Gordon Sargent (Kathryn Riley, USGA)
Gordon Sargent paced a group of four amateurs who survived the cut, earning low amateur honors at the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.
The long-hitting Vanderbilt golfer shot rounds of 69-71 to comfortably advance to the weekend at even par, then posted rounds of 75-69 over the weekend for a 4-over tournament total. He placed T39.
"It means a lot," said Sargent after 36 holes. "There were 19 ams here I think, something like that, so, yeah, it gives me confidence I'm playing good and just go play some good golf on the weekend."
Sargent was joined by Maxwell Moldovan, Aldrich Potgieter, and Ben Carr in making the cut. Rory McIlroy called Sargent the best amateur he had ever played with. And almost everybody that describes the small-statured Vanderbilt star mentions length in their description.
And sure, Sargent is long. But you may be surprised to learn that through 36-holes, South African Aldrich Potgieter has averaged a whopping 339.9 yards off the tee, putting him clear of Bryons DeChambeau in driving distance at 334.1 yards. Potgieter, the British Amateur champion, absolutely pounds it.
Perhaps exhausted after two weeks of travel and golf, Carr shot 76 in the last round to finish 62nd, while Potgieter and Moldovan both shot 79 to finish in 64th and 65th place respectively. Those places might not look great on the 72-hole leaderboard, but keep in mind that there were almost 100 players that didn't get to play Saturday and Sunday, and some big names were among them.
MAXWELL MOLDOVAN - THE LAST PLAYER TO GET A TEE TIME
Out of the four amateurs that made the cut, it was Maxwell Moldovan who made the most of his opportunity.
The Ohio State Buckeye golfer was the 3rd alternate after losing out in a gut-wrenching eight-hole playoff in Final Qualifying on June 5. He got the call a week later when the top 60 exemption category wasn't filled, and ended up being the last person to get a tee time at Los Angeles Country Club.
After moving to No. 19 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, the pair of 71s posted by Moldovan put him in position to make more points, and up his chances of getting selected to represent the USA at The Walker Cup in September.
Moldovan took the time to call into our podcast on Wednesday before his practice round.
Potgieter (of South Africa) gained entry through his British Amateur victory last year. Carr got into the field as the runner-up in the 2022 U.S. Amateur. The champion Sam Bennett, who is now a pro, also made the cut and sits at 5 under par.
In all,
19 amateurs made the U.S. Open field this year.
Amateur Leaderboard
69-71-75-69 (T39) Gordon Sargent
70-72-75-76 (62) Ben Carr
70-72-74-79 (64) Aldrich Potgieter
71-71-76-79 (65) Maxwell Moldovan
MISSED CUT
71-74 (MC) Barclay Brown
73-73 (MC) Preston Summerhays
74-72 (MC) Michael Thorbjornsen
73-73 (MC) Bastien Amat
77-71 (MC) Nick Dunlap
74-74 (MC) Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira
74-75 (MC) Karl Vilips
72-77 (MC) Christian Cavaliere
71-78 (MC) Omar Morales
72-77 (MC) Wenyi Ding
74-75 (MC) Michael Brennan
73-78 (MC) Matthew McClean
79-74 (MC) Alexander Yang
77-77 (MC) Isaac Simmons
78-78 (MC) Brendan Valdes
ABOUT THE
U.S. Open Golf Championship
The U.S. Open is the biggest of the 15 national
championships conducted by the USGA.
Open
to amateurs and professionals. Amateurs gain
entry via USGA win or runner-up finishes while having the opportunity
to qualify alongside non-exempt professionals in an 18-hole "Local' qualifying followed
by 36-hole "Final" qualifying which is affectionately known as golf's longest day.
Highly-ranked amateurs will be exempted past the 18-hole Local Qualifying. See the
USGA website for details. And if you are exempt on any level be sure to apply by the deadline anyway.
The USGA intends to make the U.S. Open
the
most rigorous, yet fair, examination of golf
skills, testing all forms of shot-making. The
USGA prepares the course after careful
consideration of 14 different factors.
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