Five players earn entry into U.S. Open

Although not in the traditional sense, the WinCo Foods Portland Open Presented by KraftHeinz still provided some drama late on Sunday.

At the conclusion of the WinCo Foods Portland Open the top five on The 25 would earn berths in the U.S. Open – since the second major championship of the year on the PGA TOUR was rescheduled due to COVID-19 and there would be no qualifying events in 2020.

Lee Hodges and Paul Barjon – who finished first and T2, respectively – earned the final Korn Ferry Tour spots. Hodges, who won the event in Portland, leaped from 15th to third, while 54-hole co-leader Barjon moved from 7th to 5th.

Mito Pereira was bumped from 5th to 6th while Dylan Wu, who missed the cut in Portland, moved all the way from 4th to 8th.

Usually the Winco Foods Portland Open marks the conclusion of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Regular Season – with 25 PGA TOUR cards awarded and the top-75 earning a spot in the Korn Ferry Tour Playoffs. With the COVID-19 pandemic impacting the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour schedule, the Korn Ferry Tour will now have a wraparound Regular Season schedule concluding in Portland in 2021.

“My goal at the beginning of the week was that U.S. Open spot,” said Barjon, the 2019 Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada Player of the Year and who will make his major championship debut at this year’s U.S. Open.

“Obviously the goal every week is to win, but this week there was a little extra incentive.”

The story of the week was Hodges, however, who won for the first time on the Korn Ferry Tour. His win, by two shots over Barjon, David Lipsky, Chad Ramey, and Yechun Yuan, ended with an emphatic and primal scream of emption on the 72nd green. It was another proud moment for an University of Alabama alum on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Hodges has never played a major championship before.

“It will be sweet to play in a major. It will be special,” said Hodges. “I’ve always admired the U.S. Open and the way you have to play out there; it’s proper golf. I think I play a lot of proper golf and I hope to go and play well.”

Roommates Will Zalatoris and Davis Riley swapped the Nos. 1 and 2 spots on The 25. Riley, who didn’t play in Portland, was jumped by Zalatoris who finished 6th – his eighth top-10 of the season.

Zalatoris hasn’t missed a cut this season and has been on fire since the Return to Golf, going T6-T3-4-1-T5-T14-6. He played the U.S. Open once before, right out of his celebrated time at Wake Forest, but admitted he wasn’t playing very well at the time.

“It’s nice to have some momentum going into it now. I’m all around excited,” said Zalatoris. “I’ve heard a lot of great things about Winged Foot and I think the U.S. Open, out of all the majors, fits my game the best. You typically have to be a good ball striker, so hopefully it will be good for me.”

Riley, meanwhile, knew his top-5 spot was secured before the week and took a pass on Portland. He has played the U.S. Open before (in 2015) and said the ‘awe’ factor won’t be as impactful as it was five years ago when he made his major championship debut.

“I’ve learned what to expect and I’m excited to compete in a major,” he said. “The game is in a great spot and I’m just going to try to keep the momentum going for the next few weeks going in. I’m looking forward to a great week in New York.”

Canadian Taylor Pendrith – who, like Zalatoris has had a sizzling month on the Korn Ferry Tour, going T3-2-T2-T2-T22 his last five events – rounds out the top-5 on the Regular Season Points List.

Pendrith won twice on the Mackenzie Tour a year ago and was locked in a late-season battle with Barjon for top spot on that Tour’s Order of Merit. He’s never played a major championship before and he’s excited to go compete with the best in the world while heaping praise on the host venue.

“Winged Foot is an awesome-looking golf course. I’ve never been there but it looks long and hard. It would be awesome to be able to go test my game against the best in the world,” he said.

Indeed, while Zalatoris, Riley, Hodges, Pendrith, and Barjon have already tested their mettle against some of the best in the world on the Korn Ferry Tour to earn a spot in the second major of the year, they’re all looking ahead to taking their games – and their experience – to the next level this fall.

Originally scheduled for mid-June, the 2020 U.S. Open will be contested at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York Sept. 17-20.