U.S. Open 2025: Call it a pro golf apprenticeship. The kid from the Cayman Islands is loving every minute of it

OAKMONT, Pa. — The smile was bright and pure, even if a bogey on the final hole during Saturday’s third round of the U.S. Open left a bad taste in his mouth as he signed for a third straight three-over 73. How could Justin Hastings not be smiling, though? As the only player still in the field at Oakmont Country Club with a little (a) next to his name, the 21-year-old who recently finished his college career at San Diego State has wrapped up low amateur honors. This after a T-13 finish at the PGA Tour’s Mexico Open and missing the cut in the Masters by two shots.

Up next is a start at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush before turning pro and taking advantage of status on the PGA Tour Americas he earned via the PGA Tour University program.

So much has happened since Hastings won the Latin America Amateur Championship in January, a victory that opened the way to the pro golf apprenticeship he has been embarking on.

Yet rather than be in over his head, Hastings is finding a comfort level in this new environment.

“I've been reminded that when the lights are bright is when I play the best,” Hastings said on Saturday outside the Oakmont clubhouse. “I think that's something that I carry with me for a long time, it's something that I know deep within me is that when it matters, I'm the most confident in myself. So on these big stages when the cameras are on and the people are out there watching I think that's just where I thrive. So, I've just been reassured of that the last couple tournaments.”

Where exactly does that confidence come from? After all, Hastings grew up on the Cayman Islands, which has all of one public golf course, North Sound Golf Club. He’s the first person from the Caribbean country to ever play in the U.S. Open.

“He’s always been a gamer,” says Tim Dwyer, his instructor since Hastings was a teenager and the head of the Cayman national golf team. “Any time the pressure is on, he succeeds. Ever since he was younger, he did it. He always elevates his game. It just comes from within. He has a 57 at his home golf course. It’s one of the things myself that I didn’t want to take away from him. You only wanted to add it and enjoy that fire.”

Hastings game has been sharpened through four years of school at San Diego State, where he now holds the career scoring record of 71.48. And who’d he take it away from? How about two-time major winner Xander Schauffele.

“I haven’t given him anything about that,” Hastings joked. “I think he’s still got the upperhand on me for a couple of years.”

There are still questions to answer about the future. Hastings is trying to figure out where he should call home, a place in Florida likely the landing spot. “I think financially it would be too difficult to fly to every single golf tournament. You fly from the Cayman Islands you have to take multiple flights and stuff like that,” he says. “So we're looking potentially at somewhere in Florida where I could settle down for a large part of the year, but yeah, we're still in the process of that.”

The hope of course is to play well enough on the PGA Tour Americas to work his way up the ladder in the pro ranks. By making the cut at Oakmont, Hastings gets to bypass a few of the early stages of PGA Tour Q School.

There are some adjustments still to make upon turning pro, says Dwyer. A little higher approach shot with some of his wedges and a little straighter with the driver. If he can do that while maintaining an impressive putting stroke—he ranks fifth on the week in strokes gained/putting—big things could follow.

But before this all gets very real, Hastings just wants to enjoy the moments. One of them should come Sunday evening, when he’ll get to stand beside the U.S. Open champion and claim a medal of his own.

“I'm sure it will hit me a little bit later on, but while we're in the middle here I'm trying to pick up as many strokes as I can,” Hastings said.

And learning as many lessons as possible. The apprenticeship concludes in July at Royal Portrush, and Hastings wants to make the most of it.