The Race to the U.S. Open: North Carolina

Race to the US Open: North Carolina Final Qualifying Breakdown

‍Host course

Hidden in the tall pines of the Raleigh-Durham and Chapel Hill area is Old Chatham Golf Club. It hosted the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur, where only five players in the field broke par during the stroke-play portion of the championship. The course was designed by Reese Jones and measures 7,210 yards.

‍Players in the field: 78

‍Qualifying spots available: Not confirmed but based on field size, probably five. 

‍Most decorated players in the field

‍• Sean O’Hair: The four-time PGA Tour winner, once considered one of the best ball-strikers in the world, has made more than $25 million in his career. He has played in 30 majors and made 22 cuts.

‍• Harold Varner III: Coming off a maiden LIV victory in the Washington, D.C. area in which he pocketed $4 million, Varner will be playing with something to prove. Though he never won on the PGA Tour, he made more than $10 million. At 67th in the world, he is the highest-ranked player in the field at 67th, despite playing in only two events this year at which ranking points were available.

‍PGA Tour winners in the field

Scott Brown

Chesson Hadley

Sean O’Hair

Bo Van Pelt

‍Korn Ferry Tour winners in the field

Mark Anderson

Paul Barjon

Rafael Campos

Rhein Gibson

Scott, Gutschewski

Brandon Harkins

Rico Hoey

Spencer Levin

Chase Seiffert

Josh Teater

Kris Ventura

Jared Wolfe

Xinjun Zhang, 

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Storylines

‍• Jeremy Paul: The twin brother of European Tour winner Yannik Paul is a Korn Ferry Tour member who was mainly playing mini-tour events around Phoenix just two short years ago. Yannik failed to advance through final qualifying in Dallas. This is the last hope for the trending Paul brothers at making a U.S. Open appearance this year. 

‍• Rico Hoey: Hoey was playing state opens and mini-tour events last year. He earned his Korn Ferry Tour card at the end of 2022 and won last week at the Visit Knoxville Open. Riding the confidence of his recent hot play, he’ll try to earn a spot in his first major championship. 

‍• Spencer Levin: Levin finished T-13 as an amateur at the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. He is only three made cuts on the PGA Tour away from earning veteran status. In April, he won the Veritex Bank Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour as a Monday qualifier. Qualifying for the U.S. Open would be a massive achievement in this already successful comeback season.

‍• Michael Johnson: Johnson was the top college player in the country during his senior season at Auburn, in 2015-16. He contended often in his first two seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour before losing his status in 2019 and practically disappearing from the professional golf scene. He regained a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour this season and has been a steady presence. 

Cooper Dossey: Ryan has labeled him the “best player without any status” and it is hard to argue. He has dominated at times on the All Pro Tour and Monday qualified for multiple KFT events. Don’t be surprised to see him play well here. 

‍Frankie Capan III: Capan had an amazing run through Q-school last winter. He got through Pre-qualifying, first stage, second, and final, losing to a TOTAL of nine players. He hasn’t slowed down on the KFT, currently sitting 40th in points, with what looks like another solid finish this week coming up. 

‍Dark horses

‍• Kevin Dougherty: The long-hitting, hard-working Dougherty has played on the Korn Ferry Tour since 2018 and missed getting his PGA Tour card by an inch at the end of his rookie year. He has been knocking on the door ever since, but has yet to break through.

‍• Scott Gutschewski:  The wily 46-year-old veteran has a Korn Ferry Tour win this season. He seems to get better with age.

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Other notables

Brandon Hagy

Tom Whitney- The Air Force Veteran was just on our most recent Any Given Monday Podcast talking about Nuclear sites, how he and his wife (still active in the Air Force) make it work with four kids, and much more. Listen here.

Sam Saunders- (Iced Tea)

Link to scoring and leaderboard here: https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/3985027

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