U.S. Open Final Qualifying results: Who advanced to The Country Club in Brookline

Final Qualifying for the U.S. Open is known as the "Longest Day in Golf," and players compete for 36 holes across various sites in their quest to earn the right to compete in the year's third major. The U.S. Open is traditionally known as the most democratic of golf's biggest events because it offers so many spots to qualifiers.

Local Qualifying for the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club was held at 109 sites between April 25 and May 23. Next up was 36-hole Final Qualifying, held at 11 sites; two on May 23, nine on June 6.

Based on strength of field at each Final Qualifying site, the number of spots awarded in the U.S. Open field varied by site. The scoring hub for all 11 sites can be found here.

Five of the top stories from 2022 U.S. Open Final Qualifying ...

• Fran Quinn, 57, advanced to play at Brookline, just 40 minutes from his hometown of Holden, Massachusetts. The four-time Korn Ferry Tour winner last competed in the U.S. Open in 2014, making the cut with his son Owen on the bag. Quinn competed at the Final Qualifying site in Purchase, New York; he carded 2-under across 36 holes and survived an 8-for-3 playoff.

• Erik Barnes, 34, advanced to tee it up at his first career major championship. The Austin Peay alum has held Korn Ferry Tour status since 2015 and crossed the fail-safe points threshold to secure his first TOUR card on the day prior to competing at Final Qualifying. The Indiana native carded 6-under across 36 holes at the Final Qualifying site in Roswell, Georgia, and made birdie on the first hole of a 3-for-2 playoff to earn his spot at Brookline. During the COVID-19 pandemic hiatus, Barnes worked at a Publix supermarket as a Grocery Replenishment Specialist to support his family.

• Keith Greene, 29, will embrace the big stage of Brookline after several years bouncing around various mini-tours in chase of his professional golf dreams. The Florida native lists earnings of $850 on the Florida Elite Golf Tour, and he carded 4-under at the Jupiter, Florida site to earn the chance to test his game against the game's elite.

• Chris Gotterup, who recently completed his fifth collegiate season at Oklahoma after four years at Rutgers, advanced to compete in his first U.S. Open. The New Jersey native was awarded the 2022 Haskins Award as the top player in college golf and finished seventh in the PGA TOUR University Ranking presented by Velocity Global. He advanced through the Purchase, New York site.

• William Mouw, who recently completed his junior season at Pepperdine, carded 12-under at the San Francisco site (Olympic Club) to earn a tee time at The Country Club. The son of a chicken egg farmer, Mouw finished five clear of the field at his site. He represented the United States on the 2021 United States Walker Cup team.

Here's a look at who advanced from all 11 Final Qualifying sites, as professionals and amateurs alike earned the opportunity to compete against the world's best at the U.S. Open, to be contested June 16-19 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, outside Boston.

Here's a look at who advanced to compete at the U.S. Open ...

June 6

The Club at Admirals Cove (North/West)
Jupiter, Florida
70 players for 4 spots
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

Ryan Gerard (Raleigh, N.C.); 66-71–137; 5-under
Sean Jacklin (Scotland); 66-71–137; 5-under
Keith Greene (Debary, Fla.); 70-68–138, 4-under
Fred Biondi (a) (Brazil); 72-67–139, 3-under

Notes:

The son of a European legend who won a U.S. Open and captained the European Ryder Cup earned his way to the U.S. Open for the first time. Sean Jacklin (66-71) will play in his first U.S. Open, 52 years after his father, Tony Jacklin, won the 1970 U.S. Open at Hazeltine. Until Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell broke through to win the U.S. Open in 2010, Tony Jacklin was the only European champion in a span of 84 years.

Now his son will get a taste of the U.S. Open. Jacklin, 30, was an alternate at his Final Qualifying site on Monday morning and got a notification 20 minutes before he teed off. He responded with an opening round of 66. He has a 6-month-old son and looks forward to spending his first Father’s Day at the U.S. Open. Jacklin struggled down the stretch, making four bogeys in a six-hole stretch coming home, but he pulled everything together and made par on his last two holes to share medalist honors.

“I haven’t really let it sink in. Thirty-six holes, it was hot all day, I was cramping up. I was focused on surviving,” Jacklin told Golf Channel. “I knew it was close coming down the stretch … I’m really happy we get to go to Brookline.”

• Ryan Gerard, 22, was supposed to make a start at a PGA TOUR Canada event this week, but he was going to struggle to get there after his college team (North Carolina) made it into match play at the NCAA Championships in Arizona. As it turns out, Plan B worked out well. His challenges to get to Canada led him to U.S. Open Final Qualifying in South Florida, and rounds of 66-71 will lead him into his first U.S. Open next week. It will mark his professional debut.

“I always wanted to play against the best players in the world,” said Gerard, whose five rounds of 65 or better at North Carolina were a school record. “That was always a dream of mine.”

• Also making it through was little-known Keith Greene of DeBary, Florida, who bounces around a few smaller mini-tours across Florida, has played some on PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Latinoamerica with limited success, and currently lists earnings of $850 on the Florida Elite Golf Tour. Greene played solidly all day, making only a single bogey in each round, his second one arriving at his final hole of the day.

For a player with little status to play on bigger tours, this truly was a dream come true for the 29-year-old, and Greene was very emotional after his 68 in the afternoon proved enough to earn one of four available spots.

“I’m just really happy to be in this position,” he said. “I just believed so much in myself … it’s been hard, man.”

• Brazil’s Fred Biondi, an amateur, earned the fourth and final spot with a terrific second-round 67. Biondi played solidly all day, making only a single bogey in his opening round. His round included four birdies and no bogeys. Biondi won a pair of titles while playing for the University of Florida this spring (Florida Gators Invitational and Calusa Cup) and was runner-up at the NCAA Regional in Palm Beach, Florida.

• For Rickie Fowler, a local resident trying to earn his way to his 13th U.S. Open, a spirited afternoon rally fell one putt short. Fowler shot 4-under 67 in the afternoon, but it was not good enough to overcome his morning 73, which included a double bogey on his final hole. Also falling just shy was Austria’s Matthias Schwab, who made six birdies and led in the morning (67) but did not hold his spot among the top four. His second-round 73 included two double bogeys on his final nine at Admirals Cove, at the par-3 13th and par-5 16th.

-- Jeff Babineau

Ansley GC – Settindown Creek
Roswell, Georgia
4 spots available
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

Chase Seiffert (Panama City Beach, Fla.); 69-68-137; 7-under
Harry Hall (England); 71-66-137; 7-under
Erik Barnes (Marion, Ind.); 70-68-138; 6-under
Matt McCarty (Scottsdale, Ariz.); 71-67-138; 6-under

--

Monday afternoon in the Atlanta metroplex saw multiple delays – one for weather, one for a medical emergency – and the final U.S. Open berths available via the Ansley GC – Settindown site were ultimately decided as darkness descended upon Georgia.

PGA TOUR pro Chase Seiffert earned his first U.S. Open berth at 7-under, one stroke clear of the playoff. Sporting a stylish straw hat, the Florida State alum drained a 20-foot par-saver from the fringe on the 36th hole, which ultimately allowed him to elude a playoff. The Florida native, 30, has recorded four top-25s in 11 TOUR starts this season, playing on conditional status after finishing No. 138 on the 2020-21 FedExCup. He first earned a PGA TOUR card via the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour.

Korn Ferry Tour pro Harry Hall maintained the momentum from back-to-back top-fives, including a victory at the NV5 Invitational two weeks ago, to secure his first U.S. Open berth. This will mark Hall’s fifth career TOUR start and first major championship appearance. In an interview Monday evening after punching his ticket to Brookline, Hall reflected on fellow Englishman Jim Barnes’ win at the 1921 U.S. Open and how he would love to follow in Barnes’ footsteps. Hall stands No. 11 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, on the verge of securing his first PGA TOUR card via The 25.

Three players finished at 6-under through 36 holes – Erik Barnes, Matt McCarty and Patton Kizzire – necessitating a 3-for-2 playoff as darkness set in.

Barnes and McCarty each made birdie on the first playoff hole to advance to The Country Club, with Kizzire the odd man out.

Erik Barnes earned his first U.S. Open berth just one day after crossing the Korn Ferry Tour’s fail-safe threshold (875 points) to secure his first PGA TOUR card via The 25 at season’s end. The Austin Peay alum famously worked as a Grocery Replenishment Specialist at a Publix supermarket during the COVID-19 pandemic hiatus in 2020, and he has competed on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2015.

After draining a 20-footer on the final hole of regulation to force a playoff, Matt McCarty took advantage in overtime to earn his first career PGA TOUR start at Brookline. The Santa Clara graduate is playing his rookie Korn Ferry Tour season in 2022; he has made 11 cuts in 15 starts and currently stands No. 48 on the Regular Season Points List. McCarty earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Santa Clara in 2020 and a master’s degree in marketing in 2021.

-- Kevin Prise

Wedgewood G&CC/Kinsale G&FC
Powell, Ohio
120 players for 13 spots
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

Lanto Griffin (Blacksburg, Va.); 69-62-131, 12-under
Chan Kim (Gilbert, Ariz.); 62-69-131, 12-under
Davis Riley (Hattiesburg, Miss.); 69-63-132, 11-under
Chris Naegel (Wildwood, Mo.); 65-69-134, 9-under
Sam Bennett (a) (Madisonville, Texas); 69-66-135, 8-under
Danny Lee (New Zealand); 65-70-135, 8-under
Adam Schenk (Vinceness, Ind.); 69-66-135, 8-under
Denny McCarthy (Rockville, Md.); 69-67-136, 7-under
Joel Dahmen (Clarkston, Wash.); 71-66-137, 6-under
Patrick Rodgers (Jupiter, Fla.); 70-67-137, 6-under
Andrew Putnam (University Place, Wash.); 68-69-137, 6-under
Wyndham Clark (Denver, Colo.); 70-67-137, 6-under
Hayden Buckley (Tupelo, Miss.); 68-70-138, 5-under (advanced via playoff)

Notes:

• Lanto Griffin is ranked No. 104 in the world and has played in three previous U.S. Opens – a tie for 35th place last year at Torrey Pines and a tie for 43rd at Winged Foot in 2020. He won the PGA TOUR’s Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open in 2019 and tied for sixth place last month at the Wells Fargo Championship. He stands No. 49 on the FedExCup.

• Chan Kim has seven professional victories on his resume. The 32-year-old is ranked No. 107 in the world, plays mostly on the Japan Golf Tour and won twice last fall – the Vantelin Tokai Classic in October and the Dunlop Phoenix in November. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship and tied for 67th place last week at the Memorial. This will be his fifth U.S. Open appearance.

• Davis Riley, 25, has played in the 2015 and 2020 U.S. Opens and has recorded three top-five finishes on the PGA TOUR this season, including a runner-up in the Valspar Championship after losing to Sam Burns in a playoff. He’s up to No. 86 in the World Ranking and he’s 21st in the FedExCup standings. He was twice runner-up in the U.S. Junior Amateur – to Scottie Scheffler in 2013 and Will Zalatoris in 2014.

• Chris Naegel, 39, is mostly known for what he did to qualify for the U.S. Open four years ago at Shinnecock Hills. After telling his wife a month earlier that he was going to quit playing professional golf, he closed his 36-hole Final Qualifying site with a birdie and an eagle on the last two holes to get into a playoff, where he would ultimately make birdie to advance. His eagle was a 40-footer, getting up and down from a fairway bunker more than 200 yards away. He is ranked No. 1,751 in the OWGR.

• Sam Bennett, an amateur from Madisonville, Texas, finished his season at Texas A&M ranked fourth by Golfstat and was second in the PGA TOUR University’s Velocity Global Ranking until he announced last week that he intends to return to College Station for a fifth and final season. He finished 10th at last week’s NCAA Championship and was named a PING First-Team All-American for the second consecutive season.

• Danny Lee, 31, will be playing in his fourth U.S. Open. He won A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier in 2015 by defeating David Hearn, Robert Streb and Kevin Kisner in a playoff. Later that year, after a T2 at the TOUR Championship, he rose to a career-high 36th in the World Ranking. He’s now ranked 284th in the world and 77th in the FedExCup standings. His last top-10 finish came last year at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.

• Adam Schenk, 30, tied for 29th place last week at the Memorial, finished T41 at the PGA Championship and tied for ninth at last month’s Wells Fargo Championship. This will be his second major championship and he has missed the cut twice in THE PLAYERS Championship (2021, 2022). He’s ranked 172nd in the world and 80th in FedExCup points.

• Denny McCarthy, 29, is coming off a T5 at last week’s Memorial Tournament. He’s up to 43rd in the FedExCup standings. He was a member of the 2015 U.S. Walker Cup team and has already competed in two U.S. Opens, finishing T42 at Chambers Bay in 2015. Played in seven straight U.S. Amateurs from 2009-2015.

• Joel Dahmen, 34, is ranked 126th in the world and will be competing in his third U.S. Open after missing the cut in both 2019 and 2020. This will be his ninth start in a major championship with a 10th-place tie at the 2020 PGA Championship being his best finish. Dahmen won the Corales Puntacana Championship in 2021. He’s 73rd in FedExCup points.

• Patrick Rodgers, 29, will be playing in his fourth U.S. Open, having made the cut in the previous three in 2016, 2018 and 2021. He tied for 31st place last year at Torrey Pines. He missed the cut last week at the Memorial but made three cuts on the PGA TOUR prior to that, including a 10th-place finish at the Mexico Open at Vidanta. He stands No. 223 in the World Ranking.

• Andrew Putnam, 33, has played in three previous U.S. Opens and his best finish is a T43 in 2019. He’s ranked No. 150 in the world and tied for sixth place earlier this year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He missed the cut last week at the Memorial but tied for 15th the week before at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Won the 2018 Barracuda Championship and has two wins on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2014 and 2017 respectively. His brother Michael has played in six U.S. Opens.

• Wyndham Clark, 28, tied for 37th place last week at the Memorial and will be playing in his second U.S. Open after qualifying last year for Torrey Pines. Best finish on the PGA TOUR this year is 13th at The American Express. Clark will be one of the few in the field who is familiar with The Country Club at Brookline, as he reached the match play portion of the 2013 U.S. Amateur held there.

• Hayden Buckley, 26, qualifies for the U.S. Open for the second consecutive year. The Missouri alum earned his first TOUR card via the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour; he began that season with conditional status and was propelled by a victory at the 2021 LECOM Suncoast Classic, into which he gained entry as an alternate Thursday morning. He successfully navigated a 5-for-1 playoff Tuesday morning in Ohio to earn his spot at Brookline.

-- Jay Coffin

Springfield CC
Springfield, Ohio
77 players for 8 spots
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

MJ Daffue (South Africa); 67-66–133; 7-under
Brian Stuard (Jackson, Mich.); 68-65–133; 7-under
Beau Hossler (Austin, Texas); 67-68–135; 5-under
Maxwell Moldovan (a) (Uniontown, Ohio); 66-69–135; 5-under
Troy Merritt (Eagle, Idaho); 67-69–136; 4-under
Bo Hoag (Columbus, Ohio); 67-69–136; 4-under
Sam Stevens (Eastborough, Kan.); 66-70–136; 4-under
Adrien Dumont de Chassart (a) (Belgium); 70-66–136; 4-under

Notes:

• Horses for courses? Meet Brian Stuard. The 39-year-old from Michigan made it to his seventh U.S. Open on Monday, and all seven times he has gone through Final Qualifying in Springfield. He finished strongly, shooting 65 in his second round on Monday to finish as medalist or co-medalist for the fourth time. He also led the way in 2013, 2014 and 2019. A year ago, he advanced to the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines by shooting 66-69.

• South Africa’s MJ Daffue has been having a solid season on the Korn Ferry Tour, and now the 33-year-old from Pretoria will test his game against the very best. With rounds of 67-66 (7 under) at Springfield (Ohio) Country Club, Daffue earned one of eight spots available into the upcoming U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. He and Brian Stuard (second-round 65) shared medalist honors.

Daffue, 33, has three top-three finishes and five top-10s in his 13 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, ranking third in points among Korn Ferry Tour players. In 52 career starts since 2013 that have awarded World Ranking points, the South African has yet to win.

• Several familiar names from the PGA TOUR earned their way through at Springfield, including Beau Hossler (67-68), Troy Merritt (67-69), and Ohio State product Bo Hoag (67-69). Hossler, 27, from Texas, will be playing in his fourth U.S. Open, but his first since 2015. He played in his first in 2011, but it was 2012, at Olympic Club, where he garnered a big portion of the spotlight, opening 70-73-70 before falling on Sunday into a tie for 29th. It stands as his best finish at a major championship.

• Merritt (67-69) will play in his third consecutive U.S. Open, his fourth overall. The 36-year-old from Eagle, Idaho, is a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR.

• Amateur Maxwell Modovan, a current standout at Ohio State, will play in the U.S. Open after rounds of 66-69. In 2019, he was the first player from Ohio to earn AJGA Player of the Year honors.

• Also making the grade at 4-under 136, which tied for fifth, was Sam Stevens of the Korn Ferry Tour. His morning 66 included an eagle at the par-5 second hole to go alongside three birdies. Stevens’ top finish in 13 starts this season is a tie for seventh at the AdventHealth Championship in late May.

• Earning the final spot at 4-under 136 was amateur Adrien Dumont de Chassart, who is the reigning two-time Big Ten Golfer of the Year (2021, 2022) at Illinois. He needed to make birdie at the par-4 18th hole to avoid a playoff; he hit 3-wood, pitching wedge to a foot.

• Five players fell one shot above the cutline, a group that included PGA TOUR players Cameron Davis and Jim Herman, former Illinois standout Nick Hardy, Jon Trasamar of Minnesota and amateur Jackson Chandler. Chandler shot 5-under 65 in his second round, making seven birdies.

-- Jeff Babineau

Century CC/Old Oaks CC
Purchase, New York
92 players for 5 spots
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

Chris Gotterup (Little Silver, N.J.); 67-70-137, 3-under
Caleb Manuel (a) (Topsham, Maine); 69-68-137, 3-under
Brandon Matthews (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.); 70-68-138, 2-under (advanced via playoff)
Michael Thorbjornsen (Wellesley, Mass.); 67-71-138, 2-under (advanced via playoff)
Fran Quinn (Holden, Mass.); 69-69-138; 2-under (advanced via playoff)

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Amateurs ruled the day in Purchase, New York, as competitors played the Century Country Club and Old Oaks Country Club in U.S. Open Final Qualifying, battling for five spots into the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts

Chris Gotterup, the biggest standout in collegiate golf this season – the Oklahoma grad transfer from Rutgers captured both the 2022 Fred Haskins Award as well as the Jack Nicklaus Award this weekend in Columbus, Ohio –already had a hectic early summer schedule planned. Monday in Purchase, the 22-year-old from New Jersey added the 122nd U.S. Open to his schedule, which includes scheduled starts at the RBC Canadian Open, Travelers Championship and John Deere Classic.

Gotterup’s morning 67 (3 under) on the strength of five birdies at Century Country Club put him just one shot off the leading pace of PGA TOUR/Korn Ferry Tour veteran Jamie Lovemark, and even with a rough afternoon finish at Old Oaks – a double bogey at his 34th hole of the day, followed by a bogey – Gotterup held on to co-medal and earn one of five spots available to 92 players.

Matching Gotterup at 3-under 137 for 36 holes was amateur Caleb Manuel from Topsham, Maine. Manuel was a runner-up to Cody Paladino in the 2021 New England Amateur. Manuel, owner of a 59 at his home club (Brunswick Golf Club), won the Maine Junior two summers ago by holing out a second shot from 193 yards for an albatross to win by one. Manuel carded a closing 2-under 68 at Century to catch Gotterup.

There were eight players vying for the final three spots who were knotted at 2-under 138. That group included 57-year-old PGA TOUR/PGA TOUR Champions veteran Fran Quinn (69-69), who was in the field alongside his son, Owen; Kelly Kraft (69-69), the former U.S. Amateur champion trying to make it to his first U.S. Open; high school senior Ben James (70-68) of Milford, Connecticut, who heads to the University of Virginia in a few months; Iceland’s Haraldur Magnus (69-69); South Floridians Brandon Matthews (70-68) and Michael Sweeney (69-69); Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen 67-71); and Texan Chandler Phillips, who made the biggest rally of the afternoon, making six birdies in a 10-hole stretch to shoot 65 at Century, rebounding from his opening 73. Three years ago, at age 17, Thorbjornsen became the second youngest player since World War II to make the cut at a U.S. Open.

Surviving the 8-for-3 playoff: Fran Quinn, Brandon Matthews and Michael Thorbjornsen.

Gotterup, who finished seventh in this year's Puerto Rico Open, said he plans to turn professional by the time he tees it up at the U.S. Open. This will be his first.

"You grow up and watch it on TV and I'd say it's the one I want to win the most," he said. "It's all a mental test ... it's going to be a long, hard fight."

Lovemark, 34, has made 180 starts on the PGA TOUR and has played in two previous U.S. Opens, with a pair of top-30 finishes, but faltered in his second 18 holes, slipping to 79. Lovemark tied for 18th in the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay and tied for 27th in 2017 at Erin Hills. He owns two Korn Ferry Tour victories and has earned $6.6 million on the PGA TOUR. Other notable names not getting through: Ricky Barnes (71-68), a runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Open, and former PGA TOUR winner Johnson Wagner (70-82).

-- Jeff Babineau

Woodmont CC – North Course
Rockville, Maryland
78 players for 4 spots
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

Joseph Bramlett (Las Vegas); 66-70-136, 8-under
Grayson Murray (Raleigh, N.C.); 66-72-138, 6-under
Kevin Chappell (Fresno, Calif.); 69-72-141, 3-under
Andrew Beckler (Topeka, Kan.); 69-72-141, 3-under

Notes:

• Joseph Bramlett, 34, tied for 51st two weeks ago at the AT&T Byron Nelson and has one professional victory on his resume, a win last September at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. He has played in two U.S. Opens but they were nine years apart, in 2010 and 2019. He missed the cut both times. Won an NCAA Championship as a team while at Stanford back in 2007 and first earned his PGA TOUR card through Q-School 12 years ago.

• Grayson Murray, 28, will be playing in only his third major championship, and his second U.S. Open. He played in 2013 at Merion. He’s now ranked No. 548 in the world, but is a PGA TOUR winner, capturing the 2017 Barbasol Championship by a shot over Chad Collins. He shot consecutive 64s that week in the second and third rounds. Won the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in 2016 on the Korn Ferry Tour.

• Kevin Chappell, 35, has played in seven U.S. Opens and tied for third place in 2011 and tied for 10th place in 2012. This will be his 20th major championship start. He hasn’t had a top-10 finish on the PGA TOUR in over two years although, to date, 2017 was his most successful campaign as he won the Valero Texas Open by a shot over Brooks Koepka and later played on the U.S. Presidents Cup team and earned a 1-1-1 record.

• Andrew Beckler, 25, was the 2021 Jack Nicklaus Division II National Player of the Year from Washburn University and won five individual titles there his last season, losing to only a total of seven players the whole year. He finished second at the Division II NCAA Championship and was a PING First-Team All-American.

-- Jay Coffin

RattleSnake Point GC (CopperHead)
Milton, Ontario, Canada
22 players for 3 spots
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

Jonas Blixt (Sweden); 67-65-132, 10-under
Callum Tarren (England); 68-65-133; 9-under
Satoshi Kodaira (Japan); 68-65-133; 9-under

--

MILTON, Ont. – At the Canadian Final Qualifying site for this year’s U.S. Open, it only makes sense the three players who earned their spots at The Country Club at Brookline were international stars.

Jonas Blixt of Sweden, Callum Tarren of England and Satoshi Kodaira emerged from a field of 22 players at RattleSnake Point Golf Club’s Copperhead course to qualify for the 2022 U.S. Open.

BLIXT BACK IN A MAJOR

Blixt, 38, shot 10 under to earn medalist honors by one shot over Tarren and Kodaira. The three-time TOUR winner is currently competing on a major medical extension. He has missed eight of his last nine cuts on the PGA TOUR and withdrew at the AT&T Byron Nelson due to food poisoning but said Monday just north of Toronto the recent changes he’s been working on in his game have paid off in spades.

“I think too much on the golf course, technically,” he said. “Today I just wanted to go out and not think too much and just play, and I did OK with that.

“Made some putts and things are going a lot better with my game. It was nice to see that today.”

Despite admitting his back was tired Monday afternoon – a myriad of back injuries is what kept the Swede on the shelf the last few seasons – Blixt (67-65) managed to stay strong through his second round. He was 7 under through his final 15 holes and dropped his approach on the 18th hole of his second round to just a few feet for an exclamation-point birdie.

He said playing as a twosome, given the limited field, helped him to find a good cadence to his day.

“I was just looking for something good in my game. It was really nice to only have a twosome and get going in the morning and not have to wait and not stress about anything,” he said. “It was just a nice little walk out there.”

This will be the second U.S. Open for Blixt. He missed the cut in 2014.

TARREN ON TOP

Tarren said getting more comfortable on the PGA TOUR has helped him turn his season around – and that positive momentum continued into the U.S. Open qualifier.

Tarren, 31, who was originally supposed to play The Club at Admirals Cove but was encouraged by his caddie to play in Canada since they were teeing it up at the RBC Canadian Open anyway, shot rounds of 68-65 to finish at 9 under. He was 4-under through seven holes in his second round, which was bogey-free, and he never looked back.

“When I arrived this morning, even with 27 players, I thought there might only be one spot. To hear ‘three’ I thought, ‘Holy moly, that’s pretty good,’” said Tarren of his odds.

The Englishman missed his first seven events in a row to start the TOUR season but has made his last four cuts in a row. He took three weeks off and returned to England, admitting that he “didn’t know what to expect” at the U.S. Open qualifier.

He said he didn’t feel as if he was playing poor golf earlier this year but thought it was more about getting over the mental hurdle of “playing with the big boys.” The renewed mental approach helped him to punch a ticket to Brookline.

“I missed four or five of those cuts by one. I wasn’t a million miles away, and nothing’s been totally different, to be honest,” he said. “I’ve just gotten more comfortable out there and I know I can compete out there, and that’s a big factor.”

This will be the second U.S. Open for Tarren. He missed the cut in 2019.

KODAIRA STAMPS HIS TICKET

Kodaira opened his day with an eagle on the par-5 first Monday morning and closed with a birdie Monday evening. And it turns out he needed both to qualify for the U.S. Open.

Canadian Jared du Toit was tied with Kodaira late in his second round before hitting his approach shot on the par-4 18th into the bunker. He couldn’t convert his par and dropped to 7 under.

Kodaira (68-65) matched Tarren’s 36-hole total of 9 under.

“Very happy,” said Kodaira, the winner of the 2018 RBC Heritage.

This will be the Japan native’s third U.S. Open. He finished T46 in 2017 and missed the cut in 2018.

-- Adam Stanley

Olympic Club
San Francisco
90 players for 5 spots
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

William Mouw (a) (Chino, Calif.); 67-63-130, 12-under
Charles Reiter (a) (Palm Desert, Calif.); 66-69-135, 7-under
Luke Gannon (Mahomet, Ill.); 68-68-136, 6-under
Taylor Montgomery (Las Vegas); 67-69-136, 6-under
Jesse Mueller (Phoenix); 69-67-136, 6-under

Notes:

• William Mouw, a 21-year-old amateur, tied for fifth place last week in the NCAA Championship as a junior at Pepperdine, finishing one shot out of a four-man playoff for the individual title. Was a member of the Pepperdine team that won the team NCAA Championship in 2021. The son of a chicken egg farmer, Mouw was a member of the victorious 2021 U.S. Walker Cup team. After a first-round 67, he shot a second-round 63 that included nine birdies.

• Charles Reiter, a 22-year-old amateur, just finished his redshirt junior season at the University of San Diego. He reached U.S. Open Final Qualifying last year but did not advance to Torrey Pines. His goal now is to play amateur golf the rest of the summer, hopefully culminating with an appearance in the U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey. After that he plans to turn professional and go through the various qualifying processes to earn some sort of status for 2023.

• Luke Gannon, 25, is from Wichita, Kansas and turned professional in 2019 after a college career at Southern Illinois where he helped lead his team to two Missouri Valley Conference championships. He was also a two-time Missouri Valley Conference All-Conference selection his last two seasons there. Gannon has status on PGA TOUR Canada this season; he missed the cut in last week’s opening event of the summer in Victoria.

• Taylor Montgomery, 27, is a Korn Ferry Tour player who made the cut in last year’s U.S. Open and finished T11 in the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year. Also last year, he finished 26th in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Regular Season and Finals Points standings, missing a PGA TOUR card by one position each time. In his last 10 Korn Ferry Tour events this year, he has recorded eight top-15 finishes. He currently ranks No. 7 on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List.

• Jesse Mueller, 39, is a volunteer assistant coach at Grand Canyon University and the general manager at the school’s golf course. He won the PGA Professional Championship in April, which qualified him for the PGA Championship last month at Southern Hills. He missed the cut. But this will be Mueller’s second U.S. Open start. He finished T51 at the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club.

-- Jay Coffin

Pronghorn Resort (Nicklaus)
Bend, Oregon
3 spots available
Click here for final results

Qualifiers

Isaiah Salinda (San Francisco), 68-68–136; 8-under
Brady Calkins (Chehalis, Wash.); 68-68–136; 8-under
Ben Lorenz (a) (Peoria, Ariz.); 71-67–138; 6-under (advanced via playoff)

Notes:

• Isaiah Salinda, 25, a native of San Francisco who helped to lead Stanford to an NCAA title in 2019, is a former first team All-Pac-12 performer. He won the 2018 Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, reached the Round of 16 at the 2019 U.S. Amateur and once shot 62 on the Lakes Course at Olympic Club. He made one start this spring in Brazil on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, missing the cut. He was 2 over through four holes to start his second round (he teed off on the 10th), then answered with this run: Birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie. He added three more birdies on the first six holes of the front nine, which was his second nine. Salinda was 10-under with two holes to play, but he finished bogey-bogey to share medalist honors.

• Brady Calkins, 27, was the second-leading money earner on the 2021 Dakotas Tour ($43,122.50). In high school, he was a standout pitcher, going 7-0 with 48 strikeouts in 53 innings to help lead his team to a state title. He played one year of golf at Community Colleges of Spokane (Washington), and though he earned Division I offers, turned professional at age 19. He was both leading money winner and Dakotas Tour Player of the Year in 2018-20. His second-round 68 on Monday was as clean a scorecard as you’ll see: Two birdies, an eagle at the par-5 eighth hole, and 15 pars.

• Amateur Ben Lorenz is a rising junior at Oklahoma by way of Arizona, where he was the top-ranked player in the state’s 2020 class. He was in the Sooners lineup for match play at the NCAA Championship a year ago, but not this spring. At Pronghorn on Monday, beginning at the par-4 11th hole in his afternoon round, Lorenz made his move up the board by making four birdies in a five-hole stretch.

Lorenz made birdie on the second playoff hole to edge fellow amateur Ty Travis for the site's final berth at Brookline.

-- Jeff Babineau

Here's a look at who advanced through the two qualifying sites conducted on Monday, May 23 ...

May 23

Caledonian Golf Club; Chiba Prefecture, Japan
28 players for 3 spots

Qualifiers
Tomoyasu Sugiyama (Japan); 69-66-135; 9-under
Daijiro Izumida (Japan); 68-68-136; 8-under
Todd Sinnott (Australia); 68-70-138; 6-under (advanced via playoff)

Full leaderboard

Notes:

• Tomoyasu Sugiyama will make his second PGA TOUR start; he debuted at the 2021 ZOZO Championship, finishing T57. He stands No. 279 on the Official World Golf Ranking. In 2021, he won the Japan Tour's Bridgestone Open and Japan Challenge Tour's JAPAN PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP CHALLENGE.

• Daijiro Izumida will make his first career PGA TOUR start. He stands No. 627 on the Official World Golf Ranking. His most recent OWGR-recognized victory came at the 2018 RIZAP KBC Augusta on the Japan Tour.

• Todd Sinnott will make his first career PGA TOUR start. He stands No. 415 on the Official World Golf Ranking. He won this year's TPS Victoria hosted by Geoff Ogilvy on the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia. The 30-year-old also won the 2017 Leopalace 2021 Myanmar Open, co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.

--

Lakewood CC and Royal Oaks CC; Dallas, Texas
98 players for 13 spots

Qualifiers
Kurt Kitayama (Chico, California); 65-66-131; 11-under
Matthew NeSmith (Aiken, South Carolina); 62-69-131; 11-under
Jinichiro Kozuma (Japan); 68-63-131; 11-under
Sean Crocker (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida); 64-67-131; 11-under
Andrew Novak (St. Simons Island, Georgia); 65-67-132; 10-under
Mackenzie Hughes (Canada); 65-68-133; 9-under
Rikuya Hoshino (Japan); 66-67-133; 9-under
Ben Silverman (Juno Beach, Florida); 64-69-133; 9-under
Nick Taylor (Canada); 65-68-133; 9-under
Travis Vick (Hunters Creek Village, Texas); 68-65-133; 9-under
Scott Stallings (Oak Ridge, Tennessee); 67-67-134; 8-under
Davis Shore (Knoxville, Tennessee); 65-70-135; 7-under (advanced via playoff)
Roger Sloan (Canada); 66-69-135; 7-under (advanced via playoff)

Full leaderboard

Notes:

• First-year PGA TOUR member Kurt Kitayama will make his second U.S. Open start (2020) and seventh major championship start overall. The UNLV alum, 29, has won twice on the DP World Tour. He finished solo third at The Honda Classic earlier this year, followed by a T2 at the Mexico Open at Vidanta.

• Matthew NeSmith, 28, will make his U.S. Open debut. The University of South Carolina alum aims to build on a missed cut at the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. The native of North Augusta, South Carolina, finished T3 at the Valspar Championship in March. He is a third-year TOUR member.

• Jinichiro Kozuma, 27, will make his U.S. Open debut. The Japan native made his major championship debut at last month's PGA Championship, missing the cut. He won the Japan Tour's Token Homemate Cup earlier this year and stands No. 103 on the Official World Golf Ranking.

• Sean Crocker, 25, will make his second major championship start; he finished T47 at the 2018 Open Championship. The Zimbabwe native competes predominantly on the DP World Tour, on which he has a trio of runner-up finishes but is still in search of his first victory.

• Andrew Novak, 27, is set for his major championship debut. The PGA TOUR rookie played collegiately at Wofford and earned his first TOUR card via the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour, on which he won the 2020 LECOM Suncoast Classic. The Raleigh, North Carolina native spent much of his childhood in Charleston, South Carolina.

• Mackenzie Hughes, 31, is set for his 13th major championship start. He has made four prior U.S. Open appearances, highlighted by a T15 last year at Torrey Pines, where he held a share of the 54-hole lead. The native of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is a PGA TOUR veteran and winner of The RSM Classic in 2016.

• Rikuya Hoshino, 26, has made five prior major championship starts, including U.S. Open appearances in 2018 and 2021. He finished T26 at the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Hoshino is a five-time winner on the Japan Tour, in addition to four runner-up finishes on that circuit.

• Ben Silverman, 34, is set for his major championship debut. The native of Thornhill, Ontario, Canada was a PGA TOUR member in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, and he has embraced the grind of qualifiers as he aims for a TOUR return. Silverman played competitive ice hockey until he was 15, and he earned his first TOUR card via the 2017 Korn Ferry Tour.

• Nick Taylor, 34, is set for his seventh major championship appearance. The native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada has made two cuts in three prior U.S. Open appearances, highlighted by a T36 at the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, where he finished as low amateur. The University of Washington alum is a two-time TOUR winner.

• Travis Vick recently completed his junior season at the University of Texas and is set for his major championship debut. The Houston native won the 2018 Junior PLAYERS and was the No. 2-ranked junior prospect in the high school class of 2019. He recently helped the Longhorns to the 2022 NCAA Division I men's golf national title; Texas defeated Arizona State in the title match, 3-2, aided by Vick's 1-up victory against Cameron Sisk.

• Scott Stallings, 37, is set for his 12th career major championship start. The native of Worcester, Massachusetts, said that qualifying for the U.S. Open in his home state was one of the priorities on his 2022 calendar, and he delivered on his goal. The Tennessee Tech alum is a three-time PGA TOUR winner, most recently at the 2014 Farmers Insurance Open.

• Davis Shore, 23, advances through U.S. Open Final Qualifying for the second consecutive year. The 2020 University of Alabama alum is competing on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica this season. The native of Knoxville, Tennessee, overcame a tore hip labrum and a serious fracture in his L3 vertebrae, which sidelined him for three years in college, to carve out a professional career.

• Roger Sloan, 35, is set for his first major championship appearance. The native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada is a fifth-year PGA TOUR member; he has recorded two career runner-up finishes on TOUR. Sloan won the Korn Ferry Tour's 2014 Nova Scotia Open en route to earning his first TOUR card; he regained his card via the 2018 Korn Ferry Tour Finals and has maintained TOUR membership since.