COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — On a long day when it felt everything was going wrong, Cameron Young birdied three of his last four holes Monday to get into a 5-for-1 playoff and then made a 12-foot birdie to earn his spot in the U.S. Open in two weeks at Oakmont.
The drama went coast-to-coast, and even north of the border into Canada, with 47 places available at 10 qualifying sites to fill the field for the major regarded the toughest test in golf.
Monday was tough enough, especially for Max Homa.
He had a chance to get one of the six spots available from the Ohio qualifier at Kinsale, all while carrying his own bag for 36 holes — this after a rugged week at the Memorial — because he has split from his caddie. But he three-putted for par on his final hole, getting into the playoff.
Make that 38 holes lugging his bag.
Young advanced with his clutch play, while Rickie Fowler was eliminated with a bogey. Homa played the 11th hole to try to get an alternate spot. He missed a par putt on that hole and then faced a long walk to the parking lot.
Young, already enduring a tough year that forced him to do a 36-hole qualifier, hit 9-iron to 8 feet for birdie on the 15th, birdied the par-5 16th and then hit wedge to 18 inches on the final hole to earn a spot in the 5-for-1 playoff.
“I feel like I showed myself something today,” he said. “For so long today I saw nothing go in.”
The playoff began on the 10th hole, and Young hit driver into the left rough and judged his wedge perfectly to 12 feet below the hole.
“I started my day here 12 hours ago and made a 3, so I tried to do it again,” he said.
Erik van Rooyen opened with a 64 at Kinsale and had no trouble getting to Oakmont for the U.S. Open on June 12-15. He wound up six shots ahead of the field. Other qualifiers were Bud Cauley, Lanto Griffin, Justin Lower and Harrison Ott, at No. 2,651 in the world ranking.
Cauley is No. 56 in the world, and is likely to stay in the top 60 after the Canadian Open and get in through that category. If that happens, Chase Johnson would get to his first U.S. Open. He won the playoff for the two alternate spots with Eric Cole.
In the other Ohio qualifier in Springfield, Zac Blair won a 4-for-1 playoff for the last spot by outlasting John Peterson, a former PGA Tour player who retired and then asked to be reinstated as an amateur.
The four spots from the Florida qualifier did not finish because of a rain delay.
Three of the five spots from the Atlanta qualifier went to amateurs, with 17-year-old Mason Howell leading the way. The high school junior played bogey-free for an 18-under 126. Also qualifying was Jackson Koivun of Auburn, who already has locked up a PGA Tour card, and Florida State sophomore Tyler Weaver.
Qualifiers in Toronto and North Carolina each offered seven spots — the PGA Tour is in Canada this week and the Korn Ferry Tour is in its Carolinas swing.
Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark and Emiliano Grillo of Argentina were among the seven qualifiers in Canada, where Kevin Velo led the field. In North Carolina, Zach Bauchou led the seven players who got into Oakmont. Bauchou was in the Ohio qualifier two years ago when he had his college roommate — Viktor Hovland — caddie for him a day after Hovland won the Memorial.
Most of the LIV Golf players who tried to qualify — or thought about it, anyway — were competing for four spots in Maryland. Marc Leishman of Australia, who has not qualified for a major the last two years since joining LIV, beat out fellow LIV player Sebastian Munoz to earn one of the four spots.
Fifteen players from LIV originally were in the Maryland field. Five did not turn in cards when it was clear they wouldn't make it — not unusual for tour players — while five withdrew before it began, including Bubba Watson and Lee Westwood.
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