Road to the U.S Open: Florida

Host Course

The Bear’s Club, another Nicklaus-designed course (multiple of his designs are being used in final qualifying), was established in 1999. It is the home course of multiple PGA Tour players and hosts a strong field because of its location. The par 72 layout is just below 7200 yards. 

‍Players in the field: 72

‍Number of spots available: 6 to 8

‍Most Decorated Players in the field

‍Joaquin Niemann—it goes without saying that he is the best player across the 10 sites. Niemann is looking to play in his 17th straight Major. So far this year, he has a T22 at the Masters and a T39 at the PGA Championship. In addition to his two LIV wins this year, he has finished in the top nine in six of the seven events. 

‍LIV heavy- Dean Burmester, Branden Grace, Anirban Lahiri, Graeme McDowell, Mito Pereira, Charl Schwartzel, Cameron Tringale, and Peter Uihlein, all who play on LIV are in the field. That and some PGA Tour stalwarts make this field very good. 

‍Matt Kuchar- The nine-time PGA Tour winner hasn’t won in almost five years and has missed nine of his last ten cuts in Majors, dating back to 2022. And although this season hasn’t gone well either, Kuchar has made two cuts in a row coming into the Canadian Open, including his first top-25 (T17) at the Charles Schwab. 

‍Luke Donald- The victorious Ryder Cup Captain, seven-time Euro Tour, and five-time PGA Tour winner is looking to play in the U.S. Open for the first time since 2019. Donald has just one top-10 finish at the U.S. Open, a T8 in 2013. 

‍Other PGA Tour Winners in the field

Ryan Armour

Daniel Berger

‍Storylines

‍Kevin Aylwin- The long-time mini-tour legend played in his first PGA Tour event earlier this year at the Valspar Championship. I told his story about him and his wife escaping their home out a front window during a hurricane a few years before. I included his Venmo; many amazing followers helped raise money for him. 

Scott Hend- The long-hitting Aussie just turned 50 but has played very well in limited starts on the Asian Tour. He has a runner-up and an eighth-place finish in his last three starts. Hend also finished T4 at the Senior PGA last week in his first start on the Champions Tour. He owns 10 career Asian Tour victories, which is fourth all-time on that Tour. 

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