For the second year in a row, Downingtown West graduate Nick Gross – pretty sure that was the Downingtown West graduation in progress when I drove by Thursday evening -- came up just short in his bid to earn a ticket to the U.S. Open.
Gross, the 2021 PIAA Class AAA champion as a sophomore with the Whippets, improved his score for two rounds at Canoe Brook Country Club’s North and South course from a year ago, although he was probably closer to getting through then.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, the big national junior events were canceled. Shawn Gross decided to adjourn to the Pinehurst, N.C. area with his son Nick, a fledgling junior star at age 13. Team Gross used the Pinehurst area as a base of operation that summer with dad taking his son to as many of the regional and American Junor Golf Association (AJGA) events that were within reasonable driving distance as they could.
I’m sure Nick Gross would have loved to have returned to the Pinehurst area for this year’s U.S. Open at the Donald Ross classic that is the No. 2 Course at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club.
Didn’t happen, but Gross hardly embarrassed himself Monday during “Golf’s Longest Day,” when one-day, 36-hole U.S. Open qualifiers were held at sites all over the country.
Gross matched par in the opening round with a 72 at Canoe Brook’s North Course in the morning and got it going in the afternoon with a sparkling 3-under 67 at the South Course that left him four shots out of a playoff among four players for the final ticket to Pinehurst.
Last spring, Gross was exempt from local qualifying and was able to go straight to final qualifying at Canoe Brook, one of the perks he received as a result of his stunning run to the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals in the summer of 2022 at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. a week before he turned 16.
Not that local U.S. Open local qualifying proved to be much of a challenge for Gross, who will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Alabama at the end of the summer.
Gross unleashed a course-record tying 7-under 63 at the challenging Country Club of York, a Donald Ross gem, to claim medalist honors May 2nd in the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP)-administered local qualifier.
Gross hadn’t played a whole lot of competitive golf over the winter. The rust showed a little when he finished in a tie for 22nd place with a 3-over 219 total in March in The Junior Invitational at Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, S.C., an event that has quickly established itself as one of the most important tournaments in junior golf.
Gross actually teed it for Kennett Square Golf & Country Club in the GAP BMW Team Matches, a nice addition to the lineup.
But Gross chose the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 83rd George Dressler Memorial at LedgeRock Golf Club, a sturdy test in the hills of Berks County between Morgantown and Reading, for a final tuneup before the local U.S. Open qualifier at the Country Club of York.
When Gross matched the course record at LedgeRock in the opening round of the Dressler with a spectacular 10-under 62, it appeared he was more than ready to get serious about his 2024 golf season. Caddied for a guy a couple of weeks ago at Stonewall who played with Gross that day and he said Gross could have easily, probably should have, shot 59.
Gross made nine birdies and an eagle against a bogey at the 17th hole.
The following day, Gross put it on cruise control with a 4-under 68 for a 14-under 130 total that was eight shots clear of runnerup Rick Stimmel, a western Pennsylvania senior who has been on a pretty good roll of his own dating back to last summer’s U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at the Martis Camp Club in Truckee, Calif., where he earned a spot in the match-play bracket.
Two days later, Gross went off in the local U.S. Open qualifier at the Country Club of York. The GAP writeup from the qualifier calculated that in his 54 holes between the Dressler Memorial and the local Open qualifier, Gross had made 23 birdies and an eagle. Is that any good?
The kid showed up at Stonewall for his first crack at the Old Course a day after dismantling the Country Club of York layout for a friendly round. Not sure how he did, but he was in the group behind the group I was with and as we were departing the green at the 370-yard, par-4 14th hole, Gross’ ball was rolling onto the front of the green.
It’s downhill and it was down wind that day, but still 370 is 370.
Gross told the GAP website that the Plan B if he didn’t make it to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst was the Royal & Ancient’s Amateur Championship, which tees off June 17 at Ballyliffin in Donegal, Ireland.
“I took some time off during the winter and now I’m hoping to get ready for college, playing in amateur events against the competition I’ll see in college or at a higher level,” Gross told the GAP website after his sizzling 63 at the Country Club of York. “That’s the way we approached it when planning a schedule this summer. Play against the best and sharpen my game.”
At Canoe Brook, Gross was solid in his opening round, although solid just isn’t enough in a final U.S. Open qualifier. He offset bogeys at the seventh and 12th holes with birdies at the fourth and 18th holes for an even-par 72.
He had opened with a 4-under 68 at the North Course a year ago when he was inside the cut line to make it to the U.S. Open until his final four holes at the South Course. He went 5-over in those final four holes for an even-par 144 total.
Not sure where Gross teed off in the afternoon, but he got a little revenge on the South Course with a solid 3-under 67. He had finished on the front nine in his second round a year ago, going bogey, bogey, bogey, double bogey. This year he made birdies at the sixth and ninth holes.
Gross also made birdies at the 10th, 11th and 18th holes to offset bogeys at one and 14.
A two-time winner of the Patterson Cup, one of GAP’s major championships, Peter Bradbeer, a member of one of the first families at Merion Golf Club, lost out in a 4-for-1 playoff for the final ticket to Pinehurst at Canoe Brook.
Bradbeer opened with a sparkling 4-under 66 at the South Course, a round that included birdies at the third, sixth, eight, 12th and 18th holes, offsetting a lone bogey at 17.
Bradbeer was really solid in the afternoon with birdies at the second, eighth and 18th holes and 15 pars for a 3-under 69 that left him in the foursome tied for fourth place at 7-under 135 total. But a bogey on the first hole of the playoff ended Bradbeer’s hopes of landing a spot in the field at Pinehurst.
Bradbeer turned pro a couple of years ago. Not sure where he stands in the grueling process of trying to secure playing privileges on the PGA Tour. Pretty sure he’s been playing on mini-tours in Florida, but landing a spot in a U.S. Open would certainly have been a career highlight in his pro career to this point.
Jim Herman, a veteran PGA Tour pro from Cincinnati, Ohio, was the survivor of the playoff and will tee it up in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in a little over a week.
Saw on X/Twitter that Chris Gotterup, who starred collegiately at Rutgers before taking a fifth year with national power Oklahoma and winning the Fred Haskins Award there, appeared on the verge of joining the group at 7-under or even grabbing the fourth spot outright when his second shot at the par-5 finishing hole at the North Course left him in a greenside bunker.
But Gotterup took four shots from there for a bogey 6 that left him one frustrating shot short of being involved in the playoff. “Golf’s Longest Day” is littered with stories like that. The U.S. Open is open, but it is hard to get there.
Co-medalist honors at Canoe Brook went to Virginia’s talented sophomore Ben James of Milford, Conn. and No. 5 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and former Duke standout Max Greyserman, playing in front of friends and family from his Short Hills, N.J. home, both of whom landed on 11-under 131.
James helped the Cavaliers reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship last week at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. where they fell to eventual national champion Auburn. James added a sizzling 6-under 64 in his second round at Canoe Brook’s South Course after opening with a 5-undere 67 at the North Course.
Really nice story on Greyserman’s road to the PGA Tour and to a berth in the U.S. Open on the USGA website authored by David Shefter.
Greyserman, a product of the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J., ripped off a spectacular 8-under 28 on the outgoing nine at the North Course to open his second round on his way to an 8-under 64 that enabled him to get it to 11-under. He had opened with a 3-under 67 at the South Course.
Andy Svoboda, the head pro at Butler National Golf Club in suburban Chicago, will be teeing it up in his second straight major championship as he finished alone in third place at Canoe Brook with a 9-under 133 total. Svoboda added a 5-under 65 in the afternoon at the South Course to his opening round of 4-under 68 at the North Course.
Svoboda teed it up in last month’s PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club as part of the Colebridge Financial Team after he finished in a tie for second place in the PGA Professional Championship earlier this spring at Fields Ranch at PGA at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas.
The other two players who finished in a tie for seventh place at 7-under along with Herman and Bradbeer were Michael Miller, one of the top players in the PGA Metropolitan Section, and Mexico’s Raul Pereda, who is on the PGA Tour.
Miller, who added a 2-under 68 in the afternoon at the South Course to his opening round of 5-under 67 at the North Course, is the first alternate and Pereda, who added a 4-under 68 in the afternoon at the North Course to the 3-under 67 he opened with at the North Course, is the second alternate out of the final qualifier at Canoe Brook.
A couple of Penn Staters, T.J. Howe of Elkland, and James Allen of Scarsdale, N.Y., who wrapped up his career with the Nittany Lions this spring, had solid showings at Canoe Brook, each finishing among the group at 4-under 138.
Howe, a standout player at Penn State and a former assistant coach with the program until 2020, opened with a 3-under 67 at the South Course before adding a 1-under 71 at the North Course. Allen opened with a 1-over 71 at the South Course before finishing up with a sparkling 5-under 67 at the North Course in the afternoon.
Wouldn’t be a final qualifier for the U.S. Open if Chris Crawford, who starred scholastically at Holy Ghost Prep and collegiately at Drexel, wasn’t involved.
Crawford has played in the U.S. Open three times after punching his ticket through a sectional qualifier, twice as an amateur in 2016 and 2017 at Canoe Brook and most recently as a pro in 2021 at Woodmont Country Club’s North Course in Rockville, Md.
Crawford struggled to 3-over 75 at Canoe Brook’s North Course in the opening round before rebounding with a 2-under 68 in the afternoon at the South Course for a 1-over 143 total.
Another familiar name, that of former Wake Forest standout and Yardley native Kyle Sterbinsky, finished at even-par 142 at Canoe Brook. Sterbinsky, once a teammate of Greyserman’s at Peddie, opened with a 2-under 68 at the South Course before adding a 2-over 74 at the North Course in the afternoon.
It was a near miss for Carson Bacha, the 2019 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Central York and No. 59 in the WAGR, in the final qualifier at The Golf Club of Georgia’s Lakeside Course in Alpharetta, Ga.
Bacha, fresh from helping Auburn capture the first national championship in the program’s history at La Costa, added a 6-under 66 in the afternoon to his opening round of 4-under 68 for a 10-under 134 total that was two shots behind the third and final U.S. Open qualifier in the 68-man field. Bacha came away with the second alternate.
Bacha’s teammate, Jackson Koivun of Chapel Hill, N.C. and No. 3 in the WAGR, was a shot behind Bacha with a 9-under 135 total as he added a 6-under 66 in the afternoon to his opening round of 3-under 69. Koivun was named the winner of both the Ben Hogan and Fred Haskins awards, both of which honor the top player in Division I college golf.
Two of three tickets to Pinehurst out of the final qualifier at The Golf Club of Georgia went to players who also made it to the match-play bracket in the NCAA Championship at La Costa.
Illinois’ Jackson Buchanan of Dacula, Ga. and No. 30 in the WAGR shared medalist honors at The Golf Club of Georgia with Chris Petefish, a pro from Cumming, Ga. who played his college golf at Georgia Tech, each landing on 13-under 131.
Buchanan and the Fightin’ Illini fell to Georgia Tech in a quarterfinal match at La Costa. He opened with a sizzling 8-under 64 at the Lakeside Course before adding a 5-under 67 in the afternoon. Petefish opened with a 7-under 65 before adding a 6-under 66 in the afternoon.
The final ticket to Pinehurst out of the qualifier at The Golf Club of Georgia went to Denmark’s Frederick Kjetterup, the No. 13 player in the WAGR who wrapped up an outstanding career at Florida State by helping the Seminoles reach the Final Match at La Costa, where they fell to Auburn.
Kjetterup recorded a pair of 6-under 66s to finish in third place, a shot behind Buchanan and Petefish at 12-under 132.
Couple of interesting names popped up in the final qualifier at Woodmont, where 64 players were competing for just three tickets to Pinehurst.
Kyle Vance, a two-time District One Class AAA champion at Methacton, added a 1-under 70 in the afternoon at Woodmont’s North Course to his opening round of 3-over 74 for a 2-over 144 total.
Michael Lugiano, who wrapped up a standout scholastic career at Lake Lehman by finishing in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship at Penn State last fall, joined Vance at 2-over 144 as he registered a pair of 1-over 72s.
Mike Crowley, who wrapped up his college career at Loyola of Maryland this spring, added a 4-over 75 in the second round to his opening-round 73 for a 6-over 148 total. Crowley helped the Greyhounds capture the Patriot League title this spring and earn a trip to the NCAA’s Baton Rouge Regional.
Crowley of Hunt Valley, Md. will defend his BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship crown when qualifying tees off Tuesday at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club and North Hills Country Club. Crowley captured the Philly Am title a year ago at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.
Medalist honors at Woodmont were shared by Tim Widing of Sweden, twice a winner on the Korn Ferry Tour in the early part of this season, and Isaiah Salinda, a member of Stanford’s 2019 national championship team at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., as they each finished with a 9-under 133 total.
Widing and Salinda of San Francisco, Calif., had identical splits, each adding a 4-under 67 in the afternoon’s second round to an opening round of 5-under 66.
Wells Williams of West Point, Miss., coming off his sophomore season at Vanderbilt, grabbed the final ticket to the U.S. Open out of the qualifier at Woodmont as he posted a pair of 4-under 67s to finish a shot behind Widing and Salinda at 8-under 134.
Vanderbilt was so strong in the recently completed season that Williams couldn’t get a spot in the lineup for the postseason. Assuming he stays at Vanderbilt, I’m sure he’ll be one of the Commodores’ top players for the 2024-2025 season.
It is a testament to the high regard professional golfers have for the U.S. Open that even a Masters champion, 2013 winner Adam Scott, teed it up in a final qualifier Monday at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio, losing out to fellow Aussie Cam Davis for the fourth and final ticket to the U.S. Open up for grabs.
Davis won on the third hole of the playoff after adding a 2-under 68 in the afternoon to his opening round of 5-under 65 for a 7-under 133 total.
Scott opened with a sizzling 6-under 64 before adding a 1-under 69 in the afternoon to join Davis at 7-under.
Scott is the first alternate and may get a call from the USGA, which is reserving six spots in the field to cover any last-minute shifts in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). If Scott doesn’t make the field for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, it will end a streak of major championship appearances that dates back to the 2001 Open Championship.
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