MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Former Cal golfer Brandon Hagy qualified for his first U.S. Open on Monday by finishing in a tie for fourth at a 2015 U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying event played at Germantown Country Club and Ridgeway Country Club. Hagy fired a 36-hole score of eight-under 134 with an opening-round six-under par 65 at Germantown followed by a two-under par round of 69 at Ridgeway.
“I’m super pumped,” Hagy said. “It tells me that I’m working on the right things and that reinforcement makes me feel good. It gives me confidence.”
“This is really great and awesome stuff for Brandon,” an equally excited Cal head coach Steve Desimone said. “He’s worked so hard and is making real progress to finding his way to the PGA TOUR and this is just another one of those steps along the way.”
Hagy started his day with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes at Germantown, both par fours. He then picked up two more birdies on the front nine on the par-five sixth and par-four ninth as well as his lone bogey of the round on the par-three eighth for a three-under 32 at the turn. Hagy added birdies on both of the par-fives on the back nine (11, 18) to make it a clean birdie sweep of the course’s longest holes and another on the par-three 17th.
Hagy started his second round on the 10th hole at Ridgeway and picked up his first birdie on the par-five 11th. He would make back-to-back bogeys on the par-three 13th and par-four 14th but got both strokes back when he hit two three-woods into the wind and then made a 15-foot putt for eagle on the par-five 18th.
“That was pretty big,” Hagy said.
He bogeyed his first hole after the turn on the par-four first but birdied each of the course’s remaining par-fives on the second and eighth holes for his final score.
“Making birdie on my first two holes was certainly a good start,” Hagy said. “I hit my driver really well today, made a lot of good chips and a lot of putts when I needed to in order to keep the momentum going.”
Hagy is one of two former Cal players in the field June 18-21 for the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place, Wash. Ben An is also playing in his first U.S. Open after earning an exemption from sectional qualifying both by winning the 2015 European Tour BMW PGA Championship and being among the top 60 point leaders including ties in the official World Golf Rankings as of May 25.
“More consistently you’re seeing Cal guys play PGA events and major championships,” Hagy said. “It’s definitely kudos to what Walter and Des have done to help us get to this point.”
Hagy stayed with the parents of associate head coach Walter Chun during his time in Memphis.
Hagy was one of 10 players to qualify from Memphis and the only one of six Cal affiliates competing at five of the 10 different U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying sites around the nation Monday to qualify for the U.S. Open.
James Yoon (75-74 – 149, +2) tied for 14th in a 70-player field that had four spots for the U.S. Open at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Fla.
Max Homa (68-76 – 144, +1) tied for 35th in a 112-player field that qualified six players for the U.S. Open at Big Canyon Country Club and Newport Beach Country Club in Newport Beach, Calif.
Michael Weaver (70-72 – 142, E) tied for 41st in a 120-player field that qualified 15 players for the U.S Open at Brookside Golf & Country Club and The Lakes Golf & Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.
James Hahn withdrew after an opening-round 76 at Brookside Golf & Country Club, while Jamie Cheatham withdrew at Hawks Ridge Golf Club in Ball Ground, Ga.
Cheatham is an incoming freshman while each of the other six is a former Cal golfer.
U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying is a one-day 36-hole event that is the final stage before U.S. Open hopefuls get to the championship itself. This year there were 12 sectional sites – 10 that took place across the United States on Monday, as well as one each in England and Japan that were played without any Cal affiliates on May 25.
An and Hagy are the first former Cal players in the U.S. Open since Homa and Weaver along with Michael Kim made history at Merion Golf Club in 2013 when they became what is believed to be the first trio of players ever from the same collegiate team to play in the same U.S. Open. Kim ended up as the event’s low amateur in a tie for 17th place after being as high as tied for third on the leaderboard during Saturday’s third round.
“They were teammates for a year and are good friends,” Desimone said of An and Hagy. “They’ll enjoy renewing their fellowship and what it was to be a Golden Bear. We’ve had a lot of success with players in the U.S. Open. It’s a moment for all us to be proud. We’ll hope for the best and obviously we’ll be watching very attentively.”
