U.S. Open qualifying: 50-year-old Justin Hicks ties for medalist in West Palm Beach sectional
Nine 36-hole U.S. Open sectional qualifiers were held on June 2 from Florida to New Jersey, and from Maryland to Washington, to fill the final 47 spots in the U.S. Open June 12-15 at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. Of the 744 players began the day with hopes of making the field, only six percent would make it.
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The Florida qualifier at Emerald Lakes in West Palm wasn't over until June 3 and it produced a variety of players who punched their ticket to Oakmont.
Justin Hicks of Wellington leads a U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Emerald Lakes in West Palm Beach with play suspended. The round will resume on June 3 at 7:30 a.m.
Justin Hicks, 50 years old, tied for medalist honors at 11-under-par 133 with former LSU player and Shreveport, La., resident Philip Barbaree and amateur Frankie Harris of Boca Raton, a junior at South Carolina.
Auston Truslow of Fort Lauderdale, who has conditional Korn Ferry Tour status, defeated University of Florida sophomore Luke Poulter in a playoff for the final qualifying spot after both finished at 10-under.
Luke Poulter (left), caddying for his father Ian Poulter in the 2022 JP McManus Pro-Am, is tied for third in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Emerald Lakes in West Palm Beach, with play suspended because of weather.
Hicks, who shot 65-68, has played in three PGA tour events this season and missed the cut in all three. Barbaree, 26, who plays on PGA Tour Americas, birdied eight of his first 13 holes in the second round and shot 64. Harris eagled the par-5 first hole in the second round and didn't make a bogey until No. 18 to finish with a 67.
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Poulter, who eagled the first hole and birdied the next two before play was suspended the night before at 6:10, finished with a bogey-free 65 after play resumed on June 3. Truslow completed a 66 with five of six birdies during one stretch.
Blades Brown, a 17-year-old from Nashville who turned pro earlier this year, would have joined the Poulter-Truslow playoff had he not bogeyed his final hole. He beat Thomas Ponder III, an Korn Ferry Tour member who played at Alabama, in a playoff for second alternate.
U.S. Open Sectional qualifiers
Emerald Lakes Golf Club, West Palm Beach
Qualifiers
Justin Hicks 65-68–133
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Philip Barbaree 69-64–133
Frankie Harris (a) 66-67–133
Auston Truslow 68-66–134
Alternates
Luke Poulter (a) 69-65–134
Blades Brown 65-70–135
Piedmont Driving Club, Atlanta
Mason Howell, 17 and the eighth-ranked player on the American Junior Golf Association, and Big Ten Player of the Year Jackson Buchanan shot lights-out at 18-under 126 to tie for first. Auburn senior Jackson Koivun, who made his PGA Tour debut at The Memorial last week, Florida State sophomore Tyler Weaver, and former University of Georgia player Will Chandler tied for third at 11-under.
Qualifiers
Mason Howell (a) 63-63—126
Jackson Buchanan 63-63—126
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Tyler Weaver (a) 66-66—133
Jackson Koivun (a) 69-64—133
Will Chandler 70-63—133
Alternates
Hayden Buckley 68-66—134
Steven Fisk 66-68—134
Canoe Brook Country Club, Summit, N.J.
Korn Ferry Tour member James Nicholas, a Yale graduate, won by one shot over PGA Tour player Chris Gotterup and Korn Ferry Tour member Roberto Diaz.
Qualifiers
James Nicholas 67-68—135
Chris Gotterup 71-65—136
Roberto Diaz 65-71—136
Benjamin James (a) 67-70—137
Alternates
Max Theodorakis 71-67—138
Garrett Engle (a) 69-69—138
Duke University Golf Club, Durham, N.C.
Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach had three birdies on the front nine of his first round, but made only one more birdie over the final 27 holes and is the first alternate at 138. Chandler Blanchet of Jacksonville, a Korn Ferry Tour member, notched one of the final spots by closing with five pars in a row.
Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach is the first alternate for the U.S. Open out of a sectional qualifier at Duke University.
Qualifiers
Zach Bauchou 71-64—135
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Alistair Docherty 72-64—136
Alvaro Ortiz 73-63—136
Emilio Gonzalez 69-67—136
Trent Phillips 70-67—137
George Kneiser 69-68—137
Chandler Blanchet 68-69—137
Alternates
Miles Russell (a) 68-70—138
Webb Simpson 72-66—138
Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club, Columbus, Ohio
Cameron Young made a birdie on the first playoff hole to win a 5-for-1 playoff to knock out Chase Johnson, Eric Cole, Max Homa and Rickie Fowler. Jacksonville product and Palm Beach Gardens resident Bud Cauley finished second to reach his first U.S. Open and Ponte Vedra Beach resident Lanto Griffin finished third to qualify for his fifth.
Qualifiers
Erik Van Rooyen 64-67—131
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Bud Cauley 69-68—137
Lanto Griffin 69-68—136
Justin Lower 68-69—137
Harrison Ott 67-71—138
Cameron Young 71-68—139
Alternates
Chase Johnson 68-71—139
Eric Cole 70-69—139
Lambton Golf & Country Club, York, Ontario, Canada
Vince Covello of Ponte Vedra Beach (144) and Tyler Mawhinney of Orange Park (145) failed to qualify. PGA Tour member Kevin Velo, who has made only three of 13 cuts this season, is the medalist.
Qualifiers
Kevin Velo 65-67—132
Niklas Norgaard 64-69—133
Matt Wallace 67-66—133
Thorbjorn Olesen 67-67—134
Mark Hubbard 64-70—134
Victor Perez 66-67—134
Emiliano Grillo 69-65—134
Alternates
Takumi Kanaya 69-66--135
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Max McGreevy 66-69—135
Springfield Country Club, Springfield, Ohio
Zac Blair beat Kurt Kitayama, Dawson Armstrong of Jacksonville and amateur John Peterson in a 4-for-1 playoff for the final qualifying spot.
Qualifiers
Grant Haefner 68-65—133
George Duangmanee 68-67—135
Maxwell Moldovan 69-66—135
Zac Blair 68-68—136
Alternates
John Peterson (a) 69-67—136
Kurt Kitayama 68-68—136
Valencia Country Club, Valencia, Calif.
Preston Summerhays, an Arizona State senior, birdied six of nine holes and five in a row in his second round.
Qualifiers
Preston Summerhays (a) 69-63—132
Riley Lewis 71-64—135
Zachery Pollo (a) 65-71—136
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Alternates
Lucas Carper 70-68—138
Matthew Sutherland 69-70–139
Wine Valley Golf Club, Walla Walla, Wash.
Medalist Matt Vogt is a former caddie at Oakmont and now is a dentist in Indiana. He is from Cranberry Township, Pa., 26 miles from Oakmont.
Qualifiers
Matt Vogt (a) 68-68—136
Brady Calkins 68-69—137
Alternates
Spencer Tibbits 69-69—138
Clark Sonnenberg (a) 70-68—138
Woodmont Country Club, Rockville, Md.
Ryan McCormick, a Korn Ferry Tour member, had 11 birdies and only one bogey in 36 holes to easily win the qualifier.
Qualifiers
Ryan McCormick 66-66—132
Trevor Cone 69-68—137
Bryan Lee (a) 70-69—139
Marc Leishman 70-69—139
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Alternates
Sebastian Munoz 71-68—139
Peter Uihlein 73-67—140
Bent Tree Country Club, Dallas (May 19)
Qualifiers
Rasmus Neergaard Petersen 66-65—131
James Hahn 66-66—132
Adam Schenk 64-68—132
Lance Simpson (a) 79-65—134
Cameron Tankersley (a) 68-66—134
Carlos Ortiz 66-68—134
Johnny Keefer 66-69—135
Alternates
Doug Ghim 69-66—135
Cameron Tringale 69-66—135
Tarao Country Club, Shiga, Japan (May 19)
Qualifiers
Yuta Sugiura 68-66—134
Scott Vincent 67-67—134
Jinichiro Kozuma 68-67—135
Alternates
Riki Kawamoto 67-68—135
Taichi Kho 64-71—135
Walton Heath Golf Club, Surrey, England (May 19)
Jordan Smith 64-70—134
Frederic Lacroix 67-68—135
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Joakim Lagergren 69-66—135
Guido Migliozzi 68-67—135
Sam Bairstow 70-66—136
Jacques Kruyswijk 66-71—137
Edoardo Molinari 66-71—137
Andrea Pavan 70-67—137
Matthew Jordan 63-74—137
Robin Williams 68-69—137
Alternates
Ryan Lumsden 66-71—137
Björn Åkesson 72-66—138
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: U.S. Open qualifying: Justin Hicks, 50, ties for first in West Palm Beach
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But I don't want to take away from the fact that Ido think that it's important that we have to continue to fight the fight here and find some common ground and create some guidelines and get some direction that we all can kind of abide by the same set of rules." Where is DJ in terms of throwing the ball and the OTAs? And is he making all the throws you feel like he's going to need to make in a game situation? "DJ has continued — we throw the quarterback three times a week. He's continued to do that. He actually got a good session in this morning before he came here. So, yeah, we feel confident in terms of him being ready to go." What did you see early on in DJ Lagway, and how much has he helped you in recruiting and avoiding logo fever when you look at that schedule? "I think what's impressed me with DJ is how he has handled success. We knew DJ before he dominated Texas high school football his senior year. He became the Gatorade National Player of the Year. So seeing the humility, seeing how he treated people, how he embraced his role in that community on that team, the steadiness, I think his parentsobviously provided a great example there. But he did the same things last year as he started to kind of become a bigger -- have a bigger role on the team. "So the other thing I would say is just the competitor on game day is really unique. I think his ability to block out allthe external factors and really get consumed with leading the team, playing winning football, executing. And we've built around the guy. There's no question. Players want to play with DJ. We've built his class around that and certainly some of these guys that are in the rookie group were a part of that as well." Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
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