No sooner has the second Major of the year, the PGA Championship, concluded, that attention is beginning to turn to the third, the US Open at Pinehurst No.2, with final qualifying taking place across three venues on Monday.
Some big names, including LIV golfers Sergio Garcia and Abraham Ancer, are also hoping to earn a spot at next month’s event via that route.
Fireballs GC captain Garcia will be hoping for a repeat of 2023, where he came through final qualifying to reach the US Open for the 24th consecutive year after shooting nine under over 36 holes.
For Ancer, who is also a Fireballs GC player, qualifying wasn’t as big an issue back then as he was still comfortably inside the world’s top 60 needed to earn a spot three weeks before the tournament began, and finished T54.
Because LIV Golf isn’t able to offer world ranking points, both Garcia and Ancer have dropped significantly in the rankings since then, with Garcia now 731st and Ancer in 273rd, leaving final qualifying as their most realistic route to the tournament.
The pair are playing at Dallas Athletic Club in Texas, where they are hoping to be among 11 qualifiers at the end of what promises to be a gruelling day.
The duo are far from the only big names taking part in final qualifying. Another Fireballs GC player, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra, is also playing in Dallas, along with fellow LIV golfers Danny Lee, Kevin Na and Caleb Surrat.
Four-time PGA Tour winner Aaron Baddeley, Full Swing star Joel Dahmen and Ryan Moore, who has five PGA Tour wins, play too.
Japan also hosted a qualifier earlier in the day, where another LIV golfer, Scott Vincent, was hoping to claim one of three spots, but fell short. The venue for last year’s AIG Women’s Open, Walton Heath in England, hosted the other qualifier, with Robert Rock and Matteo Manassero among nine to qualify.
The last batch of final qualifying takes place across 10 venues in the US and Canada on 3 June ahead of the tournament, which begins on 13 June.
