-tour player from Omaha, Neb., each had an afternoon 67 to tie for second at 132. Schaake’s younger brother, Alex, qualified for last year’s U.S. Open when he outlasted amateur Max Moldovan of Ohio State in an eight-hole playoff. The Schaakes shared medalist honors May 8 in local qualifying at Omaha Country Club. Alex was far off the pace at 147. —Dave Shedloski
Bend, Ore. • 44 players for 2 spots
Joey Vrzich calmly walked up to his three-foot birdie putt on the 36th hole Monday at Pronghorn Resort and rolled the ball into the bottom of the cup. He let out a big sigh of relief, put his hat on his head in disbelief, shook hands with his competitors and walked off the green. He was medalist in Oregon, shooting 70-69 to finish at five under par.
The 25-year-old plays mostly on the PGA Tour Americas, with three top-20 finishes in six starts, including a third-place tie in Mexico in late February. Now he’s heading to Pinehurst next week to play in his first U.S. Open.
“It just gives me more confidence knowing I can play,” Vrzich said. “It just feels good to be able to do this and go see how good I am at a U.S. Open.”
Two shots behind Vrzich, and capturing the second of two spots, was amateur Colin Prater, who is a 29-year-old high school science teacher in Colorado.
Prater opened with a 68 in the first round and started to struggle at the beginning of his second round, making four bogeys in the first 10 holes. But he made three birdies over the last six holes to shoot 73 and end at three under par, capturing the final spot by a shot over Trevor Simsby and Ollie Osborne. Simsby, a 31-year-old Californian who plays on the Asian Tour this year, bogeyed the 36th hole to drop out of a chance for a playoff. —Jay Coffin
Daly City, Calif. • 84 players for 4 spots
David Puig hasn’t had the best of seasons this year with LIV Golf. In seven events, he’s tied for 15th twice, his two best finishes, but everything else has been well off the pace. He’s a member of fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs team.
The 22-year-old has, however, played a little better in Asian Tour events, collecting four top-10 finishes, including a victory in Malaysia back in February.
On Monday at Lake Merced, Puig separated himself from the field over the second 18 holes after opening with 68. In the afternoon he birdied three of his first four holes, collected eight birdies during the round and shot a bogey-free 64 to end at 12 under par.
“It means the world,” Puig said. “I’m pretty tired right now but it’s super exciting about getting a spot to the U.S. Open in a couple weeks.”
Finishing second place in California was amateur Omar Morales, who finished with birdies on the last two holes to jump up to 11 under par. Morales is from Mexico and just completed his junior season at UCLA. He qualified for the U.S. Open last year and hit the opening tee shot on Thursday at Los Angeles Country Club. He shot 68-65 and made a 16-footer on the last hole.
“It was just a grind, and to finish birdie-birdie was very satisfying,” Morales said. “I’m very proud of myself for heading to the U.S. Open again.”
John Chin, who birdied two of the last three holes, and Charles Reiter, with an eagle at the last, secured the final two spots from Lake Merced as there was not a playoff.
“It’s about damn time,” said Chin, a 37-year-old from Virginia playing in his first major championship.
R.J. Manke shot 64-71 and is the first alternate. The final result here in California put an end to an eventful day, and solidified the field for the 124th U.S. Open. —Jay Coffin
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