5 Things to Know: 2025 U.S. Open Local Qualifying Week 4

By Brian DePasquale, USGA

| May 07, 2025

Tickets | Qualifying Results

This is the fourth and final part in a weekly series on the path to the 125th U.S. Open Championship at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club, June 12-15. The two-stage process begins with 18-hole local qualifying, conducted at 110 sites in 43 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico. Those players who advance will join a group of locally exempt players in final qualifying, which will be conducted over 36 holes at 13 sites between May 19 and June 2.

The final local qualifier will be held on May 19 at Palmer Golf Course in Alaska, a course that has been a host site nine times since 2016. Peter Barrow, 35, of Barbados, who is the head professional at Altadena (Calif.) Golf Course and involved with the First Tee of Greater Pasadena, will lead a group 15 players who will compete for one spot in the 49th state.

►More than 2,000 golfers are entered in 23 local sites on Monday, May 12, the busiest day in the qualifying calendar. Illini Country Club, in Springfield, Ill., is hosting for the 46th consecutive time in which the first stage has been conducted. In addition to familiar courses, there are entrants who are annual competitors in local qualifying. Tony Romo, 45, of Dallas, Texas, is the lead NFL analyst for CBS Sports following a franchise record-setting career with the Dallas Cowboys. A four-time All-Pro quarterback and College Football Hall of Famer, Romo advanced to final qualifying in 2010. He will try again in Heath, Texas, and is one of 120 players in the field. Mardy Fish, 43, of Los Angeles, Calif., has won six Association of Tennis Professional (ATP) singles titles and has reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the US Open. Fish, who has captured two American Century Celebrity golf titles, is also a regular in local qualifying and will play at Brentwood Country Club in his home area.

►Quicksilver Golf Club is located 34 miles from Oakmont Country Club and is the closest qualifying site to this year’s championship venue. Quicksilver was a PGA Tour Champions stop in the mid-1990s and has also hosted a Korn Ferry Tour event. National Hockey League All-Star J.T. Miller will be among the 84 competing in Midway, Pa. The 32-year-old from Pittsburgh is making his second tour with the New York Rangers after previously playing with Tampa Bay and Vancouver. Miller, who was a member of the Pittsburgh Hornets travel team as a teenager, has 709 career NHL goals. Nick Sorkin, 33, of Moundsville, W.Va., was a forward in the Pittsburgh Penguins minor-league system. He advanced to final qualifying in 2024 when he was a local medalist. Mike Van Sickle won two WPIAL state golf championships and was also a high school basketball player in the Pittsburgh area. The 38-year-old played in his lone U.S. Open in 2016 at Oakmont as a first alternate from final qualifying. Mark Goetz, 36, of Greensburg, Pa., also has a tie to the historic course that will host a record 10th U.S. Open. The first All-American in West Virginia University history and now a Korn Ferry Tour member, Goetz was the medalist in the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont. His 36-hole total of 132 was one stroke off the championship record. Palmer Jackson, 24, of Murrysville, Pa., also played in the 2021 U.S. Amateur. Jackson, who was named for 1960 U.S. Open champion Arnold Palmer and qualified for the European Challenge Tour last fall, won the 2018 Pennsylvania Golf Association Junior title and was a University of Notre Dame All-American.

►Willie Mack III made the U.S. Open his first professional major championship last year at Pinehurst No. 2 and placed the spotlight on the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour. The 36-year-old opened with a 1-over-par 71 before missing the 36-hole cut. The Flint, Mich., native qualified through both stages and aims to repeat that performance, starting on May 12 at Shingle Creek Golf Club near his Orlando, Fla., residence. Aaron Grimes, 31, of Compton, Calif., won the APGA’s 2024 Long Beach Open. He competed against PGA Tour players Patrick Cantlay and Beau Hossler in high school and has caddied at The Los Angeles Country Club, site of the 2023 U.S. Open. Grimes will play on May 12 at Brentwood Country Club. Kamaiu Johnson, 31, of Davenport, Fla., received the APGA’s top player award when he won the 2022 Tour Championship. He is entered in the Easton, Conn., qualifier on the same day. Wyatt Worthington, 38, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, captured his third APGA tournament title last year when he won the Bally’s Ferry Point. A teaching professional, Worthington will stay in the Buckeye State and play in the Grove City qualifier on May 12. Christian Heavens, 35, of East St. Louis, Ill., is also an APGA winner and will compete in the Las Cruces, N.M., qualifier. A former college assistant coach, Heavens is a product of the First Tee of Greater St. Louis.

►For a golfer of any age qualifying for your first U.S. Open is a top goal. Tommy Gainey, 49, of Hartsville, S.C., has been victorious on five professional tours, including the PGA Tour’s 2012 McGladrey Classic, and three Korn Ferry Tour events. But the golfer known as “Two Gloves” has not played in the National Open. He is entered in the Hardeeville, S.C., qualifier on May 12. Paul Chaplet, the 2016 Latin America Amateur champion, is now competing on PGA Tour Americas. The Costa Rican will start his qualifying journey one day later in Palm Desert, Calif., where Ironwood Country Club’s South Course is hosting for the 27th time. Byron Meth, 32, of San Diego, Calif., won the last U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship contested in 2014. He has been to a U.S. Open, but only as a standard bearer in 2008. That championship was held at Torrey Pines Golf Course in his hometown where he owns a solar company that powers homes with renewable energy. Luke Colton, 17, of Frisco, Texas, and Jessy Huebner, 16, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., are members of the U.S. National Junior Team, a developmental program that was implemented by the USGA in 2024. Colton, who will play in the Heath, Texas, qualifier, is a Class 5A state high school champion and a two-time winner of the Terra Cotta Invitational. Huebner won last year’s Florida Junior Amateur and will remain in his home state and take part in the Palm Beach Gardens qualifier.

►There are also those who hope to return to the U.S. Open. Jon Chaffee, 69, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was in the 1983 U.S. Open field at Oakmont. Chaffee, who will travel to the Missoula, Mont., qualifier on May 13, has played in six Opens and made 117 career starts on the PGA Tour. Andy Zhang became the youngest U.S. Open competitor (14 years, 6 months) in 2012 at The Olympic Club when exempt player Paul Casey withdrew, earning his way into the field as the first alternate from final qualifying. The former All-SEC golfer at the University at Florida will try for his second Open at age 27 in Orlando on May 12. Brett Patterson, 33, of Oxford, Miss., played in the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club. He recently earned a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Mississippi and is a clinical assistant professor at the school. He will play in the Urbana, Md., qualifier on May 13. Scott Gutschewski, 48, of Omaha, Neb., competed in his first Open 16 years ago at Bethpage State Park. His son, Trevor, won the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur and is fully exempt, while Scott is in the Mayetta, Kan., qualifier on May 13. Luke, another son who is four years older than Trevor, failed to advance from his Nebraska local qualifier. Brandon Harkins, 38, of Scottsdale, Ariz., is one 17 players who advanced to the 2016 U.S. Open through local and final qualifying. Harkins, who tied for 59th nine years ago at Oakmont, won on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022 and is entered in the Hayward, Calif., qualifier on May 12. Michael Miller, 33, of Brewster, N.Y.; Mark Anguiano, 32, of Whittier, Calif.; T.J. Howe, 37, of Eckland, Pa.; and Tyler Raber, 35, of El Macero, Calif., were also two-stage qualifiers in 2016 and are entered in local qualifiers this week.