One Player’s Arduous Journey to Oakmont

As he stood on the tee at the 72nd hole of a PGA Tour Latinoamerica event in Argentina in 2023, Chandler Blanchet had a one-shot lead, $20,000 in credit card debt and his first child due in a month. 

His nearest chaser, Leandro Marelli, hit a monstrous drive on the short par-4 home hole and had a short pitch left for his second shot. Blanchet, the 2017 NCAA Division II individual champion at West Florida, had trailed before reaching the back nine of the final round. Then he ran off four consecutive birdies and an eagle to take the lead. Even after seeing Marelli unleash a drive toward the 18th green, Blanchet stuck to his game plan and hit a hybrid into the fairway.

It had been a difficult journey. He had lost his Korn Ferry Tour status the previous year, but in November 2022, he Monday qualified into his first PGA Tour event, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. He and his wife, Machaela– a former gymnast at N.C. State University–had a glimmer of hope.

“That was the only time I’ve seen him really break down,” Michaela says. “He cried. It was like, ‘Wow, I’m playing in a PGA Tour event.’”

The happiness was short-lived. Blanchet missed the cut and like that, he was headed back to PGA Tour Latinoamerica. The Friday night after the missed cut in Bermuda, Chandler and Michaela sat down to figure out a plan to make things work financially. Michaela worked full-time as a recruiter for a software company, but their family was set to grow the following year.

“With golf, you don’t know when a paycheck is coming in,” Michaela says. “There’s been times when we’ve gone through a long stretch of not having a paycheck, and me being the sole provider.”

As he played the final hole in Argentina, Chandler was trying to get back to the Korn Ferry Tour. Trying to get out of debt. Trying to give Michaela peace of mind before the baby came. All of that could have weighed heavily on the 27-year-old.

For the fourth time, he had just read Jim Murphy’s book, Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life. This would be a test to determine how much he had learned.

“It’s so easy in golf to be result-oriented or focused on your score,” Blanchet says. “The truth is I’m living my dream and playing against the best players I can play against right now.” The stress of managing tournament expenses was eased when Carry–– a company that offers brands and fans the opportunity to sponsor up-and-coming professional golfers–helped back him before Argentina. 

“I never had the thought of playing conservative on the back nine because second place would have paid a lot off on that credit card,” Blanchet says. “Carry played a significant role in me getting back to the Korn Ferry Tour.” The sponsorship allowed him to swing more freely on that back nine in Argentina, and with more than $31,000 riding on his approach shot at 18, Blanchet didn’t need any added pressure. 

“(The yardage) was a perfect number: 124 yards, no breeze,” he says. “I played a 120 shot and aimed three yards right of this pin. I pulled it just a smidge and I knew it was close. Then I heard the roar.”

A walk-off eagle. Blanchet had holed out for the win. He had become the embodiment of Inner Excellence.

“I blacked out walking up to the green,” he recalls. 

Michaela was following the leaderboard back home in Jacksonville, Fla., when she saw the closing eagle posted. “I remember sitting on my couch and just breaking down crying,” she says. “Because I knew it meant he most likely had a job on the Korn Ferry Tour for the following year, which meant that Cameron and I would get to be around him more since he would be in the United States.”

Blanchet won again on the Latinoamerica Tour after Cameron was born the following month. A new dad, Chandler paid off his debts and his game was trending.

“When I go home, I don’t think about golf,” he says. “It’s been such a blessing. It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I’ve got a super supportive wife. She’s at home with Cameron while I’m on the road 20 weeks a year.”

At the end of that year, Blanchet was once again a Korn Ferry Tour member. The shot in Argentina was a turning point. 

Another turning point came this week at the final stage of U.S. Open qualifying at Duke University Golf Course. Blanchet was already in the midst of the best year of his career: 30th on the KFT points list, eight of 11 cuts made and six top-25 finishes. Chandler and Michaela are also expecting their second child in September. Coming on the heels of a Korn Ferry Tour event in Raleigh, N.C., the field for the U.S. Open qualifier was strong. Blanchet had just posted the worst two-day performance of his season, missing the cut at Raleigh Country Club by 11 shots. 

“I worked on some short-game stuff and hit some wedges,” Blanchet says about how he spent the weekend. “I didn’t adjust well to the course in Raleigh. It was really soft greens and I was spinning them back like crazy, so I took it easy and did some wedge stuff.”

To conserve energy, Blanchet toured the qualifying course in a cart on Sunday. He knew the 36-hole final stage, played at courses from coast to coast, wasn’t called “golf’s longest day” for nothing. The course was long and wet after taking a substantial amount of rain in recent weeks. But anyone who thought the USGA would implement preferred lies was in for a surprise.

“It was super muddy,” Blanchet says. “Every shot in the fairway had mud on it.” While mud balls left some players scratching their heads, Blanchet embraced the challenge.

“I think the mud balls got in some people’s heads,” he says. “It was pretty comical at some points. It was just caked on there – the whole side of it. It was like, this ball could go in any direction.”

Blanchet drove the ball well and spent most of the day on the short grass. Iron play is the strength of his game and he made confident swings from the fairways, mud balls be damned. His weekend work was paying off; his short game was unflappable and he was adjusting to the conditions. 

He opened with the low first-round score: a 2-under 68. Seven spots were up for grabs, and with some players going low in the afternoon and passing him, Blanchet was one shot inside the qualifying number as he played the back nine. 

Michaela was following the live scoring at work, but as the second round unfolded, she picked up Cameron from daycare and took him to the beach so she could distract herself, resisting the magnetic pull of the leaderboard and the refresh button on her phone.

Chandler didn’t check the leaderboard either. He stuck to his game plan and executed the best shots he could. After a bogey at the par-4 13th hole, he rattled off five straight pars and signed for a second-round 69 that left him tied for fifth with two other players. The math was simple: seven players finished at 3 under or better. Seven players for seven spots. No playoff would be necessary. Five others, including former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, finished a shot back. Chandler had punched his ticket to Oakmont. 

“It was a long day,” he says, “but I’m so fired up for next week.”

“I was overwhelmed with emotions and happiness for him because he has worked so hard,” Michaela says. “Knowing this is one of his dreams, just to be able to share it with him.”

Chandler turned on his phone and Facetimed his family. Two-year-old Cameron was excited to see Dad. 

“I told Cam, ‘I’m coming home tomorrow and you’re coming to a major next week!’” Chandler says. “He had no idea what it meant, but he gave a ‘whoo hoo!’”

Machaela and Cam are going to Oakmont to watch Chandler in the U.S. Open. They’ll get to experience their first major together. 

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Chandler is a Carry athlete. For sponsorship information or to play a pro-am with Chandler, please visit the Carry website.

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