It’s hard to describe the sense of accomplishment that comes from earning a spot in the U.S. Open through qualifying. To have survived the gauntlet of “Golf’s Longest Day”—emerging from the 732 amateurs and professionals (out of a record 10,202 who entered) competing at 10 Final Qualifying sites, each prevailing over 36 holes—is a testament to perseverance. For first timers, it’s a dream fulfilled, the chance to say you are playing in a major championship. For veterans, it’s a opportunity to test yourself again, perhaps for the last time.
More often than not it’s the reactions of the players themselves—the hugs and tears after they're done—that speak more clearly than any words that follow.
There are 47 spots available Monday, the number varying by site. Those who advanced joined the 18 who have already gotten through the first three Final Qualifying events held two weeks ago and the 85 who were fully exempt set to play next week at venerable Oakmont Country Club outside of Pittsburgh. (Click here for a complete list of the field so far).
Here are in-depth roundups from each of the Final Qualifying sites, letting you know who’s in and who’s out of the 125th U.S. Open.
Canoe Brook (North & South) Country Club
Summit, N.J. • 77 players for 4 spots
Quite fitting that, to make it to Oakmont, a place near and dear to Arnold Palmer’s heart, Chris Gotterup had to make a bold shot at a crucial time late in his second round of U.S. Open Final Qualifying. At the par-4 ninth at Canoe Brook’s South Course, Gotterup’s 17th hole on the day (he started on No. 11), the New Jersey native and his caddie stepped to the right of the elevated tee box to scheme up a wildly aggressive line right of the green. The safe play would have been to play the hole as designed, a fade around the corner of the dogleg lined with trees to set up a wedge in. Gotterup instead blasted driver over everything. “I think it’s on the green,” said his caddie, referring to the green that was 372 yards away. It was, and Gotterup would two-putt for birdie, his sixth of the round. A par at the last gave him a second-round 65 to pair with his first-round 71 for a six-under 136 total, enough to secure one of the four qualifying spots on the line.
“I honestly didn’t know where I was in the round,” Gotterup said of the bold play at No. 9. “I figured I needed to do something, and I wasn’t even trying to drive the green, honestly. I was just trying to hit it on the right side because there was plenty of room. Got the right wind and got the right contact. It was a great drive and definitely a shot that will be remembered.”
Gotterup, who grew up in Little Silver, N.J., avenged a crushing moment from this same U.S. Open qualifying site a year ago. The 25-year-old reached his final hole of the day at eight under, safely inside the cut line, and found the par-5 green in three shots. He then three-putted to miss out on a trip to Pinehurst by one shot. Consider that memory erased.
“It was funny, I duffed a chip on that hole [today] and had the same putt as I had last year,” Gotterup said. “And I was like, I’m not f---ing three-putting this again.”
Another Met-area local, James Nicholas, was the top finisher at seven under par, shooting 67-68 in front of a sizable crowd to get into his first major championship. Nicholas, a Korn Ferry Tour pro from Scarsdale, N.Y., now spends most of his time in Florida working with legendary instructor Jim McLean. Their hard work paid off on Monday.
“This has been circled on my calendar all year,” Nicholas said. “I’ve told [McLean] I’m going to see you at Oakmont, because he’s going to be there anyway, he’s that big time where he’s going to be there doing talk shows and everything. I told him I’m going to be there, and it feels great to say I got it done.”
Joining Nicholas and Gotterup will be Mexico’s Roberto Diaz, who tied Gotterup at six under, and Ben James, a junior from the University of Virginia who also qualified for the U.S. Open last year at Canoe Brook. Some notables who did not make the cut include amateur star Stewart Hagestad (one under) and former Stanford standout Michael Thorbjornsen (even). —Christopher Powers
(Scoring click here)
Woodmont (North) Country Club
Rockville, Md. • 76 players for 4 spots
Ryan McCormick made headlines a couple months ago at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Club Car Championship when he was getting so angry on the course that he taped his mouth shut. Surely there was no need for such a remedy on Monday at Woodmont C.C., where McCormick shot consecutive 66s to earn medalist honors by five shots and qualify for the U.S. Open—his first major championship start.
McCormick, 33, is a New Jersey native who won the 2012 Met Amateur and New Jersey Amateur. He played his college golf at St. John’s University before turning pro in 2014. He earned his PGA Tour card in 2024 but made just nine cuts in 25 events, eventually finishing 169th on the FedEx Cup standings and losing his card. Back on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, he’s had two top-10s and currently sits 58th on the points list. McCormick’s dad, Mark, is a long-time head professional at Suburban Golf Club in Union, N.J., and qualified for the 2012 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club.
Like McCormick, Trevor Cone, 32, will also be making his first major championship start at Oakmont after shooting five under on Monday to finish runner-up. Cone, a two-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour, has had a dismal season on the PGA Tour, making just two cuts in 12 starts. Currently 209th in the FedEx Cup standings, the former Virginia Tech golfer is in need of a strong performance at Oakmont as he looks to keep his card.
A three-for-two playoff between LIV golfers Sebastian Munoz and Marc Leishman, as well as University of Virginia junior Bryan Lee was needed to determine the final spots. Leishman and Lee advanced on the second playoff hole. Leishman, a six-time PGA Tour winner, will be making his 12th start in the U.S. Open and first major championship appearance since 2022. Lee is just one week removed from helping his team to the NCAA Championship final match, when the Cavaliers ultimately fell to Oklahoma State. Lee’s teammate and World No. 3-ranked amateur Ben James also advanced to Oakmont on Monday at Canoe Brook in N.J.
Alongside Munoz as notables to miss the cut include LIV golfers Peter Uihlein (-2), Jason Kokrak (-1) and Brendan Steele (+1), as well as 2009 Open champion Stewart Cink (+3), and both Bryan brothers, George (+4) and Wesley (+6). —Drew Powell
(Scoring click here)
Piedmont Driving Club
Atlanta • 80 players for 5 spots
When the calendar turns to June, most 17-year-old high school juniors are counting down the days until school’s out. For Mason Howell, an AJGA star who plays for Brookwood High School in Georgia, he’ll have a second countdown working—until June 12 when he tees it up in the U.S. Open at Oakmont C.C.
Howell, who has already committed to play at the University of Georgia in 2026, eliminated the possibility of any late-day nerves by starting with birdies on four of his first five holes. That set the tone for a day that saw him open with a nine-birdie, no-bogey 63, back it up with another 63 and reap co-medalist honors. He went bogey-free for 36 holes.
Playing well in big spots has become something of a habit for Howell. He tied for medalist in his local qualifier at Hawkstone Country Club in Gainesville, Fla., with a 64 and nabbed medalist while leading Brookwood to its fourth state championship in five years.
“I had a great caddie giving me insane reads all day,” Howell told Golf Channel of his play at Piedmont. “Hugging my mom and dad coming off the 18th green is a feeling I don’t know if I’ll ever have again. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.” As for moving on to the Open at Oakmont, he added, “It’ll be a week I won’t forget.” Let the countdown begin.
The other co-medalist was Jackson Buchanan, who won this year’s Byron Nelson Award, given annually to the nation's top collegiate golfer for success on the course, in the classroom, and in the community. We assume Buchanan is a smart dude and quality guy but the success on the course part is unquestioned after matching Howell’s 63-63 effort, albeit with a little more excitement with 19 birdies, a hole-out eagle 2 and three bogeys.
Buchanan, the Big Ten Golfer of the Year in 2024 for Illinois will hope to improve upon his 76-70 and missed cut from a year ago at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, his only other start in the national championship. The other three qualifiers, all seven shots back of Howell and Buchanan were Florida State’s Tyler Weaver, Auburn’s Jackson Koivun and Will Chandler, who has played 15 events on the PGA Tour this season with one top-10 finish (T-6 at the WM Phoenix Open). Chandler dusted the dreams of Greyson Sigg and Steven Fisk by birdieing four of his final five holes to get in and knock those two out.
The names making the cut were not exactly of the household variety, but the field was not devoid of them. Major champions Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner were at Piedmont as were Ryder Cupper J.B. Holmes and Presidents Cupper K.J. Choi. Unfortunately, that foursome failed to advance. Only Johnson made it interesting. Standing just two under through 23 holes he managed to get it to eight under, finishing two shots out of a playoff for the final spot. Those following Johnson on the USGA’s live scoring site got a jolt when it showed him briefly at 10 under in the middle of his final nine before adjusting to seven under. —E. Michael Johnson
(Scoring click here)
Duke University Golf Club
Durham, N.C. • 80 players for 7 spots
It's important for any golfer to be optimistic following a tough start, but when Mexico's Alvaro Ortiz went out in 73 in his morning round at Duke University Golf Club, he couldn't in his wildest dreams have predicted how the first eight holes of his afternoon would go: Birdie, birdie, par, par, birdie, birdie, birdie, ace.
He needed something extraordinary, and he got something outrageous. With a 28 on the front for his second round, he took the outright lead, and punched his ticket to Oakmont with a final birdie on the short par-4 16th.
At four under, Ortiz tied for second place. Top honors went to 29-year-old Zach Bauchou, the Oklahoma State alum who has made eight of 11 cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour this year. He made a winding birdie putt on the 18th hole to reach five under, and did his best to stay composed in his Golf Channel interview after.
"I'm pretty excited, I've had a lot of close calls, I had one when I was a freshman in college but was close to getting my tour card last year, and it means a lot to play well today," he said.
With his eyes welling, the medalist nearly maintained his composure throughout the interview, but when Golf Channel's Matt Adams asked who he'd call first, he broke as he tried to namecheck his wife and father.
"I didn't know I'd get this emotional," he said, his voice cracking. "Holy s***."
Indeed.
Ortiz wasn't the only man from south of the border to break through at Duke; Mexico's Emilio Gonzalez, 24th on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, finished on the same score, four under, thanks to a final-round 67. They were joined at that number by fellow Korn Ferry players Alistair Docherty and Chandler Blanchet, while the final two spots at Oakmont were claimed by two players at three under—Trent Phillips, yet another Korn Ferry Tour member, and George Kneiser, who stands at 114th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit and was the one true longshot to qualify. Kneiser carried his own bag all day.
The number of players who finished at three under or better at Duke, seven, was exactly the number of spots available. That meant no playoffs, and a disappointed group of golfers at two under that included former U.S. Open champ and Raleigh native Webb Simpson, the PGA Tour's Alex Smalley, and 16-year-old Miles Russell, who last year became the youngest player ever to make the cut at a Korn Ferry Tour event. Further down the leaderboard, noteworthy names like Doc Redman (-1), Sung Yul Noh (+1), Bill Haas (+1), Bronson Burgoon (+2), Tom McKibbin (+2), Nick Watney (+3), Harold Varner III (+5) also fell short. Sam Bennett, Chesson Hadley, Austin Cook, Andrew Landry and Ryan Armour were also in the field, but did not finish after early struggles. —Shane Ryan
(Scoring click here)
Lambton Golf & Country Club
York, Ontario, Canada • 66 players for 7 spots
With the RBC Canadian Open this week, Ontario’s Lambton Golf & Country Club featured a loaded field playing for seven tickets to Oakmont. And a two-time PGA Tour winner took the final spot with a spectacular late rally.
Emiliano Grillo made the turn at even par in his afternoon and well outside the number needed to advance. But the 32-year-old ripped off four consecutive birdies before adding two more on 16 and 18 to fire a back-nine 29 and finish at six under.
Grillo rimmed in a 12-footer on his final hole, the closing par 5, to earn his seventh trip to the U.S. Open and break out of a three-way tie for seventh place. That knocked Takumi Kanaya and Max McGreevy outside the number.
PGA Tour pros claimed all the available spots in Canada led by Kevin Velo. The 27-year-old PGA Tour rookie fired rounds of 65-67 to shoot eight under and earn medalist honors by one shot over DP World Tour winners, Niklas Norgaard and Matt Wallace. One shot behind them were Mark Hubbard and another pair of DP World Tour winners, Thorbjorn Olesen and Victor Perez.
Somewhat surprisingly, the PGA Tour’s newest player wasn’t one of those making it through.
After finishing a decorated amateur career at Florida State last week, Luke Clanton will make his pro debut on Thursday at TPC Toronto. On Monday, however, he didn’t have his best stuff at Lambton Golf & Country Club. Clanton shot rounds of 70-72 to miss the cutoff by seven shots.
Clanton, who finished T-41 in his U.S. Open debut at Pinehurst last year, was exempt for this year’s event based on being the 2024 Mark McCormack Medal winner as the year-ending No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. But by turning pro ahead of the tournament, he forfeited his spot and entered a qualifier instead.
Also among those failing to earn a spot were past PGA Tour winners Keith Mitchell, Luke List, Rafael Campos, Aaron Wise, Camilo Villegas and Seamus Power. —Alex Myers
(Scoring click here)
Kinsale Golf & Fitness Club
Columbus, Ohio • 66 players for 6 spots
In the qualifier featuring eight players in the just-completed Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club and 15 players with PGA Tour status, two-time tour winner Erik Van Rooyen opened with an eight-under 64, tying the competitive course record and went on to claim medalist honors.
Van Rooyen, 35, a native of South Africa, who did not play in the Memorial, won by six strokes over fellow tour players Lanto Griffin, Justin Lower and Bud Cauley at 13-under 131 to earn his sixth U.S. Open berth. His best finish is T-23 in 2020 at Winged Foot but has missed the cut in his last three appearances.
Cauley and Griffin shot afternoon 68s and Lower, an Ohio native, closed with a 69 to get through this qualifier for the second straight year at 137.
The surprise of the day was Harrison Ott, a former Vanderbilt player, who competed in the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont and reached match play before losing in the first round. A Wisconsin native, Ott, 26, currently is ranked 2,651st in the world, but calmly made par on his final 12 holes to shoot 71 (138).
“It helped that I played on a firm course against some good competition recently,” said Ott, who plays mostly in G-Pro Tour events in the southeast but Monday qualified two weeks ago for the Visit Knoxville Open where he missed the cut. “You know, you have to tell yourself that your good is good enough, but to do it and prove it to yourself is pretty cool.”
In a five-for-one playoff, Cameron Young sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-4 10th hole, the first extra hole, to earn the last spot. He had birdied three of his last four holes in regulation for an afternoon 68 and five-under 139 total.
Ranked 66th in the world, Young eliminated fellow tour players Eric Cole, Max Homa and Rickie Fowler and Barberton, Ohio, native and Kent State University grad Chase Johnson, who has bounced around several tours since turning pro in 2019. Johnson, however, has a decent chance at getting into the Oakmont field off the alternate list, thanks to the fact that Cauley might be able to give up the spot he qualified for and instead earn an exemption into the field based on being the top 60 in the World Ranknigs next Monday.
Fowler, who tied for seventh at the Memorial on Sunday and earned a berth in the British Open at Royal Portrush via the Open Qualifying Series, bogeyed the first playoff hole after missing the green.
Homa was knocked out on the second playoff hole when he hockey-sticked it around in four putts, putting a strange cap on a strange day for the six-time tour winner who carried his own bag for all 38 holes. Homa’s caddie at the Memorial, Bill Harke, was not at Kinsale and Homa declined to talk about the reason Harke was absent.
Johnson, another long-shot hopeful at 1377th in the world, got up and down for par on the third playoff hole to earn the first alternate spot. Cole missed from three feet to extend the playoff, settling for second alternate.
Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, 53, missed the playoff by a stroke at four-under 140 after rallying for an afternoon 66. Former tour player Jim Knous also came up one stroke short in more painful fashion, failing to hole a three-foot par putt on his 36th hole to complete a second-round 72.
Also falling short was James Piot, a former LIV Golf player who won the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont. He came in with 72 (142). —Dave Shedloski
(Scoring click here)
Springfield Country Club
Springfield, Ohio • 82 players for 4 spots
The long-shot narrative at another Ohio site, while also giving yet another berth to a familiar face.
Former Ohio State University golfer Maxwell Moldovan continued his mastery of the Donald Ross course in Springfield by rallying for a second-round 66 to tie for second place behind former Wayne State University and Jacksonville University golfer Grant Haefner. Moldovan, a winner earlier this year on the PGA Tour Americas after turning pro, advanced to the U.S. Open for a fourth straight time out of this qualifier with a five-under 135 total.
Haefner, 26, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., was medalist after an afternoon 65 gave him a seven-under 133 total to qualify for his first U.S. Open. Tying Moldovan for second was former University of Virginia standout George Duangmanee, 23, of Fairfax, Va. A 2024 honorable mention All-American, Duangmanee had rounds of 68-67, also will make his U.S. Open debut at Oakmont.
Neither Haefner nor Duangmanee is listed in the OWGR.
Zac Blair won the fourth spot in a four-man playoff with a three-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole to beat reinstated amateur John Peterson of Fort Worth, Texas. Blair, 34, of Orem, Utah, kept his hopes alive with a curling 30-foot birdie on the first extra hole after Peterson had hit his approach to five feet. Peterson converted, eliminating tour player Kirt Kitayama and Korn Ferry Tour player Dawson Armstrong. The four men had tied at four-under 136.
Austin Greaser, runner-up to James Piot at the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont, failed to qualify at 142 despite a second-round 64, low score of the day. Also falling short was Brandt Snedeker, who posted 140 after finishing T-7 in the Memorial Tournament, the lone player to make the trip from Muirfield Village. —Dave Shedloski
(Scoring click here)
Emerald Dunes Club
West Palm Beach, Fla. • 80 players for 4 spots
Mother Nature heard about Golf’s Longest Day and decided to throw in a little weather delay, as well. What else can one expect from unpredictable Florida? So … what we had here is Golf’s Longest Day(s), with play at Emerald Dunes stretching into Tuesday.
When play resumed, two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Justin Hicks hung on to claim a share of medalist honors, with rounds of 65-68—133, and qualify to play in his seventh U.S. Open, and his second at Oakmont (he finsihed 67th in 2016). The teaching pro once shared the first-round lead at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, along with Kevin Streelman. He shot a blistering three-under 68 and followed that up with a Friday 80.
Joining Hicks atop the leaderboard were Philip Barbaree Jr., a former U.S. Junior champ, and amateur Frankie Harris, who plays college golf at South Carolina. The final spot was decided in a playoff between Austin Truslow and amateur Luke Poulter, son of European Ryder Cup standout Ian. Truslow prevailed, leaving the 20-year-old in the first alternate spot, while 18-year-old Blades Brown, who turned pro earlier this year, is the second alternate.
Some notables to missed out in Florida include Neal Shipley, who had low amateur honors at last year’s U.S. Open and a member at Oakmont, as well as LIV golfer and former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and 2023 Ryder Cupper Nicolai Højgaard. —Greg Gottfried
(Scoring click here)
Valencia Country Club
Valencia, Calif. • 84 players for 4 spots
Preston Summerhays has golf in his blood, and he played like it at Valencia C.C. He put together rounds of 69-63 to win the qualifier by three shots and earn his spot at Oakmont.
Summerhays felt his ball striking was strong all day, but in the second round the putts started to fall. He said he’ll be calling his college teammate, Jose Luis Ballester, 2024 U.S. Amateur champion, to set up practice rounds at Oakmont.
The 21-year-old from Arizona just graduated from Arizona State. This will be Summerhays’ third U.S. Open. The first he played was in 2020 at Winged Foot. He earned his spot there by winning the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur.
He comes from an impressive golfing family: His sister played in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open. His great-uncle Bruce won three PGA Tour events. His dad, Boyd, played on tour. And his uncle, Daniel, plays on tour. Daniel was also in the field at Valencia but failed to qualify after posting 69-73.
Of note, Michael Block was also in the field and missed, shooting 74-72.
Three shots behind Summerhays was Riley Lewis, finishing in second after shooting a second-round 64. Lewis also hails from Arizona and plays on the PGA Tour Americas, where he’s had three top 20 finishes this season.
Zach Pollo, who just finished his junior year at the University of Arizona and is still an amateur, finished in third at six under. He played in the 2024 U.S. Amateur, but this will be his first U.S. Open.
The final spot needed a playoff that spilled into Tuesday to finish up, Joey Herrera outpacing Lucas Carper (who both finshed at four under). —Keely Levins
(Scoring click here)
Wine Valley Golf Club
Walla Walla, Wash. • 41 players for 2 spots
It is inconceivable that there is a more compelling story on this day than Dr. Matthew Vogt, otherwise known as Matt, winning medalist honors here to earn a start in the U.S. Open at Oakmont. Vogt, 34, a practicing dentist and oral surgeon in Indianapolis, is a native of Cranberry Township, Pa., 30 minutes from Oakmont, where he caddied for six years.
Vogt, who played college golf at Butler University, has a handicap index of +6.1 at Highland Golf and Country Club in Indianapolis. He posted two four-under 68s to win this sectional by one over Brady Calkins of Cheholis, Wash., a former Korn Ferry Tour player.
"I knew I could do this," Vogt said.
Calkins, 30, earned the second qualifying spot from this sectional, and will be playing in his second U.S. Open. He previously qualified for the 2022 U.S. Open at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass. Calkin had rounds of 68 and 69 at Wine Valley.
The most notable player to miss qualifying was Andrew Putnam, 36, a PGA Tour veteran who has earned more than $16 million and won the Barracuda Championship in 2018. A native of Washington state and a resident of University Place, home of the former U.S. Open site Chambers Bay, Putnam missed qualifying for his sixth U.S. Open by four strokes. His bid was undone by a morning round of even-par 72. He rebounded with a three-under 69, good only for a tie for eighth. —John Strege
(Scoring click here)