In less than two weeks, a champion will hoist this trophy right here in front of the clubhouse at The Country Club.
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We are officially in the home stretch for the next major of the season: the U.S. Open at Brookline in Massachusetts. Today, the Monday before Open week, is known as Sectional Qualifying Monday. Or as Golf Channel likes to call it, The Longest Day in Golf.
Sectional Qualifying is a grind for plenty of the best amateurs in the world, but also for some of the best pros on the planet, too. Forty-nine players will look to qualify from nine qualifiers across North America. There’s a handful of pros playing up in Canada, already set for this week’s Canadian Open. There’s also 21 spots being dished out across two qualifiers in Ohio, near where Billy Horschel won the Memorial tournament on Sunday.
Just down the leaderboard from Horschel? Sahith Theegala, who finished seven shots back, is set to play 36 holes on Monday as he attempts to qualify for Brookline. Rickie Fowler is competing in sectionals again this year after failing to qualify last year. He’s down at the Jupiter, Fla. qualifier, closest to home. So is Matthew Wolff. Perhaps the most fun story is also in Ohio: Danny Woodhead. Woodhead is a former NFL running back who has put together an impressive start to his amateur golf career. He’s playing among many of the pros at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio.
This all, of course, adds to the two qualifiers that took place already, in Japan and Dallas. You can find results for both of those qualifiers and follow along for live updates at the nine others taking place below.
Lanto Griffin (-12) Chan Kim Davis Riley (-11) Chris Naegel (-9) Sam Bennett (a) (-8) Danny Lee Adam Schenk Denny McCarthy (-7) Joel Dahmen (-6) Patrick Rodgers Wyndham Clark Andrew Putnam Sean McCarty (-5) Hayden Buckley Adam Svensson Bob Sowards David Lingmerth
Notables who failed to qualify: Cameron Champ Jason Dufner — WD Doug Ghim — WD Garrick Higgo — WD Lucas Glover — WD Nick Watney — WD Hudson Swafford — WD Brendan Steele — WD
Qualified: Matthys Daffue (-7) Brian Stuard Beau Hossler (-5) Maxwell Moldovan Troy Merritt (-4) Bo Hoag Samuel Stevens Adrien Dumont de Chassart
Notables who failed to qualify: Cameron Davis Jim Herman Scott Piercy Robert Streb Brandt Snedeker Zac Blair Sahith Theegala Danny Woodhead Doc Redman — WD
Qualified: Kurt Kitayama (-11)
Matthew Nesmith (-11)
Jinichiro Kozuma (-11)
Sean Crocker (-11)
Andrew Novak
Mackenzie Hughes
Rikuya Hoshino
Ben Silverman
Nick Taylor
Travis Vick (a)
Scott Stallings
Davis Shore
Roger Sloan (-7)
Notables who failed to qualify: Adam Hadwin Graeme McDowell Stephan Jaeger Justin Harding Rory Sabbatini James Hahn Dylan Frittelli Matt Kuchar Takumi Kanaya Sung Kang Parker Coody (a) Kramer Hickok John Huh Charley Hoffman Matt Jones Carlos Ortiz Pat Perez
Sean Zak is a writer at GOLF Magazine and just published his first book, which follows his travels in Scotland during the most pivotal summer in the game’s history.
