The Road to the U.S. Open: Final three sites

Valencia

The Course: 

Valencia Country Club hosted the Los Angeles Open in 1998 and also was the home to a Champions Tour event from 2001-2009. The Robert Trent Jones design was founded in 1965, stretches to 7,300 yards and has a rating of 76.3. 

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Highest Ranked Player in the Field 

William Mouw: The Pepperdine alum is currently in his rookie season on the PGA Tour and ranked 211th in OWGR. He has made half of his 14 cuts and currently sits 147th in points. His best finish came at the Puerto Rico Open where he finished T6. Last season on the KFT, he finished 10th in points on the strength of three runner-up finishes, including two of the last four events of the season. 

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Other Recognizable names in the Field

Taylor Montgomery: The UNLV grad recently set the course record at Shadow Creek, where his dad is Director of Golf, with a 58. The score beat the previous record (also his) by four strokes. This season on tour, Montgomery sits 184th in points having made five of 12 starts with one top-25.

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Michael Block: We all know him right? Will the Block party roll on? 

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Tim Widing: The Swede had a breakout year in 2024 on the KFT, winning twice and finishing 5th in points. However, his rookie season on the PGA Tour has been a struggle. Widing has made just three of 12 cuts and currently sits 201st in points. He looks to earn a spot at Oakmont and jump start his season. 

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Stories You Might Not have Heard about

Jhared Hack: The longtime pro who turned professional when he was just 18, looks to qualify for his first major. Hack has played 53 career KFT events, 25 career Latin events, and 15 Canadian events. One of the nicest guys in golf, here is hoping Jhared can find some magic in the City of Angels.

‍Jared Sawada: California is close to Hawaii, so the field might be in trouble. Sawada holds one of the most impressive Monday Q records I know of at the Sony Open. in 2014, he won a college event to get a spot in the Sony. 

In 2017, he Monday Q’d

In 2019, he Monday Q’d

In 2020, he Monday Q’d

In 2022, he Monday Q’d. Truly unreal. 

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Scoring: 

https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/5093195

Washington

The Washington site is one of my favorites because it always has the least amount of recognizable names. Therefore, it often produces some of the best stories of the day. 

‍The Course: 

Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla Washington is a long links style course designed by Dan Hixson. The course can be stretched to over 7500 yards and has a 76.2 rating. Wind is often a factor, so if the winds blow, it could be a long day. Golf Digest ranks Wine Valley the 97th best public course in the country and the 7th best course overall in Washington. 

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The Highest Ranked Player in the field:

Andrew Putnam: The 147th ranked player in OWGR will tee it up in his home state of Washington. The Pepperdine grad has one PGA Tour win, coming in 2018 at the fifth major: the Barracuda Championship. He is currently on a streak of four consecutive cuts made. 

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Other recognizable names in the field: 

BJ Staten: The veteran of nearly 200 KFT starts last played in an event seven years ago and is now a club pro. Staten played 25 events on the PGA Tour and had two career top-10s, including a T5 at the John Deere in 2006. 

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Brady Calkins: The mini tour legend looks to return to the U.S. Open for the second time. The first time he made the U.S. Open was in 2022 where he missed the cut at The Country Club in Boston. Calkins dominated the Dakotas Tour for years and earned the reputation as the John Daly of mini tours. However, Calkins slowed down his partying years ago and now looks for a spot at Oakmont. 

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Stories you might not have heard about: 

Matt Vogt: I got a message the other day on Twitter from Vogt. He told me that he was flying to Washington because it had the most wide open fairways. The former long drive competitor, now a dentist, can still bomb it and thought the wide open fairways of Wine Valley would give him the best shot. 

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Scoring: 

https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/11330001970900553151

Maryland

Course: 

The North Course at Woodmont Country Club played host to the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur, and Rose Zhang defeated Gabriela Ruffles in a thrilling 38-hole final match. The course can be stretched to 7,390 yards, and following a 2020 renovation for the Women’s Am, places a premium on approach angles. In 2023, Joseph Bramlett captured medalist honors by two strokes with a 36-hole total of 8 under, and the final qualifying spots came in at 3 under.

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Highest Ranked Player in the Field: (This should make some people angry)

‍Marc Leishman: Yes, he’s currently ranked 508th in OWGR. Yes, he has struggled at LIV for the most part. But I still believe he’s the highest ranked player in the field. The Aussie won in Miami earlier this year, his first since joining LIV in 2023. In 2024, he played in two DP World Tour events, both in his home country, and finished T3 in both. He was ranked as high as 12th in OWGR prior to leaving for LIV. 

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Other Recognizable Names in the Field:

‍The Bryan Brothers: Both George and Wesley are in the field and I have to believe would be the first set of brothers to qualify at the same site if they get through. Wesley was suspended from the PGA Tour for a year after participating in LIV’s version of the Creator Classic. George has advanced to the second stage of Q-school the last two years and made the cut in one of his three PGA Tour starts. 

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Stewart Cink: The 52-year-old won for the second time last month on the Champions Tour, beating Retief Goosen in a playoff. Cink has a total of eight PGA Tour wins, but also grinded on the mini tours for a little over a year. He has won on the Hooters Tour and has won the Mexican Open. He also won three times on the Nike (KFT) Tour in 1996, twice beating David Berganio Jr. by a stroke. His last win on Tour came in 2021 at the Heritage. 

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LIV it up: With LIV playing in Virginia this coming week, a lot of LIV members are in the field: Brendan Steele, Jason Kokrak, Mito, and Peter Uihlein. Lee Westwood and Bubba both entered also, but have since WD’d. 

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Stories you might not have heard about: 

‍Chardonnay Anyone? Eric Beringer, a longtime pro from the Philly area, was in a two-for-one playoff for the final spot at his local site. As he was about to tee off in the playoff, he noticed the other player's caddie sitting on a chair directly behind him. Beringer asked him to move and noticed that the caddie was sipping a large glass of Chardonnay. On top of that, the caddie was (loudly) pumping up his player on the way up the fairway saying, “We got this, we are getting through.” The other player in the group was a member at the club, so around 60 people were following him – the entire situation fired up Beringer. Although his drive found a fairway bunker, Beringer made a 30-footer for birdie while the other player missed a short birdie putt. Now he has a chance to get to the U.S. Open and sip some Chardonnay. 

‍Nick Barrett- A full-time UPS Driver, the 31-year-old Barrett is playing in his second Final Qualifying. Although he is only able to play once a week because of his job, Barrett shot 68 in his local qualifying and has a chance to play at Oakmont. These are the stories that make the U.S. Open qualifying the greatest day in golf. 

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Scoring: 

https://www.usopen.com/2025/qualifying/rockville-maryland.html

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