Tiger Woods stole the headlines on Memorial Day, but there was actually some golf played on Monday. Some serious golf, in fact, from one of the game's funniest figures.
Andrew "Beef" Johnston was just one of 15 players to earn a spot in next month's U.S. Open at a sectional qualifier in England, but no one did it in as spectacular of fashion. The affable Brit managed eagles on a par 3, a par 4, and a par 5 during the 36-hole qualifier. And yes, that means he had a hole-in-one on the card.
The ace came on the second hole of his opening round at Walton Heath Golf Club, where Johnston shot rounds of 68 and 66 to finish in a tie for ninth place. Johnston was coming off a T-21 at the European Tour's BMW PGA Championship. A fan actually caught the ace on camera:
Johnston's first season as a PGA Tour member has been relatively quiet with one top 25 (a T-10 at the Puerto Rico Open) and four missed cuts in 10 starts. He qualified for the U.S. Open for the first time last year and finished T-54. The following month, he finished T-9 at the Open Championship.
Aaron Rai (66-64) took medalist honors. Other notables to punch a trip to Erin Hills in a couple weeks included Haotong Li, Alexander Levy, Richie Ramsay, Bradley Dredge, Eddie Pepperell, George Coetzee and Brandon Stone.
There are still 10 sectional qualifiers to be played in the U.S. on June 5. Golfers can also still qualify for the U.S. Open by being ranked in the top 60 of the Official World Golf Ranking on June 12, the day after the PGA Tour's FedEx St. Jude Classic concludes.
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