Qualified for the Weekend

It has been 14 years since a player from open qualifying won the U.S. Open. Lucas Glover did it in 2009 at Bethpage Black to capture his first major title. This year, 66 players from open qualifying teed it up at Los Angeles Country Club with the hope of becoming the next winner. A total of 18 players who came from the Final Stage of qualifying will play this weekend. 

‍Number of qualifiers who made the cut: 18 of 66 (27.27%)

‍T12 -2

Charley Hoffman 

Ryutara Nagano 

Dylan Wu

‍T19 -1

Ryan Gerard 

Austin Eckroat

Eric Cole

Nick Hardy

‍T30 E

Patrick Rodgers

Yuto Katsuragawa

Gordon Sargent 

‍T39 +1

Sergio Garcia 

Jared Solomon 

Kevin Streelman

‍T49 +2

David Puig 

Ryo Ishikawa 

Sebastian Munoz 

Sam Stevens

Max Moldovan

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Biggest Surprises

Sergio Garcia: Many people were surprised Garcia even attempted qualifying, but he played well and advanced through at the Dallas site. He has struggled badly on LIV this season with only one top-five, so to see him play well in LA is surprising. 

Ryutara Nagano: Nagano has never played an event in the United States and doesn’t have an OWGR win in his 14-year career. He has played mostly on the Japan Tour, but as recently as 2019, was playing events on the Abema TV Tour - the Korn Ferry Tour of Japan. 

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Not surprising at all

Eric Cole: The longtime mini-tour grinder is having a breakout rookie season on the PGA Tour. Currently 40th in FedEx points, Cole has five top-25 finishes in his last seven events, including a T5. He also just LOVES to play golf. This is the eleventh week in a row he is competing and that doesn’t seem to be slowing him down. 

‍Qualifying site with most players to make the cut: Springfield, Illinois. Springfield Country Club has long hosted final qualifying and this year, four of their six qualifiers made the weekend. Dylan Wu, who survived a playoff to earn his spot in the field, leads the group at T-12. 

‍Qualifying sites with zero to make the weekend: Washington, New Jersey, Florida, and England. The biggest surprise among them is the England site, which had the second most qualifying spots available among the 13 sites. None of the eight players were within two strokes of the cut. 

‍Biggest Heartbreak: Paul Barjon. Barjon opened with a 67 but struggled on Friday. Still, Barjon arrived on the last hole one shot inside the cut number. On 18, he hit his drive into a hazard and after a drop, hit his approach into a bunker. He missed an 11-footer for bogey and missed the cut by one. 

‍Best Comeback: Sam Stevens. Standing on the 14th tee on Friday, Stevens was three strokes off the cut line. With birdies not as available on Friday in the tougher conditions, it seemed a stretch for Stevens to make the cut. On 14, he hit a WILD shot that left him with a short birdie putt. He then birdied the next two holes. On 17, Stevens hit his tee shot into the wrong fairway and his approach into a bunker, but made a clutch par save.  His 67 on Friday was one of the better rounds of the day. 

Number of players that made it through from each site:

‍England: 0/8

Japan: 2/3 

Dallas: 3/9 

Washington 0/2

Canada: 1/3 

Los Angeles (Hillcrest CC): 2/5

Florida: 0/3

Georgia: 1/3

Maryland: 1/4

New Jersey: 0/4

Columbus: 3/11

Springfield: 4/6

North Carolina: 1/5