5 U.S. Open Qualifiers Who Could Have Some Value Next Week

“I mean it’s open. Anyone’s got a shot at it. You’ve just gotta get past a local and a sectional qualifier, and unlike Doral or Colonial or the AT&T, they can’t keep you out. They can’t ask you if you’re a garbageman or a bean-picker or a driving range pro whose check is signed by a stripper. You qualify, you’re in.”

The greatest summarization of what the U.S. Open is all about didn’t come from a multiple major champion or a qualifier who snuck into a field. It came from Hollywood scriptwriters, who offered the above lines to Roy McAvoy in the legendary film Tin Cup.

They clearly understood the assignment.

This monologue from Kevin Costner’s character becomes even more prescient every year on what’s been termed Golf’s Longest Day, which just took place on Monday, when 43 players were added to the year’s third major championship through Final Qualifying at 10 sites across North America.

While it doesn’t appear that any garbagemen or bean-pickers qualified for next week’s event at Shinnecock Hills, the list is filled with dreamers who can at least allow their minds to wander as to the impending possibilities.

It’s been 17 years since a player who endured the 36-hole qualifier went on to win the golf tournament, when Lucas Glover took the 2009 edition, which was also on Long Island, at Bethpage Black.

Prior to then, it wasn’t a completely irregular occurrence.

Michael Campbell similarly went through qualifying before winning four years earlier. So did Steve Jones nine years before that.

Keep going back and you’ll find that Jerry Pate (1976), Orville Moody (1969), Ken Venturi (1964), Julius Boros (1963) and Gene Littler (1961) also had to qualify.

It would take a Herculean effort for one of this year’s qualifiers to beat the Scottie Schefflers and Rory McIlroys of today’s era – or even just the J.J. Spauns and Aaron Rais.

Let’s have a little fun with the idea anyway. Based on Monday’s results, here are five players I could envision making a little noise on the leaderboard at Shinnecock next week.

5 U.S. Open Qualifiers Who Could Have Some Value Next Week

Billy Horschel

As much as the best qualifying stories are centered around the Roy McAvoy types, I love this story about an eight-time winner who’s played this event a dozen times already, but it still means enough to him that he continues to qualify. His record isn’t terrific, but he was T-4 at the 2013 edition of this event at Merion and posted a pair of top-10s at majors just two years ago.

Davis Thompson

I’ve personally been waiting longer than I’d like to admit for Thompson to become a top-tier PGA Tour player, but his strong tee-to-green numbers are offset by the fact that he remains one of the worst this season with the flatstick in his hands. If this U.S. Open turns into one that plays to the ball-strikers – the type where two-putt pars are a great result – maybe he can overcome those stats on the greens.

Kevin Roy

The medalist at the Purchase, N.Y., site, Roy could do a little damage in his home state next week. He ranks 31st in SG: Putting on the PGA Tour this season and owns four top-25s, but perhaps most important is that he’s only missed one cut in his last 10 starts, showing he could have a decent floor for this one.

John Parry

Like Roy, Parry isn’t a guy who’s knocking on the door for a PGA Tour title, but he does stick around for plenty of weekends, having made 13 straight cuts to start his season before finally missing one at Colonial a few weeks ago. At 39, he’s only played the U.S. Open twice — and not in the past 11 years — though he was T-28 back in 2013.

Ben James

It’s been a big week for the four-time All-America selection from the University of Virginia. He turned pro and will make his pro debut at this week’s RBC Canadian Open. It was also announced that he’ll play his home state Travelers Championship in a few weeks. And in between, he qualified for his third consecutive U.S. Open. He’ll try to make his first cut next week.