123rd U.S. Open Championship Final Qualifying Storylines
Monday, May 22, 2023
To assist with your coverage of U.S. Open final qualifying on Monday, May 22, the following storylines have been developed for the site in Dallas, Texas.
A separate storylines document will be distributed for final qualifying on Monday, June 5 (10 sites – nine in the U.S. and one in Canada). The 2023 U.S. Open Championship will be contested from June 15-18 at The Los Angeles (Calif.) Country Club’s North Course.
Note: The final size of the qualifying field, along with the number of available spots, will be announced on Monday, May 22.
Social media: Follow final qualifying action @USOpenGolf and join the conversation with #USOpen.
Bent Tree Country Club & Northwood Club Dallas, Texas; 120 players for TBD spots
►Ricky Castillo, 22, of Yorba Linda, Calif., helped the University of Florida win the 2023 Southeastern Conference title and is a three-time All-Southeastern Conference selection. Castillo, who was a member of the winning 2021 USA Walker Cup Team, has advanced to the Round of 16 in three of the last four U.S. Amateur Championships. He earned an exemption into the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club.
►Ethan Davidson, 22, of Simi Valley, Calif., carded a 3-under 69 in the San Antonio, Texas, local qualifier on May 15. He birdied three of the last six holes on the inward nine at The Club at Sonterra’s North Course to earn one of six spots. A senior at Texas Tech University, Davidson transferred from Sacramento State University where he was the 2022 Big Sky Conference Player of the Year. He was invited to play in the Genesis Invitational’s Collegiate Showcase at The Riviera Country Club.
►Clark Dennis, 57, of Fort Worth, Texas, survived two USGA qualifiers on consecutive days (May 9-10). He carded a 5-under-par 66 to share medalist honors in U.S. Open local qualifying in Willow Park, Texas. The next day, he fashioned another 66 (6 under) to earn medalist in U.S. Senior Open qualifying in Carrollton, Texas. Dennis is the first player to advance from these two qualifiers in the same year since Skip Kendall in 2015. Dennis has played in five U.S. Opens, with his best finish a tie for sixth in 1994.
►Austin Eckroat, 24, of Edmond, Okla., has posted two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2022-23, including a tie for second in the AT&T Byron Nelson. He advanced through the Dallas final qualifier to his lone U.S. Open in 2019 at Pebble Beach after surviving a 3-for-2 playoff. Eckroat, who was a member of the winning 2021 USA Walker Cup Team, was a four-time All-American at Oklahoma State University. He and teammates Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff helped the Cowboys win the 2018 NCAA Championship.
►Sergio Garcia, 43, of Spain, has competed in 23 U.S. Opens and posted five top 10s, with his best finish a tie for third in 2005 at Pinehurst No. 2. Garcia has not played in final qualifying since 2011 when he survived a 7-for-4 playoff in Memphis, Tenn., to advance to Congressional Country Club. He has won 11 PGA Tour events, with the 2017 Masters Tournament his lone major victory. He owns 16 DP World Tour victories and was a member of six winning European Ryder Cup Teams.
►Brice Garnett, 39, of Gallatin, Mo., has played in two U.S. Opens (2012, 2017) and qualified through both stages to play in his first at The Olympic Club. He has won on four professional tours (PGA, Korn Ferry, eGolf, Adams). Garnett is a three-time NCAA Division II All-American at Missouri Western State University and is a member of the school’s athletic hall of fame.
►Doug Ghim, 27, of Arlington Heights, Ill., played in the U.S. Open in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills. He was the runner-up in the 2017 U.S. Amateur to Doc Redman and was an All-American at the University of Texas. Ghim, who competes on the PGA Tour and tied for sixth in the 2022 Players Championship, was a member of the winning 2017 USA Walker Cup Team. He was also the runner-up in the 2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links, the last edition of that championship.
►Branden Grace, 35, of South Africa, has played in 10 U.S. Opens and owns three top-10 finishes. He tied for fourth in 2015 at Chambers Bay and tied for fifth in 2016 at Oakmont Country Club. He has won twice on the PGA Tour and posted nine DP World Tour victories. He carded a 62 (8 under par) in The Open Championship in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, the lowest round recorded in a major championship.
►Cody Gribble, 32, of Dallas, Texas, has played in three U.S. Opens (2014, 2015, 2019). He advanced through local and final qualifying to Pinehurst No. 2, where he tied for 21st in 2014. Gribble and Jordan Spieth helped the University of Texas win the 2012 NCAA Championship. He owns one PGA Tour victory (2016 Sanderson Farms Championship) and has recorded a pair of top-10 finishes in 2022-23.
►Bryant Hiskey II, 20, of Houston, Texas, is a sophomore at the University of Houston and has played in three events for the Cougars in 2022-23. His grandfather, Babe, and father, Bryant, also played there. He advanced from the Kingwood, Texas, local qualifier on April 17. His grandfather won three PGA Tour events and competed in five U.S. Opens and six U.S. Senior Opens. His father qualified for the 1991 U.S. Amateur.
►J.B. Holmes, 41, of Campbellsville, Ky., has competed in nine U.S. Opens, with his best finish 12th place in 2017 at Erin Hills. Holmes, who was a member of the winning 2005 USA Walker Cup Team, has five PGA Tour victories. He was also a member of three USA Teams as a professional – two Ryder Cups and one Presidents Cup – all of which won. In 2019, he defeated Justin Thomas by one stroke to win the Genesis Open, played in the Los Angeles area at The Riviera Country Club.
►Mackenzie Hughes, 32, of Canada, played in his fifth U.S. Open last year after advancing through the Dallas final qualifier. Hughes, who tied for 24th at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., shared the 54-hole lead in the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines but shot a final-round 77 to tie for 15th. Hughes, who has won on three tours (PGA, Korn Ferry & PGA Tour Canada), captured his second PGA Tour victory in October 2022, defeating Sepp Straka in a playoff at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
►Michael Kim, 29, of the Republic of Korea, was low amateur in the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, where he tied for 17th. Kim, who was born in Korea and raised in San Diego, Calif., earned the Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation’s top collegiate player while at the University of California-Berkeley and was a member of the winning USA Walker Cup Team in 2013. Kim won the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic by eight strokes in 2018 and has two top-10 finishes this season.
►Adam Long, 35, St. Louis, Mo., has played in two U.S. Opens and tied for 13th in 2020 at Winged Foot Golf Club. He has recorded two top-20 finishes on the PGA Tour this season and his lone victory came in 2019 at the Desert Classic, a one-stroke win over Adam Hadwin and Phil Mickelson. Long earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors as a member of the Duke University team.
►Callum McNeill, 29, of Scotland, shot a 3-under 69 at The Club at Sonterra’s North Course, in San Antonio, Texas, to advance from local qualifying. McNeill, who was an assistant professional at The Clubs at Houston Oaks, has competed in a few events on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamerica. His brother is a jumps jockey who was on the winning horse in the 2017 New Zealand Grand National hurdle race. McNeill has worked with Hal Sutton, who won the 1983 PGA Championship.
►Graeme McDowell, 43, of Northern Ireland, won the 2010 U.S. Open by one stroke over Gregory Havret at Pebble Beach Golf Links, becoming the first European to capture the championship in 40 years. McDowell, who has played in 15 U.S. Opens, also tied for second with Michael Thompson one stroke behind champion Webb Simpson at The Olympic Club in 2012. McDowell has recorded four PGA Tour and 11 DP World Tour victories.
►Ryan Moore, 40, of Las Vegas, Nev., has played in 10 U.S. Opens, with his best finish a tie for 10th at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in 2009. Moore, who owns five PGA Tour victories, won the 2004 U.S. Amateur and the 2002 and 2004 U.S. Amateur Public Links titles. Moore, who grew up in Puyallup, Wash., played college golf at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is one of five golfers to win the NCAA Championship and U.S. Amateur in the same year (2004).
►Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, 23, of Denmark, carded a bogey-free 65 with six birdies in the Wichita, Kan., local qualifier on May 10. Neergaard-Petersen, who has competed in three U.S. Amateurs, has never played in a U.S. Open. A senior at Oklahoma State University, he has posted five top-15 college finishes, including 11th in this year’s Big 12 Conference Championship. In 2020, he was the runner-up to Pierceson Coody in the 118th Western Amateur.
►Ryan Palmer, 46, of Colleyville, Texas, has competed in nine U.S. Opens, with his best finish a tie for 21st in 2011 at Congressional Country Club. In 1998, he qualified through both local and final play as an amateur to reach his first U.S. Open. He has won four PGA Tour titles, including the 2019 Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Jon Rahm, the 2021 U.S. Open champion.
►Cheng-Tsung Pan, 31, of Chinese Taipei, has played in five U.S. Opens, including a tie for 45th in 2013. He also tied for 64th in 2015 at Chambers Bay when he qualified through both stages. Pan, an All-America player at the University of Washington, won the 2019 RBC Heritage, his lone victory on the PGA Tour. In 2007 at age 15, he became the youngest U.S. Amateur quarterfinalist since Bob Jones.
►Julian Perico, 23, of Peru, is a three-time All-Central Region and two-time All-Southeastern Conference player for the University of Arkansas. Perico, who has competed in two U.S. Amateurs, tied for sixth in this year’s SEC Championship. He also tied for sixth in the Latin America Amateur, his sixth start in the championship. Perico, the first player from his country to be chosen to the International Team for the Arnold Palmer Cup, was the medalist (64) in the Wichita, Kan., local qualifier on May 10.
►Davis Riley, 26, of Hattiesburg, Miss., tied for 31st in last year’s U.S. Open after advancing through the final qualifier in Columbus, where he carded a second-round 63. Riley, who has played in three U.S. Opens, recorded his first PGA Tour victory on April 23 when he and partner Nick Hardy teamed to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Riley has competed in 11 USGA championships and was twice runner-up in the U.S. Junior Amateur (to Scottie Scheffler in 2013 and Will Zalatoris in 2014).
►Robby Shelton, 27, of Birmingham, Ala., has played in two U.S. Opens (2014, 2021). He advanced through the Springfield, Ohio, final qualifier in his last start. He has recorded four Korn Ferry Tour victories, including a pair of wins last year, and now competes on the PGA Tour. Shelton, who was a member of the 2015 USA Walker Cup Team and an all-conference player at the University of Alabama, tied for sixth in The American Express on Jan. 22.
►Roger Sloan, 35, of Canada, advanced in a 6-for-2 playoff last year at the Dallas final qualifier to his first U.S. Open, played at The Country Club, in Brookline, Mass. Sloan, who grew up on a nine-hole course in Merritt, British Columbia, and played college golf at the University of Texas at El Paso, has won on the Korn Ferry Tour and Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada. His best PGA Tour finish is a tie for second, losing in a six-man playoff to Kevin Kisner in the 2021 Wyndham Championship.
►Austin Smotherman, 29, of Loomis, Calif., is attempting to qualify for his first U.S. Open. He and 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau were teammates at Southern Methodist University who advanced to the Round of 16 as partners in the 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball. Smotherman has won on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He tied for fifth in the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open at Vidanta on April 30.
►Hayden Springer, 26, of Trophy Club, Texas, shot 68 in the Odessa, Texas, local qualifier on May 3 to advance to the final stage. He worked his way through both stages to the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Springer, who played at Texas Christian University and won the 2019 Big 12 Conference individual title, attended Byron Nelson High School, which is named for the World Golf Hall of Famer. He has played in events on three professional circuits (PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamerica).
►Travis Vick, 23, of Hunters Creek Village, Texas, was the low amateur in his first U.S. Open when he tied for 43rd at The Country Club last year. He qualified for the championship in Dallas, Texas, with rounds of 68 and 65. Vick is a senior at the University of Texas who has earned first-team All-America and All-Big 12 Conference honors. Vick was a three-sport athlete at Houston’s Second Baptist High School (golf, football, baseball). He is a family friend of Hal Sutton, who won the 1980 U.S. Amateur and competed in 18 U.S. Opens.
►Brandon Wu, 26, of Scarsdale, N.Y., has played in two U.S. Opens, tying for 35th as an amateur in 2019 at Pebble Beach Golf Links. On the PGA Tour in 2022-23, Wu tied for second in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and finished third in the Mexico Open at Vidanta. Wu, who earned All-America recognition at Stanford University and was a member of the winning 2019 USA Walker Cup Team, won the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Championship. He was born in Danville, Calif., and lived in Beijing for five years.
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