Since the beginning of April, 10,202 golfers world-wide teed it up for a chance to play in the USGA’s premier event, The 125th US Open. As long as you have a handicap of 0.4 or better, you can try to achieve immortality! Why the title? Two 36 hole rounds in one day for glory or failure!
Pros, LIV Tour players, DP World Tour golfers and amateurs alike tried to make it into this year’s 156 man field. Most players must start at the local qualifier to earn their way to the Final qualifying sites. Some professional players bypass the local and attempt to grab a spot via the Final rounds. But this year was a crazy year for qualifying. Here are some of the best and unfortunate stories.
The Great US Open Stories
Matt Vogt (a), Dentist.
Gotta be the best story of the week. Indianapolis dentist, Matt Vogt, was teary eyed when he won the Final qualifying at Wine Valley Golf Club in Washington. He caddied at Oakmont as a boy growing up in the Pennsylvania hamlet called Pittsburgh!
Check out one of the responses! “Give him a 2:30 tee time.” OMG! Hysterical! (If you know, you know!)
Mason Howell (a), 17 year old high school student!
The HS junior from Georgia cruised to the US Open finishing at 18 under par, tied with Jackson Buchanan, a senior from the University of Illinois. The kid birdied the 18th to cap off his day while former Ryder Cup captain, Zach Johnson, watched the ending.
Hopefully his state championship he won for his school and personally will prepare him for Father’s Day Weekend. Dad, I have a present for you!
Professionals
Ryan McCormick, Korn Ferry Tour
Ryan has had a crazy two years. In 2023, he finished in the top 30 on the Korn Ferry Tour to solidify his 2024 PGA Tour card. But his poor year saw him hit the KFT again in 2025.
But as fickle golf can be, McCormick finished his Final Qualifier as the top golfer, carding a -10 under par final at Woodmont Country Club in Maryland. He now has a chance to possibly get some points to earn back his PGA card. But he might want to keep the tape on his lips! Don’t want to get angry and fined or lose strokes!
(Mogie Adamchik/Getty Images)
As Ryan knows, golf is a sport where one bad round or anger outburst or unexpected bounce can set a golfer back in his/her progress. Look at the fall of Max Homa! (That’s under the SAD TALE).
Justin Lower, Canal Fulton
Akron’s Lower will now add the US Open as his 18 event played this year. With two Top 10 and top 25’s, Justin will get another crack at a major. This year, he made the cut at the PGA Championship last month finishing tied for 60th.
The Sad Tale of the US Open qualifying
Grantland Rice, the great sportswriter, once said, “Like life, golf can be humbling. However, little good comes from brooding about mistakes we’ve made. The next shot, in golf or in life, is the big one.” Max Homa might not be brooding but he’s in need of the Big One.
Max won the NCAA individual championship in 2013. He played on the KFT and had some PGA events he qualified for. He spent years on both tours, grinding his way through the year. But the 2018-19 season was his introduction to the golf world! His win at the Wells Fargo Championship netted him $1.4 million for this victory. The golf community took notice.
From the Associated Press
But his past few years have been up and down. In 2024 he finished 46th in the FedEx cup points championship and he was hoping for a new start in 2025.
Brendon Elliot had a great line about Max in a recent story. He shared how his rise was meteoric:
From 2019 to 2023, Max Homa became everything golf fans love about the modern game. He was relatable, funny on social media, and genuinely seemed to enjoy what he was doing. More importantly, he was winning.
He continued.
Homa represented something special in professional golf—a player who had genuinely struggled, who understood what it meant to fail, and who never forgot where he came from.
Kinsale Golf and Fitness Resort Qualifier!
This year saw Max do something many pros are reluctant to do. Namely, change your equipment, and your coach, and his long-time caddie and friend, Joe Greiner. So Homa needed to qualify for the US Open and maybe stop this nightmare in 2025. Sadly, the ending wasn’t a good one.
There was Homa, a six-time tour winner trying to make the US Open on the Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club resort in Powell, Ohio. He chose to carry his own bag and bypass a caddy. (See above). It came down to the last hole. All Homa needed was a two-putt to qualify and avoid a five-person playoff for the last spot. It didn’t happen. He three-putted.
https://x.com/usopengolf/status/1929662066752659761
So he, Cameron Young, Rickie Fowler, Chase Johnson and Eric Cole went into the playoff. Young grabbed the last spot with a birdie. Homa, Johnson and Cole parred. So the trio went to the second playoff hole to determine the alternate status, where Max four-putted and left dejected without securing an alternate spot.
Other notables to miss:
Bubba Watson
Lee Westwood
Neal Shipley, OSU golfer
Francesco Molinari
Graeme McDowell
Matt Kuchar
Zach Johnson
Sergio Garcia
Rickie Fowler
The 2025 US Open will be held Thursday through Sunday at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. Broadcasts will vary from NBC, to USA and on Peacock. You can hear all the action this week on PGA Tour Radio on XM radio. You can also download the US Open and USGA apps if you so desire.
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