Michael Thorbjornsen as played in three U.S. Opens. (USGA/Kathryn Riley)
The U.S. Open is the most democratic event in golf. Thousands of golfers begin at Local Qualifying sites with the hopes of moving on to Final Qualifying. Three sites have already held Final Qualifying, and ten more will hold qualifying on June 3, which is considered "Golf's Longest Day." The 36-hole day is a mental and physical grind that helps identify the best players for this year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2
The U.S. Open field usually has a number of amateurs. Some earn exemptions for performances in various amateur events. Neal Shipley, the low amateur at The Masters, will be in the field due to his runner-up finish in the U.S. Amateur in 2023 at Cherry Hills.
Parker Bell has already qualified after shooting 70-69 at Dallas Athletic Club on May 20.
Plenty of amateurs will tee it up in hopes to do what Bell did in Dallas. Here are some of the amateurs who are worth keeping an eye on:
Barclay Brown, 23, of England, played in last year’s U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club after advancing from final qualifying. Brown, who competed as a graduate student at Stanford University in 2023-24, is a three-time All-Pac-12 Conference selection. He was a member of the 2019 and 2021 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup Teams. In 2020, he was a semifinalist in the English Amateur Championship and reached the quarterfinals of The Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale.
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Cooper Jones, 20, of Highland, Utah, was one of five players to advance from local qualifying in his hometown at Alpine Country Club on April 29. Jones, who just completed his freshman season at Brigham Young University, also reached final qualifying in 2022. He tied for 23rd in the Big 12 Conference Championship in April. In 2023, he reached the U.S. Amateur’s Round of 16. Jones helped his high school team win four consecutive Utah Class 6A state championships.
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Dylan Menante, 23, of Carlsbad, Calif., was a member of the victorious 2023 USA Walker Cup Team and competed in the Pan American Games last year. He has posted five top-10 finishes as a fifth-year senior at the University of North Carolina in 2023-24. Menante earned All-American recognition in his first season with the Tar Heels after transferring from Pepperdine University. He advanced to the 2022 U.S. Amateur semifinals. His father, Dean, played at the University of Nevada.
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Preston Summerhays, 21, of Scottsdale, Ariz., has played in two U.S. Opens (2020, 2023). He posted two tournaments wins as a junior at Arizona State University in 2023-24. Summerhays won the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur, which earned him an exemption into the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. He is the son of former PGA Tour player Boyd, the nephew of PGA Tour player Daniel and the great nephew of Bruce, who won three PGA Tour Champions events. His younger sister, Grace, qualified for the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. He was a member of the winning 2023 USA Walker Cup Team.
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Sampson Zheng, 22, of the People’s Republic of China, is a two-time first-team All-Pac 12 Conference selection as a member of the University of California-Berkeley team. His produced six top-10 finishes as a senior in 2023-24, including a tie for second in the NCAA Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.) Regional. He won last year’s U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship with partner Aaron Du and reached the Round of 32 in the U.S. Amateur after sharing medalist honors.
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Luke Clanton, 20, of Hialeah, Fla., won three tournaments, tied for second in the NCAA Championship and finished fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship as a sophomore at Florida State University in 2023-24. He reached the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur semifinals at The Country Club of North Carolina and played in the 2019 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club. Clanton, a state high school champion and two-time Broward County player of the year, also won the 2022 North & South Amateur at Pinehurst.
Clanton is ranked No. 2 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.
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Sohan Patel, 15, of Weston, Fla., posted a 2-under 70 at Wellington (Fla.) National Club and was one of five to advance from local qualifying on May 6. Patel, who qualified for the 2023 U.S. Amateur and was the youngest player in the field at age 14, tied for sixth as a freshman in the Florida Class 2 A state high school championship last December. He tied for ninth as an eighth grader in 2022 when he was chosen Broward County golfer of the year.
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Brendan Valdes, 21, of Orlando, Fla., competed in his first U.S. Open in 2023 after advancing through both stages of qualifying. Valdes posted eight top-10 finishes as a junior at Auburn University in 2023-24. He earned first team All-Southeastern Conference honors as a sophomore and reached the Round of 32 in last year’s U.S. Amateur. Valdes won the Drive, Chip & Putt title (age 14-15 division) at Augusta National in 2018 and is fresh off winning the national championship with Auburn.
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Blades Brown, 17, of Nashville, Tenn., advanced from a 6-for-2 playoff in the Jackson, Tenn., local qualifier on April 23. He was chosen to the U.S. Junior National Team that is part of the newly created U.S. National Development Program (USNDP). Brown was the co-stroke-play medalist and advanced to the Round of 32 in last year’s U.S. Amateur. He may get his athletic prowess from his mother, Rhonda Blades Brown, a former WNBA player and All-America guard at Vanderbilt University. He tied for 26th in the Myrtle Beach Classic on May 12, his first PGA Tour event and just finished runner-up in the U.S. Four-Ball with partner Jackson Herrington.
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Jackson Buchanan, 22, of Dacula, Ga., was the stroke-play co-medalist with Blades Brown and Sampson Zheng and reached the Round of 32 in last year’s U.S. Amateur. Buchanan, a junior at the University of Illinois, has won two tournaments and was the Big Ten Conference runner-up in 2023-24. He tied for second in the NCAA Championship and earned All-America honors as a sophomore. He attended Buford High School in Georgia and was an all-state selection.
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Billy Davis, 18, of Spring Valley, Calif., was one of five players to advance from the La Quinta, Calif., local qualifier on May 7. He carded a 68 at Andalusia Country Club. Davis reached the semifinals of the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur and finished fifth in this year’s Terra Cotta Invitational. He will join his twin sister, Anna, at Auburn University this fall. Anna, who won the NCAA Auburn Regional as a freshman, has already played in two U.S. Women’s Opens and won the 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
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David Ford, 21, of Peachtree Corners, Ga., was a member of the winning 2023 USA Walker Cup Team and helped the USA win last year’s World Amateur Team Championship in the United Arab Emirates. He posted five top-10 finishes as a junior at the University of North Carolina in 2023-24. Ford’s twin brother, Maxwell, is an UNC teammate and is also competing in the Georgia final qualifier. David, a two-time first-team All-American, was the 2022-23 Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year.
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Maxwell Ford, 21, of Peachtree Corners, Ga., tied for 12th in this year’s Atlantic Coast Conference Championship as a junior at the University of North Carolina. Ford and his twin brother, David, are UNC teammates and each advanced to the Round of 16 in last year’s U.S. Amateur. Maxwell transferred from the University of Georgia where he earned All-Southeast Region honors. He also reached the Round of 16 in the 2021 U.S. Junior Amateur, held at The Country Club of North Carolina.
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Evan Beck, 33, of Virginia Beach, Va., was the runner-up in the 2023 U.S. Mid-Amateur, held at Sleepy Hollow Country Club, in Scarborough, N.Y. He won this year’s George L. Coleman Invitational at Seminole Golf Club. Beck, an analyst for an investment group, was runner-up in the 2008 U.S. Junior Amateur. He was chosen Virginia State Golf Association Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022. Beck was a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection while playing at Wake Forest University.
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George Duangmanee, 22, of Fairfax, Va., advanced from the Ijamsville, Md., local qualifier for the second consecutive year. He survived a 5-for-2 playoff and was among seven players who moved forward from The Club at P.B. Dye on May 8. Duangmanee, who won the 2015 Drive, Chip & Putt national title (age 12-13 division), is a senior on the University of Virginia team in 2023-24. He tied for 15th in this year’s NCAA Championship.
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Ian Gilligan, 21, of Reno, Nev., transferred to the University of Florida from Long Beach State University and earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference honors as a junior in 2023-24. He owns five top-10 finishes, including a Southern Highlands title. He overcame a battle with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma that included seven rounds of chemotherapy at age 15. At LBSU as a sophomore, he was chosen Big West Conference Golfer of the Year and won the conference championship.
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Logan Reilly, 17, of Lovettsville, Va., was one of seven players to advance from the Ijamsville, Md., local qualifier on May 8. He shot an even-par 70 at The Club at P.B. Dye. Reilly birdied three of the last four holes to share the 2023 Virginia Independent State Athletic Association title with a 4-under 67. A junior at Bishop O’Connell High, Reilly was chosen first-team All-Met by the Washington Post.
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Jackson Van Paris, 20, of Pinehurst, N.C., was chosen second-team All-Southeastern Conference as a junior at Vanderbilt University in 2023-24. He has posted four top-five finishes this season. Van Paris, who won the 2023 Sunnehanna Amateur, made his PGA Tour debut in March when he tied for 10th in the Puerto Rico Open with a final-round 64. He earned All-Southeast Region recognition as a sophomore last year and was a four-time NCISAA all-state selection on the high school level.
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Nicholas Gross, 17, of Downingtown, Pa., earned medalist with a bogey-free 7-under 63 in local qualifying at York (Pa.) Country Club on May 2. Gross, a senior at Downingtown West High School, will play at the University of Alabama in the fall. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2022 U.S. Amateur and reached match play last year. His parents are both college professors – Shawn at Villanova University (civil and environmental engineering) and Jennifer at Lehigh University (structural engineering).
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Ben James, 21, of Milford, Conn., was a member of the victorious 2023 USA Walker Cup Team. He has registered seven top-10 finishes and was 12th in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship as a sophomore at the University of Virginia in 2023-24. He also shared runner-up honors in the NCAA Championship that concluded on May 27. James won the 2023 Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award. He advanced to the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Amateur.
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Michael Thorbjornsen, 23, of Wellesley, Mass., played in his third U.S. Open last year after earning medalist (66-68) in the Summit, N.J. qualifier. As a senior in 2023-24 at Stanford University, Thorbjornsen won the Cabo Collegiate and has five top-10 finishes. He returned to competition from a back injury this spring. He was a first-team All-American and the Pac-12 Conference’s top golfer last year. In 2019, Thorbjornsen became the second-youngest player (age 17) since World War II to make the 36-hole cut in the U.S. Open. He won the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur.
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Tegan Andrews, 21, of Agoura Hills, Calif., advanced from local qualifying for the second consecutive year. He survived a 7-for-3 playoff in the Lompoc, Calif., qualifier on May 2. He moved forward from Palmer, Alaska last year. Andrews was the Big West Conference’s top golfer after winning the conference title as a senior at Cal State Fullerton in 2023-24. His grandfather, Gene, was a two-time USGA champion who competed in three U.S. Opens and was a member of the 1961 USA Walker Cup Team.
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Austin Greaser, 23, of Vandalia, Ohio, has made one U.S. Open start and tied for 61st in 2022 at The Country Club. He was a member of the victorious 2023 USA Walker Cup Team and was the runner-up to James Piot in the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club. Greaser has earned All-America and All-Atlantic Coast Conference recognition while playing at the University of North Carolina. He has recorded five top-10 finishes, including medalist in the NCAA Chapel Hill (N.C.) Regional, as a graduate student in 2023-24. In 2022, he won the Western Amateur and played in the Masters.
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Luke Gutschewski, 21, of Omaha, Neb., was one of five players to advance from the Lake Elmo, Minn., local qualifier on May 1. His father, Scott, who has played on the PGA Tour and won on the Korn Ferry Tour, played in this year’s Dallas, Texas, final qualifier on May 20. Luke has posted five top-10 finishes as a junior at Iowa State University in 2023-24. He was the co-medalist in stroke play and reached match play in the 2022 U.S. Amateur.