Peter Uihlein, Tom Kim of South Korea and Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland headlined the nine players to earn U.S. Open tee times Monday via final qualifying in Dallas.
Caleb Surratt won a six-for-one playoff among players at 3 under that determined the final spot.
Uihlein shot rounds of 67 and 66 on Dallas Athletic Club’s Gold Course and Blue Course for the top score at 9-under-par 133. Kim went 66-68 to finish one shot behind.
Uihlein, 36, plays on LIV Golf and has not appeared in a major since 2018. Fellow LIV member McDowell, 46, was perhaps an even bigger surprise, as he hasn’t qualified for a major since 2020 and sits a modest 33rd in the league’s season standings.
McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open, but his exemption into the major championship only lasted 10 years.
Cooper Dossey, Manav Shah, Jimmy Stanger, TK Kim and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart earned the other invitations to next month’s major at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island.
Surratt — also a member of LIV Golf — beat out Kevin Streelman, Cooper Musselman, Chandler Phillips, Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra and Sweden’s Henrik Norlander in the playoff.
Some big names competing in Dallas missed out on their chance to qualify. Chief among them was Sergio Garcia, the Spaniard and LIV member who failed to make it last year after playing 25 U.S. Opens in a row; he finished two strokes out of the playoff.
Other notables who fell short were Hayden Springer, Branden Grace of South Africa, Joel Dahmen, Nick Dunlap, Tom Hoge and Mackenzie Hughes of Canada. Doug Ghim led the field after one round by shooting 63 on the Blue Course, only for his score to balloon with an 80 on the Gold Course.
Earlier in the day, Englishman Nathan Kimsey earned medalist honors at the U.S. Open final qualifying event at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England, one of seven to join the U.S. Open field.
Frenchman Ugo Coussaud won a four-for-one playoff to break a tie for seventh at 10 under, beating LIV Golf member Thomas Detry of Belgium along with Hennie Du Plessis of South Africa and Andrew Wilson of England.
Kimsey, 33, shot rounds of 68 and 62 to post a 10-under-par 130 over 36 holes, two clear of Spaniard Rocco Repetto Taylor. Tied at 11 under and also advancing were Filippo Celli of Italy, Matthew Jordan of England, Angel Hidalgo of Spain and Niklas Norgaard of Denmark.
Kimsey qualified for his first U.S. Open and just his second major championship overall. He made the cut and tied for 40th at the Open Championship last summer at Royal Portrush.
The English site served as the final qualifying tournament for European players. Japan will have a qualifying site on May 25 and 10 more are scattered across North America on June 8, often called “golf’s longest day.”
–Field Level Media
