5 Things to Know: 2025 U.S. Open Local Qualifying Week 2

Tickets | Qualifying Results

This is the second 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.

►Can four senior golfers get a second opportunity to play in a U.S. Open at Oakmont? J.J. Henry, 50, of Fort Worth, Texas, Trip Kuehne, a 53-year-old amateur from Dallas, Texas, and Mathew Goggin, 50, of Australia, are attempting to qualify for both this year’s U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open. Henry, a three-time PGA Tour winner, has played in eight U.S. Opens, including his last one when he missed the cut in 2016 at Oakmont. Kuehne, who won the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur, played on three USA Walker Cup Teams and was runner-up to Tiger Woods in the 1994 U.S. Amateur, has competed in four U.S. Opens, including 2007 at Oakmont. Both Henry and Kuehne are entered in the Abliene, Texas, local qualifier on April 28. On that same date, Goggin, who has played on five different professional tours, will compete in the Albany, Ga., qualifier. He tied for 36th in 2007 at Oakmont, one of his four Open starts. Woody Austin, 61, of Derby, Kan., will tee it up in San Antonio on April 29 in hopes of playing in the U.S. Open for an eighth time. He tied for 71st in 2008 at Torrey Pines, his last appearance, after missing the 36-hole cut the previous year at Oakmont. Austin has won four events on both the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.

►Several U.S. Open local qualifying entrants are linked to Oakmont Country Club, but none are more closely connected than Sean Knapp, who lives two blocks from the course dissected by the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The 63-year-old Knapp caddied there in his youth and has played in two U.S. Amateurs (2003, 2021) at the first golf course to be declared a national historic landmark. He is entered in the York, Pa., qualifier on May 1 and will be joined by Jason Li, who grew up 25 miles from Oakmont in the borough of Sewickley. Li, 26, who also played in the 2021 Amateur, became the first Carnegie Mellon University golfer to earn Division III first-team All-America recognition. Marc Turnesa, 47, of Jupiter, Fla., is the great nephew of Willie Turnesa, who captured the first of his two U.S. Amateur titles at Oakmont in 1938. Marc, who qualified for his lone U.S. Open 14 years ago at Congressional Country Club, will start his qualifying trek on April 28 at Brookville Country Club on Long Island. Dalton Melnyk, 44, of Atlanta, Ga., has never played in a U.S. Open. But his father, Steve, made eight starts and won the 1969 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont when the championship was a 72-hole, stroke-play event. He later embarked on a long career as a television golf analyst. Dalton will play in the Albany, Ga., qualifier on April 28.

►Many amateur golfers with regular full-time jobs have hopes of teeing it up at Oakmont. Trent Leon, who is entered in the Abilene, Texas, qualifier on April 28, and his brother, Tyler, are managing partners of an independent oil and gas investment company. While Trent hopes to play in his first U.S. Open, his sister, Taylor, has competed in five U.S. Women’s Opens and was a member of the victorious 2006 USA Curtis Cup Team. Sam Jackson, 32, of West Columbia, S.C., is a sales representative for a windows and doors company, while Mark Costanza, 36, of Morristown, N.J., is an investment banker for an independent firm. Jackson aims to advance from a local qualifier in his hometown on April 30, and Costanza will compete in West Orange, N.J. on April 28. R.B. Clyburn, 36, of Cartersville, Ga., hopes to get his second look at Oakmont after playing in the 2021 U.S. Amateur. A major college basketball official, the 6-foot-7 Clyburn was a wide receiver on the Georgia Tech football team. He will play in the Albany, Ga., qualifier on April 28. Shane Bacon is one of 99 entrants in the Darien, Conn., qualifier on May 1. The 41-year-old television golf announcer once had a stint as an LPGA Tour caddie.

►Two players in local qualifying should not be confused with champion golfers of the same name. Ben Hogan, 44, of Wellington, Ohio, is not the World Golf Hall of Famer who won his fourth U.S. Open in 1953 at Oakmont Country Club. This Ben Hogan is a retired police officer who was on the force in the San Diego area for 12 years before leaving the profession for medical reasons. Hogan, now a volunteer at his local police department in Ohio, is among 120 competitors at Weymouth Country Club, in Medina, Ohio, on April 29. A reinstated amateur, Hogan has qualified for two consecutive U.S. Mid-Amateurs (2023, 2024). Sergio Garcia has competed in 25 consecutive U.S. Opens and recorded five top-10 finishes. The 2017 Masters champion from Spain is exempt from local qualifying. But a 25-year-old professional who was named for him is in the field on April 29 at Cedar Creek Golf Course, in San Antonio, Texas. This Sergio was a four-time state high school qualifier and district champion in the Lone Star state. He is one of a record 10,202 players who filed entries and will attempt qualifying for the first time.

►There are no age limits when it comes competing for a place in the 156-player U.S. Open field, and many teenagers will try. Logan McGinn, 13, of South Williamsport, Pa., was a Drive, Chip & Putt finalist in 2023. McGinn, who occasionally plays golf with Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Mike Mussina, will be in the York, Pa., qualifier on May 1. Smith Summerlin, 17, of Raleigh, N.C., and Davis Wotnosky, 16, of Wake Forest, N.C., will start their qualifying journey at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 6 on April 28. Summerlin, who tied for sixth in the Class 4A state high school championship last year, advanced to the final stage in 2023. Wotnosky, the third-youngest competitor (age 12 in 2021) in U.S. Junior Amateur history, won last year’s Carolinas Four-Ball with his brother, Grayson. Billy Davis, of Spring Valley, Calif., reached the Junior Amateur semifinals two years ago and will compete in the Newnan, Ga., qualifier on April 30. The 18-year-old’s sister, Anna, has played in two U.S. Women’s Opens and was a member of the 2024 USA Curtis Cup Team. Blake Brown, 17, of Cypress, Texas, owns three American Junior Golf Association victories and tied for ninth in the 2024 Class 6A state high school championship. He is entered in the Kinder, La., qualifier on May 4.

NOTE: Golf Channel will provide wall-to-wall coverage of Golf’s Longest Day, Monday, June 2.

Brian DePasquale is the USGA’s senior manager for communications. Email him at bdepasquale@usga.org.