There are a million stories that come out of “Golf’s Longest Day,” the day when the bulk of the rest of the U.S. Open qualifiers are decided at 36-hole sectional qualifiers throughout the country.
Turned out that Tuesday, not Monday, was golf’s longest day in 2023 when the merger of the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and LIV Golf was announced. But don’t kid yourself, the soul of the game, as it always has been and always will be, played itself out all over America Monday in those 36-hole qualifiers.
Two of the best possible representatives of the Philadelphia golf scene, Chris Crawford and Nick Gross, played their guts out in the qualifier at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J. Neither earned a spot in the field for the U.S. Open, which tees off Thursday at Los Angeles Country Club.
Crawford, however, did earn first-alternate status at Canoe Brook and, if what I saw on Twitter later in the week can be believed, he plans to head to Los Angeles and play the waiting game, hoping that somebody is forced to withdraw, giving Crawford a chance to tee it up in a U.S. Open for the fourth time.
Crawford had just completed the best career in the history of the Drexel golf program in 2016 when he holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th green at Canoe Brook’s North Course to punch his ticket to the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
Still an amateur in 2017, Crawford again advanced out of the sectional qualifier at Canoe Brook and made his second straight U.S. Open appearance at Erin Hills.
Crawford, who starred scholastically at Holy Ghost Prep, had turned professional by the time he again survived “Golf’s Longest Day” in 2021, this time advancing out of the sectional qualifier at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. to the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
I’m not entirely sure how Crawford’s foray into professional golf is going these days, but it’s obvious that trying to get into the National Open is an opportunity that means a lot to him.
Crawford was back at Canoe Brook Monday and nearly made it to the U.S. Open outright. After opening with a 1-under-par 69 at the South Course, Crawford made an eagle at the par-5 eighth hole and five birdies to offset three bogeys in a 4-under 68 at the North Course that left him with a 5-under 137 total for the day.
That left him in a tie for the fourth and final available berth to L.A. Country Club with Andrew Svoboda, the head pro at Great River Golf Club in Milford, Conn. who has played on the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour.
Not sure how the playoff played out, but Svoboda beat out Crawford for the final guaranteed spot into the U.S. Open field. Still, it was another strong showing at a U.S. Open sectional qualifier for Crawford.
Crawford, winner of one of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major championships, the Patterson Cup in 2015 at Chester Valley Golf Club, punched his ticket to Canoe Brook out of the GAP-administered local qualifier at Rolling Green Golf Club.
The final standings from Canoe Brook indicate that Gross, the 16-year-old who is finishing up his junior year at Downingtown West, ended up at even-par, adding a 4-over 74 in the afternoon at the South Course to the sparkling 4-under 68 he opened with in the morning at the North Course.
But those of us who were furiously refreshing the USGA website Monday when we realized Gross had a very real shot of making it to the U.S. Open at age 16 know how close the kid was to making it through at Canoe Brook.
Gross, the reigning District One Class AAA champion, had made seven birdies to offset three bogeys in the morning in a 4-under 68 going into the afternoon round. He was tied for fourth place. Only four spots in the U.S. Open field were available to the 67 starters at Canoe Brook.
The players who started on the back nine at the South Course actually went off the 11th tee, not the 10th and Gross was back and forth on the incoming nine to open his afternoon round, making a bogey at the 12th hole, a birdie at 13 and a bogey at 15.
A bogey at the first hole dropped Gross back to 2-under for the day. But then he made a birdie at the fourth hole and then an eagle at the par-5 sixth hole. Suddenly, Gross was 5-under and back into a tie for fourth place. Had he parred out, he would have at least been in the playoff with Crawford and Svoboda.
Who knows what happened next. Might have been adrenaline. Gross might finally have had a minute to think about the enormity of the accomplishment that was suddenly right in front of him. He went bogey, bogey, bogey before finishing up with a double bogey at the 10th hole that left him with a 4-over 74 at the South Course and and even-par 142 total for the day.
In a lot of ways, Gross’ road to Canoe Brook had begun last summer at Canoe Brook when the then-15-year-old had finished second among a group of talented players trying to qualify for a Garden State U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.
Gross then capped a stellar summer of junior golf by making a remarkable run to the quarterfinals at Ridgewood. That’s what made him exempt from the local U.S. Open qualifier and landed him right back at Canoe Brook where he nearly stole the show on “Golf’s Longest Day.”
It would have been unbelievably cool to have the reigning District One Class AAA champion playing in the U.S. Open and the talented Gross almost made that happen.
A lot has been going on for Gross since his run to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals last summer. After winning the District One individual title and leading the Whippets to the Class AAA district team crown, Gross finished in third place in defense of the PIAA Class AAA crown he had won as a sophomore.
Gross committed to join the program at Southeastern Conference power Alabama in the summer of 2024. He has played in some big junior and open amateur events over the winter and into the spring, earning a victory in the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Simply Boys Championship at Colton Woods at The Club at Colton Woods’ Fazio Championship Course in February.
In his final tuneup for the U.S. Open sectional qualifier, Gross was tied for fourth place going into the final round of the Team TaylorMade Invitational an AJGA event over the Memorial Day weekend at The Country Club at Marisol’s Sunset Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. after he had added a 4-under 68 to a sparkling opening round of 6-under 66.
Gross struggled in the final round with a 5-over 77 and finished in a tie for 18th place.
Give the kid credit. He was aggressive in his U.S. Open bid. He had those seven birdies in the opening round, but when Gross is at his best, he’s making three or four birdies and few, if any, bogeys. That eagle at the par-5 sixth hole in the afternoon at the South Course showed he was still trying to be aggressive, but his bid ran out of steam after that.
Gross still has a huge summer ahead of him. He will tee it up in two of the top open amateur events this month, the Sunnehanna Amateur at Sunnehanna Country Club, an A.W. Tillinghast classic in Johnstown, and the Northeast Amateur at Wannamoisett Country Club, a Donald Ross classic in Rumsford, R.I.
He is exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur, which will be played at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C., in July and his run to the quarterfinals at Ridgewood a year ago exempts him into this year’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club, a William Flynn classic outside of Denver.
Pretty sure Gross will play in the Boys Junior PGA Championship the first week of August at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Ark.
The qualifying medalist at Canoe Brook was Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen, a junior from Wellesley, Mass. and No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
It was a disappointing finish to the college season for Thorbjornsen and the Cardinal as they lost out in a playoff with Pac-12 rival Arizona State for the final spot in the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Thorbjornsen opened with a sparkling 4-under 66 at the South Course at Canoe Brook and added a 4-under 68 at the North Course for an 8-under 134 total.
Berry Henson, a journeyman pro from Rancho Mirage, Calif. who isn’t afraid to admit to his side gig as an Uber driver to make ends meet, was the runnerup to Thorbjornsen as he opened with a sizzling 6-under 64 at the South Course and added a 1-under 71 at the North Course for a 7-under 135 total.
There were several familiar names that failed to get through the sectional at Canoe Brook.
Jack Wall, coming off a solid senior season at Texas Tech, added a 6-over 76 at the South Course to his opening round of 2-under 70 at the North Course for a 4-over 146 total. Wall, a product of the Christian Brothers Academy, reached the quarterfinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Stonewall in 2019, ultimately won by his older brother Jeremy.
Stewart Hagestad, who won the first of his two U.S. Mid-Amateur crowns at Stonewall in 2016, opened with a solid 1-under 71 at the North Course, but struggled to a 7-over 77 in the afternoon at the South Course for a 6-over 148 total. Hagestad, who is No. 16 in the WAGR, was trying to get into the field at an L.A. Country Club layout that he played while growing up in Newport Beach, Calif.
Brandon Matthews, the former Temple standout and a two-time winner of the Philadelphia Open who is playing on the PGA Tour, added a 6-over 76 on the South Course to his opening round of 1-over 73 on the North Course for a 7-over 149 total.
Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since Matthews spent U.S. Open week at Merion Golf Club hanging out at the West Course, which doubled as the driving range that week, playing the waiting game as an alternate from a sectional qualifier. Matthews never did get the chance to tee it up in that Open at the historic East Course at Merion.
Tony Perla, the director of instruction at Forsgate Country Club who worked out of a couple of different pro shops in the Philadelphia area, including LedgeRock Golf Club, posted a pair of 79s at both Canoe Brook layouts for a 158 total.
Thorbjornsen’s Stanford teammate, Karl Vilips, a senior from Australia and No. 63 in the WAGR, was the co-medalist at the sectional qualifier at Woodmont in Rockville, Md. as he added a 1-under 70 in the afternoon to his opening round of 3-under 68 for a 4-under 138 total.
There were several players with local ties who teed it up at Woodmont.
Matthew Bastian Jr. had emerged from the GAP-administered local qualifier at Rolling Green, his home course. Bastian got off to a solid start with a 1-over 72, but struggled in the afternoon with an 82.
Nikita Romanov, a scholastic standout at Delaware’s Mount Pleasant who was a senior on the La Salle roster this spring, added an 80 in the second round at Woodmont to his opening-round 79 for a 159 total. Romanov emerged from the GAP-administered local qualifier at Huntsville Golf Club.
Cael Ropietski earned a trip to Woodmont out of the qualifier at Huntsville, his home course. Ropietski also landed on 159 as he opened with a 6-over 77, but struggled to an 82 in the afternoon.
Ropietski attends the PA Cyber Charter School, but represents Lake Lehman on the golf course and he was a junior on the Lake Lehman team that claimed the PIAA Class AA team crown last fall.
The medalist in the Huntsville qualifier was T.J. Howe, a former Penn State standout who also came back as an assistant coach for a time with the Nittany Lions. Howe did not finish his second round at Woodmont after opening with a 6-over 77.
A couple of the Philadelphia Section PGA’s top players, Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, and Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club, were unable to start or finish at Woodmont.
Looks like Shattuck, coming off his epic victory in the PGA Professional Championship at the Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M., withdrew. Shattuck is the reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section.
Looks like Oakley, the Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section in 2021, started, but did not finish at Woodmont. Oakley was another player who emerged from the GAP-administered qualifier at Rolling Green.
One of the co-medalists at Rolling Green, Patrick Cover, a Korn Ferry Tour player from Charlotte, N.C., will tee it up at Los Angeles Country Club as he fired rounds of 67 and 65 in the sectional qualifier at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C. to earn co-medalist honors with a 12-under 132 total.
The other co-medalist at Rolling Green was Drexel junior Griffin Mitchell, who teed it up with a cast of PGA Tour players in the sectional qualifier at Brookside Golf & Country Club and The Lakes Golf & Country Club in Columbus, Ohio, not all that far from Mitchell’s home base in New Albany, Ohio.
Mitchell opened with a solid 2-under 70 at The Lakes, but struggled in the afternoon at Brookside with a 79 that left him with a 5-over 149 total.
A U.S. Open champion, 2009 winner Lucas Glover, lost out in a playoff for the final spots out of the qualifier at Brookside and The Lakes. The guy shot 8-under, that’s how good you had to be in a qualifier held in Columbus with the PGA Tour in town the previous week for Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament.
Another pro who emerged from the Huntsville local qualifier, Marino Medico of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. went back to Florida for his sectional qualifier, but failed to advance out of the Pine Tree Golf Club in Boynton Beach, Fla.
Medico, a winner of the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship in 2012 and 2014 while playing out of Fox Hill Country Club, opened with a 73 at Pine Tree before adding a 72 in the afternoon for a 5-over 145 total.
Preston Summerhays of the golfing Summerhays family of Scottsdale, Ariz. rallied from an opening-round 71 with a sizzling 62 in the afternoon for a 9-under 133 total at Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles. Summerhays, a junior at Arizona State and No. 23 in the WAGR, still had to survive a playoff to get through.
Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent, a junior from Birmingham, Ala., and No. 2 in the WAGR, put together rounds of 64 and 67 to earn co-medalist honors in the sectional qualifier at Hawk Ridge Golf Club in Ball Ground, Ga. with a 13-under 131 total.
One last shoutout to former Illinois standout Nick Hardy of Northbrook, Ill., who is on the verge of being a full-time PGA Tour member and he’ll get there because he’s that good. After opening with a 71 in the sectional qualifier at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio, Hardy came roaring back in the afternoon with a scintillating 9-under 61 to punch his ticket to the U.S. Open with an 8-under 132 total that earned him third place.
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