COLUMBUS, Ohio — Adam Scott ended his longest day in golf with a playoff loss to Cam Davis in a US Open qualifier, and now Scott has to wait a week to see if his alternate status will allow him to extend the Longest active streak of playing in the majors.
Davis gave his fellow Australian a second chance by bogeying the final hole of the Springfield, Ohio, qualifier, sending them into a playoff for fourth and final place.
Scott chipped in for the birdie and Davis matched him with an 18-foot birdie putt. They both made par on the next hole, and then Davis got his approach to within 2 feet and Scott couldn’t match the birdie.
Scott, who has played in every major starting with the 2001 Open Championship, can still make it to Pinehurst No. 2 for the US Open on June 13-16. The USGA has retained six spots in case there are late qualifiers in the world rankings.
That was just a snapshot of a 36-hole qualifying day that stretched from coast to coast, even crossing the northern border into Canada, to give 687 players a chance to earn one of 44 spots.
Most consecutive Majors played
Player | Big leagues | Span |
---|---|---|
Jack Nicklaus | 146 | 1962-98 |
Adam Scott | 91* | 2001-24 |
Tom Watson | 87 | 1974-96 |
*Until the 2024 PGA Championship | ||
— KeynoteUSA statistics and information |
Willie Mack III earned his first US Open appearance when Brendan Valdes had a 30-inch putt outside the cup in a 3-for-1 playoff in Florida. Justin Lower was crying when he qualified for his first US Open at age 35.
“US Open Sunday usually falls on Father’s Day and I lost my dad when I was 15,” Lower said. “Just being able to play that day at the US Open will be really cool.”
LIV Golf players struggled at five of the qualifying sites.
Only two of the 17 players in the Saudi-funded league made it to the US Open: Dean Burmester in Florida and David Puig in San Francisco.
It was a key performance by Puig. She is narrowly holding on to the second and final Olympic spot representing Spain, but without the US Open, she would not have another chance to earn ranking points.
In some of the other qualifiers:
Jupiter, Florida: Matt Kuchar led all five heats in Florida. He will join Phil Mickelson as the only players to compete in every US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 (1999, 2005, 2014).
LIV had eight players in the Florida qualifier at The Bear’s Club, and Burmester was the only one who made it through. Joaquín Niemann was about to follow him until a double bogey on the 15th hole of his afternoon round. A birdie on the last hole left him one shot away from a playoff.
Columbus, Ohio: Ireland’s Lower and Séamus Power led the five qualifiers at Ohio State University’s Scarlet Field. Brendon Todd made a short birdie on the first hole of a 4-for-3 playoff, and Gunnar Broin and Chris Naegel advanced with pars.
For Naegel, it is the third time since 2018 that he has reached the US Open through 18 holes of local qualification and 36 holes of final qualification.
Adam Scott, pictured above at last week’s RBC Canadian Open, can still make it to Pinehurst’s No. 2 seed for the US Open. The USGA has retained six spots in case there are late qualifiers in the world rankings. Minas Panagiotakis//Keynote USA/Getty Images
Ridgeway, Ontario, Canada: Most PGA Tour players stayed after the Canadian Open. Mark Hubbard led all seven qualifiers with rounds of 64-63. Also advancing was Canadian amateur Ashton McCulloch, who played in his national open last week and is now heading to the US Open.
Summit, New Jersey: Matt Greyserman began his afternoon round at Canoe Brook by making eight birdies to finish 28. That moved him to a 64 and one of four spots in the US Open, along with New England amateur Ben James, who plays at Virginia. .
Jim Herman, 46, got the last spot in a 4-for-1 playoff.
Rockville, Maryland: Tim Widing, a two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner this year, led all three qualifiers from Woodmont Country Club. Marc Leishman of Australia opened with a 64, but was 10 shots worse in the afternoon. He was among four LIV players who did not qualify at Maryland.
Durham, North Carolina: Frankie Capan III led all seven heats, but the drama belonged to Harry Higgs. The “Big Rig” was coming off back-to-back victories on the Korn Ferry Tour that will take him back to the PGA Tour. That day, he birdied his last two holes to get into a seven-man playoff for the last two spots.
Higgs earned one of those spots and is headed to his first US Open.
Webb Simpson qualified at Duke University Golf Course and returns to the US Open for the 14th consecutive year. This was the first time he qualified since 2011. He won the US Open at the Olympic Club in 2012 and received a 10-year exemption.
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