COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some phone calls are better than others and for Ohio State rising-senior Maxwell Moldovan, Sunday night’s call with Robbie Zalznek of the USGA was a great call. Zalznek shared that Moldovan will have a spot in this week’s U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club.
Moldovan shot rounds of 65-68 (-7) last Monday at the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio. That left him in a 3-for-2 playoff for the final two spots. After the opening hole, the playoff was down to a 2-for-1 between he and Alex Schaake. The two would battle, matching each other over seven holes, before Schaake made another birdie to win the playoff on the eighth extra hole.
That grueling 44-hole day of golf left Moldovan as the first alternate from the Springfield site, which would be selected third in the alternate order. Meaning, Moldovan was the third alternate for this week’s championship. On Sunday night, he got the call.
This will be Moldovan’s second U.S. Open. He also earned a spot in last year’s championship at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. He shot rounds of 75-72 and missed the cut by four shots. Moldovan had 10 Top-10 finishes in 13 events this year for Ohio State and he set the program’s single-season scoring average for the third-consecutive year at 70.64.
This week in LA will be a culmination of a nearly four-week stretch of unrivaled golf for Moldovan. It started as he and his Buckeye teammates played a practice round for the NCAA Championship on May 25 at the Grayhawk Golf Club. That was followed by four competitive rounds, in which Moldovan made a nearly 40-foot birdie putt on his final hole of the third round to help the Buckeyes make the cut, and they would go on to finish in 15th place.
After a few days of prep at home, Moldovan competed in the “Longest Day in Golf” on Monday, June 5, in Springfield. There was little time to recover from that emotional roller coaster as he made the drive the next morning to Ligonier, Pa., and Laurel Valley Golf Club for the Arnold Palmer Cup. Two more practice rounds last Tuesday and Wednesday were followed by four match-play rounds over the next three days. Moldovan helped Team USA to a 32-28 victory over the International Team and then hopped on a plane for Los Angeles Saturday evening, hoping to hear good news.
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