Latest news with #GeorgeDuangmanee
New York Times
13-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Making the U.S. Open was a dream. Then he shot 35-over-par
OAKMONT, Pa. — The smile wasn't particularly wide, but it was a smile. After playing in his first U.S. Open, after exploring every last inch of Oakmont Country Club, and after sinking one last putt to mercifully break 90, George Duangmanee deserved to grin as little or as much as he wanted. 'I knew it was going to be a hard test coming in, but I didn't think it was going to be this hard,' Duangmanee said, standing outside Oakmont's scoring area. With scores of 86-89, he finished his 36 holes at the U.S. Open at 35-over-par. Duangmanee stood in 156th place. Out of 156 players. Advertisement The U.S. Open is called an open for a reason. Duangmanee made it here the hard way. The 23-year-old from Fairfax, Va. graduated from the University of Virginia last year and began his pursuit of professional golf without membership on any professional tour. This spring, that pursuit included paying a $200 entry fee to sign up for the first stage of U.S. Open qualifying. Duangmanee was good enough to play his way into his first PGA Tour event last month, so why not the U.S. Open? In Maryland, Duangmanee shot a 1-under 71 to advance to the second and final stage, but that's the (relatively) easy part. Final qualifying came next: Duangmanee faced a stronger field with higher-ranked players, a harder course, and 36 holes to prove yourself. Rounds of 68 and 67 put Duangmanee in a tie for second place, and four players were moving on to Oakmont. Those two scores gave him his first major championship tee time. They gave him solace that the grind of mini-tour golf that's required for most to rise up the professional golf ranks was worth it. That's what makes this championship great. Anyone — at least anyone with a .4 handicap or better — can make it. The USGA accepted a record 10,202 entries for qualifying this year. That 10,000-plus dwindled to 980, and that 980 dwindled to 69. Of those 69 U.S. Open qualifiers, only 17 made it through both the local and final qualifying stages, Duangmanee included. But making it to a U.S. Open and playing in a U.S. Open — those are two different experiences. Duangmanee hit 10 of 28 fairways at Oakmont. He hit six of 18 greens. There were seven double bogeys, one triple bogey and one quadruple bogey. He slapped it around a course that wasn't just a brutal test of golf for a local qualifier. Oakmont is making a fool out of greats and major champions. Sergio Garcia, Max Homa and Rickie Fowler aren't even here. Advertisement Duangmanee played in the 2:42 p.m. pairing on Thursday, the last of the day. He went home that night after finishing an opening round 86 in the dark. Then got up out of bed on Friday to do it all over again. The next day, he finished his first U.S. Open in front of his family and friends, a pair of whom carried an overflowing merchandise bag as they begged a volunteer to let them pass onto a grandstand and watch him two-putt to avoid the ignominy of 90. 'I mean, going into today, I just wanted to have fun out there,' Duangmanee said. 'I knew I was kind of out of it after my first round. So I just tried to enjoy the experience as much as possible. I didn't really get down on myself. I just kept going, and I was just happy to be out here today.' Double bogey after double bogey, punch after punch, the 23-year-old tried to keep himself in good spirits, not only for his own sanity but for the future. After playing in his 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier last week, Duangmanee played four more 18-hole rounds and earned status on a tour for the first time. It's conditional status on the PGA Tour of Americas, but he'll take it. He bore the brunt of the U.S. Open, but that doesn't mean he couldn't learn something along the way. He'll keep learning when he sticks around for the weekend to watch the rest of the championship. 'It's a little bit intimidating being around people you watch on TV every week. I'm trying to learn as much about how they practice, how they warm up and everything. So I've been keeping an eye on how the best in the world do it, so I'm gonna use that going forward,' Duangmanee said. Duangmanee wasn't hesitant to share that this was the biggest stage of golf he's ever played in. He had no shame in admitting that the test all but slapped him in the face. But a highlight of the week? He couldn't necessarily think of one. He was just happy to be there, at Oakmont, grateful to soak it all in and say that he made it to the tournament in the first place. How many of the 10,000 would have traded places with him in that moment? (Top photo of George Duangmanee: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Golfer puts up horror score at US Open as fans express sympathy after nightmare start: 'Someone check on him'
George Duangmanee's first foray at a major tournament will go down in history but probably not for the ways he wanted to. Duangmanee put up a horror score over two rounds of 35-over-par to exit the US Open in last place, with Friday's effort in round two going even more horribly than the opening round. The Virginia men's golf alumnus posted a +16 on Thursday from Oakmont, taking 86 strokes to complete the course. With par again set at 70, Duangmanee shot a +19 in Pennsylvania to miss the cut by 28 strokes, with it currently projected at 7-over-par. Duangmanee's round was the worst in the field by nine strokes, with a few golfers near the bottom of the leaderboard still needing to finish their second rounds before being cut. Duangmanee qualified for the US Open at a regional tournament with a 5-under score in Ohio. The two-round effort was good enough for second place. Yet, some have expressed sympathy for the national newcomer. Duangmanee put up a score over two rounds of 35-over-par to exit the US Open in last place '@PGATOUR Somebody needs to check on George Duangmanee. Guy is going through the wringer today at +33,' one golf fan stated. 'Beginning to think George Duangmanee is going to miss the cut,' a second fan said. 'I hope George Duangmanee has a beer waiting for him walking off 18. Respect to him,' a third said. 'Kudos to George Duangmanee for finishing today. Lesser men would have called it a day at the turn after going out in 47. He's DFL but played a full 36,' one final person concluded. A collection of social-media messages about George Duangmanee's rounds at the US Open Duangmanee finished in a tie for 15th at the NCAA Championships last year, earning honorable All-American honors. This appeared to be Duangmanee's first event under the PGA, choosing a prestigious tournament to make his entrance. Duangmanee made his professional debut at the ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic last month in South Carolina, where he made the cut and finished tied for 67th place.
Washington Post
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Forget Q-School; U-Va. golfers will bring Hoo School to the U.S. Open
As a member of the Virginia men's golf team, Bryan Lee spent nearly a month on the road during the program's record-setting run through the postseason this spring. The junior barely was able to catch his breath when he got back to Charlottesville following the Cavaliers' first appearance in the NCAA championship match May 28 in Carlsbad, California. That's because Lee, a native of Fairfax, Virginia, needed to prepare for a U.S. Open final qualifier several days later at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland, where he was in a field of mostly professionals. Facing 36 holes June 2 for one of four spots among more than 60 entrants while still somewhat gassed from the grind of the long college season, Lee arrived at Woodmont with reduced expectations. By the end of 'Golf's Longest Day,' during which qualifying took place at 13 sites, Lee had punched his ticket to Oakmont, perhaps the most unforgiving of all the courses to have hosted the event. Making the occasion that much more special was learning a pair of Cavaliers teammates, one current and another recently former, made it through final qualifying as well to secure spots at the U.S. Open, which begins Thursday. Ben James, also a junior, qualified at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, New Jersey, carding two birdies down the stretch to claim the fourth and final berth. Also qualifying was Fairfax's George Duangmanee, who graduated from Virginia last year and since has been playing professionally. Duangmanee is making his first U.S. Open start after qualifying out of Springfield (Ohio) Country Club, earning one of four spots by shooting 5-under-par 135. Lee fired a 3-under 139 and won a three-for-two playoff at Woodmont, outlasting LIV Golf member Sebastián Munoz. Another LIV player, Peter Uihlein, finished a shot behind. 'It's kind of hard to put into words,' Lee said Friday. 'It hasn't quite settled in, if I'm being honest. It's just like, gosh, because I have had so many things happen in the past week, obviously with the team and then coming back home. It all happened so fast, and then suddenly I was in contention and then the playoff. I feel like it was so much at once. I think overwhelmed, and knowing now, it's an overwhelming, nerve-racking feeling for sure.' James, the first Virginia golfer to become a three-time first-team all-American, will be making his second U.S. Open start after playing last year at Pinehurst No. 2. A member of the victorious U.S. Walker Cup team in 2023, James also gets the opportunity to connect at Oakmont with the namesake of an award he won in the same year. The Phil Mickelson Award is presented annually to the top freshman in the country, and the six-time major champion is exempt into this year's field in what he said in 'high likelihood' would be his final U.S. Open. 'It was kind of a whirlwind from San Diego for those guys,' said Cavaliers golf coach Bowen Sargent, named East Region coach of the year for the first time in a Virginia career spanning more than two decades. 'I can't believe they had the energy and the stamina to get through a 36-hole day like that, but they're young, so obviously we pulled for them and sat there and watched it all day long.' The trio of Cavaliers have received support from the PGA Tour's Denny McCarthy, the most decorated of all University of Virginia golfers. McCarthy, born in Rockville, turned pro in 2015, joined the PGA Tour in the 2018 season and has won more than $20 million in prize money, with two runner-up finishes. The graduate of Georgetown Prep is making his sixth U.S. Open start, with his best showing a 2022 tie for seventh at the Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. McCarthy's second U.S. Open start came at Oakmont in 2016, the last time the venue in the Pittsburgh suburbs hosted. The plan, according to Lee, is for the threesome of Cavaliers teammates to try to play a practice round with McCarthy, given his institutional knowledge of Oakmont, where Dustin Johnson won in 2016 at 4-under 276. Only three other players finished below par that year, underscoring Oakmont's treacherous layout. In the previous U.S. Open at Oakmont in 2007, the winning score was 5-over 285 by Ángel Cabrera. Fifteen-time major champion Tiger Woods finished tied for second place at 6 over. 'Obviously no matter where it's at, it's the U.S. Open, so it's going to be really, really hard. But I mean, if there's one that's harder than the others, it's probably Oakmont,' said Lee, who will have younger brother Michael, a Cavaliers commit, on his bag. 'I put my expectations really, really high as to how difficult it's going to be.'
