Gunn Yang
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — The "Road to
Chambers Bay" is
complete, and the U.S. Open is underway!
With
at least one amateur making the cut at each of
the
10 sectional qualifying locations, (several with
multiples) and three players exempt from that
process, there are 16 amateurs in the field at
Chambers Bay.
We're not sure if an amateur can become
the
first since Johnny Goodman in 1933 to win the
U.S.
Open. Eleven years ago we watched the most
memorable amateur
performance since AmateurGolf.com was
founded —
Spencer Levin's 13th place finish at Shinnecock
Hills. His
putting that week was sublime; he made an ace
to
boot. Wild and whacky things are bound to
happen at
Chambers Bay, so what better time for an
amateur
to
try and crack the top 10?
Here they are:
 |
Brian
Campbell |
Brian
Campbell - Irvine, Calif.
Twitter -
@4brian_cam
Campbell, a graduating senior from the
University of Illinois, has won back-to-
back
NCAA Regional titles, capturing the Central
Regional in both 2014 and 2015. The
Mater Dei High School graduate tied for ninth at
the 2014 Championship and
tied
for 25th this year as his Fighting Illini reached
the semifinals before losing to
USC.
Campbell qualified for the 2014 U.S. Open, as
well, missing the cut by a stroke
at
Pinehurst.
Road To Chambers Bay:
Campbell tied for fifth at the Big
Canyon/Newport Beach qualifier with rounds of
69 and 68 and secured the final
available spot.
 |
Bryson
DeChambeau |
Bryson DeChambeau
- Clovis, Calif.
DeChambeau will be the hottest amateur
heading into U.S. Open week. The
Southern Methodist to-be senior won the stroke
play portion of the NCAA Men's
National Championship, and upon receiving a
sponsor's exemption into the
FedEx St. Jude Classic last week, proceeded to
make the cut and finish tied for
45th.
Road To Chambers Bay:
DeChambeau tackled the
notorious Ohio sectional qualifier, grabbing one
of fifteen spots available in
Columbus with 66-67. He was the only amateur
to advance through the site and
beat out notable professionals like Vijay Singh,
Steve Stricker, and Nick
Watney.
 |
Cole
Hammer |
Cole
Hammer
- Houston,
Texas
Twitter -
@cole_hammer6765
Hammer, just a high-school sophomore, will be
the youngest
player in the
field at age 15.
Hammer attends the Kincaid School in Houston
and is the 90th-
ranked
junior
golfer in the
United
States according to Junior Golf Scoreboard.
Road To Chambers
Bay:
Hammer wowed
spectators and
officials by posting
eight-under 132 at Northwood Club in Dallas. His
36-hole day
was
highlighted
by a morning
round of 64, the lowest of any player all day.
 |
Nick
Hardy |
Nick
Hardy - Northbrook, Ill.
Twitter -
@NickHardy8
Hardy will join Brian Campbell as two
representatives from the
University
of
Illinois at
Chambers Bay. Hardy,
who just finished his freshman year in
Champaign, was the
runner-up at
the
2014 Western
Junior and reached
the semifinals of the Western Amateur, where
he lost to
eventual winner
Beau Hossler. In
2015, he tied for first
place with Iowa golfer Schaake at the Big 10
Championship.
Road To Chambers Bay: Hardy was the
only amateur
to advance
through the second
Ohio qualifier,
added in after the fact due to the increased
number of entries
at the main
Ohio site. Hardy
posted 66-68 and
tied for third place.
 |
Sam
Horsfield |
Sam
Horsfield - England
Twitter -
@hr59sam
This year's New Year's Invitational winner, which
he
accomplished in title
defense, hails from
England but went to high school in Florida. He'll
join the Florida
Gator golf
team this fall and
ended his junior career as the second-ranked
player in the
country.
Road To Chambers Bay: Horsfield
played The Bear's
Club in
Jupiter, Fla. and shot a
second-round 69 to force a playoff with fellow
amateur
Cristobal Del
Solar.
In his morning
round, in which he posted 72, Horsfield
overcame a triple-bogey
on the
par-4
11th hole.
 |
Beau
Hossler |
Beau Hossler - Mission Viejo, Calif.
Twitter -
@beauhossler
Currently the No. 1 ranked amateur on the
Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com
World
Ranking, Hossler recently completed his
sophomore campaign
at the
University of Texas. Hossler, the reigning
Western Amateur
champion,
picked up his first collegiate win in 2015 when
he conquered
Sawgrass
Country Club and the John Hayt Collegiate.
Hossler will be
playing in his
third
U.S. Open, with his 2012 appearance at The
Olympic Club
putting his
name
on the map.
Road to Chambers Bay: Hossler fired
65 at Newport
Beach
Country
Club before taming the much tougher Big Canyon
Country Club
with a 71.
He
tied for second place at the qualifier and was
one of three
Californian
amateurs to advance.
 |
Kyle
Jones |
Kyle Jones - Snowflake, Ariz.
Twitter -
@Kyle_JonesBU
Jones had a stellar senior season in the Big 12
playing for the
Baylor
Bears. He ran into
Canadian
Austin Connelly in a playoff at the Jones Cup and
picked up
three other
notable top-10
finishes
including placing third at the Querencia Cabo
Collegiate and
tying for fifth
at the Big 12
Championship
at Southern Hills.
Road To Chambers Bay: Jones took on
Northwood
Club in Dallas
and despite a
bogey on his
36th and final hole of the day, still advanced
with rounds of 65
and 69.
 |
Jake
Knapp |
Jake Knapp - Costa Mesa, Calif.
Twitter -
@jknapp58
The U.S. Open will be Knapp's second PGA Tour
event of the
year as the
UCLA to-be
senior Monday-qualified for the Farmers
Insurance Open back in
February,
where he
eventually missed the cut. Knapp will get
another chance to
reach the
weekend at
Chambers Bay.
Road To Chambers Bay: Knapp joined
fellow
Californians Brian
Campbell and
Beau Hossler as amateur qualifiers at the Big
Canyon/Newport
site.
Knapp, along with
Hossler, tied for second place two back of pro
Kevin Lucas.
Knapp's 64 at
Newport Beach
Country Club was the lowest round of the day.
 |
Jack
Maguire |
Jack
Maguire - St. Petersburg, Fla.
Twitter -
@JMAJ94
Younger brother of recently turned-pro M.J.
Maguire, Jack
Maguire will be
a junior this
fall at Florida State where his Seminoles were
the No. 1 ranked
team in
the nation for
the latter half of the 2014-2015 season. Maguire
was
spectacular for FSU
in his
sophomore campaign, securing top-10s at the
Valspar
Collegiate, ACC
Championship, and
NCAA Southeast Regional. He also tied for fifth
at the Jones Cup
in
January.
Road To Chambers Bay: Maguire tied
for medalist
honors at The
Bear's Club,
where he had the honor of tying former World
No. 1-ranked
golfer Luke
Donald. He
carded back-to-back rounds of 70 and had 36
holes that
featured 11
birdies and three
double-bogeys.
 |
Denny
McCarthy |
Denny McCarthy - Burtonsville,
Md.
Representing the University of Virginia at
Chambers Bay will be
Maryland
native Denny McCarthy, who was one of three
United States
representatives at the 2014 World Amateur
Team
Championship. In fact,
all three U.S. players, including Beau Hossler
and Bryson
DeChambeau,
will be in the field at Chambers Bay. McCarthy
finished his
senior season
at UVA with a top-30 showing at the NCAA
Championship, as
well as a
fourth-place finish at the NCAA Southwest
Regional and a T7
showing at
the ACC Championship.
Road To Chambers Bay: McCarthy
headed to
Woodmont Country
Club in Rockville, Md. where he tied for medalist
honors with
Billy Hurley
III at six-under on the heals of a solid 68 in the
afternoon,
which tied the
second-round low.
 |
Lee
McCoy |
Lee McCoy - Clarkesville, Ga.
Twitter -
@LeeMcCoyGolf
One of the best collegiate players in the spring,
McCoy will wear
Georgia Bulldog black and red in the Pacific
Northwest this
week. The soon-to-be senior won the Linger
Longer and Augusta
State collegiate invitationals and was a
semifinalist for the 2015
Ben Hogan Award. The Georgia native was also
medalist at last
year's U.S. Amateur, which was held in his home
state.
Road To Chambers Bay: Playing Hawks
Ridge Golf
Club in Georgia, McCoy posted 66-65 as he and
fellow SEC
golfer Matt NeSmith blitzed the field. McCoy
made it look easy,
marking his two cards with zero birdies and 13
birdies.
Bradley Neil
|
Bradley Neil - Scotland
Twitter -
@BradleyNeil1
Aside from his 2014 British Amateur victory,
Neil
has played
spectacular golf during last year into this year.
In 2014, he had
three runner-up finishes, including the St.
Andrews Links
Trophy, South African Stroke Play, and
Sotogrande Cup. Since
the calendar turned to 2015, Neil has tied for
second at the
Battle Trophy and played ninth at the Lytham
Trophy.
Road To Chambers Bay:
Neil is in the field by virtue of his 2014 British
Amateur
Championship, which he won facing South
African Zander
Lombard in the 36-hole final. The win provided
an exemption to
both the Masters and
U.S.
Open, providing he stayed amateur, which he
has
wisely chosen to do.
 |
Matthew
NeSmith |
Matthew NeSmith - North
Augusta, S.C.
Twitter -
@Matt_KneeSmith
NeSmith (pronounced Knee-Smith, as
evidenced
by his Twitter
handle)
highlighted his junior season at the
University of South Carolina with an
overwhelming victory at the
SEC
Championship, where he won by six
over Ben Schlottman of Auburn. After
beginning
the year with a T5
showing at the Jones Cup, NeSmith also
secured top-10s at the Valspar Collegiate and
NCAA West Regional.
Road To Chambers Bay:
NeSmith made an
incredible
17 birdies at Hawks Ridge Golf
Club where he was medalist by four over Lee
McCoy. Add all that up
with
an eagle and two bogeys, and
NeSmith made just 16 pars in 36 holes en
route
to qualifying for the
for
the U.S. Open.
 |
Davis
Riley
|
Davis Riley
- Hattiesburg, Miss.
Twitter -
@davisriley68
The future Alabama golfer, who will join the
Crimson Tide this fall,
was close to
defending his title at the Terra Cotta Invitational
but lost out to
Jorge Garcia as Riley
finished second. Riley is the third-ranked junior
in the nation, and
one of three junior
players in the field.
Road To Chambers Bay:
Riley tied for eighth
and squeezed into the
Open at Germantown Country Club and Ridgeway
Country Club with
rounds of 69 and
67.
 |
Ollie
Schniederjans |
Ollie Schniederjans -
Powder
Springs, Ga.
Twitter -
@ollie_gt
Graduating senior Ollie Schniederjans tied for
seventh at the NCAA
Southwest Regional and placed fourth at the
ACC
Championship in
his final year as a Yellow Jacket. The Georgia
native received many
sponsor's exemptions into PGA Tour events
from
last year into this
year, so this will not be his first professional
event.
Road To Chambers Bay:
Winning
of the McCormack Medal as the top-ranked
golfer in
the World Amateur Golf Ranking in 2014
provided the Georgia Tech
standout a full exemption into the U.S. Open.
 |
Gunn
Yang |
Gunn Yang /
South Korea
Twitter -
@GunnYang
Road To Chambers Bay: The
surprise winner of the
2014 U.S. Amateur at
Atlanta
Athletic Club, where he survived rain delays and
opponents who were — on paper —
supposed
to win their matches against him. Yang has
taken
advantage of numerous exemptions into PGA
Tour
events (and of course played in The Masters)
and
seems to be improving each chance, as
witnessed by
the fact that he recently made the cut at Colonial
in
the Crowne Plaza Invitational. In March, just
prior to
The Masters, Yang won his match against British
Amateur champion Bradley Neil in an annual
match
called The Georgia Cup.
Fun Fact:
After winning the U.S.
Amateur at
Atlanta Athletic Club with a member on his bag,
Yang
made good on his pre-match play promise to
take
the member to Augusta as his caddie if he won
the
U.S. Amateur.