“The toughest test in golf” is finally here, and this year brings us one of the best golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach. This one, anyone, can play, as long as you’re willing to fork over the money. I’ll have a full preview of the course coming on Sunday, but for now, we turn our attention to the players.
150 Players
- 75 Exempt Golfers
- Thirteen exemptions ranging from the most obvious: Top-60 OWGR on specific dates to obscure ones like Winner of the 2018 Mark H. McCormack (Branden Thornberry) who gave up his spot to turn pro.
- 75 Non-Exempt Golfers
- For PGA Tour players and or former PGA Tour Members they were able to skip to sectional qualifying. But those that don’t hold that card had to go to local qualifying. Here are the numbers:
- Local Qualifying: 500 out of 8602 advanced to sectionals.
- Sectional Qualifying: Twelve locations around the world hosted the 500 golfers vying for 75 spots in the U.S. Open.
- For PGA Tour players and or former PGA Tour Members they were able to skip to sectional qualifying. But those that don’t hold that card had to go to local qualifying. Here are the numbers:
In these series of articles well cover the 75 golfers that had to play their way in via qualifying. I’ll go site-by-site, and do about ten a day for the next seven days. Hope you enjoy it!
Qualifying Site: Wine Valley Golf ClubÂ
1. Eric Detrich (DraftKings-$6,100/FanDuel-$7,000)Â
Current Status
Currently #67 after two events on the Mackenzie Tour.
Recent Form
37–MC–13
Pebble Beach Form
- N/A
Commentary
The twenty-four-year-old from UConn, probably the first pro golfer I’ve covered come out of UConn, turned pro in 2017. He’s bounced around mini-tours but placed 13th at the Mackenzie Tour Q-School which earned him status on that tour. Eric has never had a start on the PGA Tour, so this will certainly be a big jump in talent for the medalist out of the Walla Walla Washington sectional qualifying site.
2. Matthew Naumec ($6,100/$7,000)Â
Current Status
Just turned Professional.
Recent Form
N/A
Pebble Beach Form
- N/A
Commentary
Just turned professional, but likely won’t be a professional golfer. His highest ever amateur ranking was 457 but was able to string together some incredible rounds in local and sectional qualifying to earn his spot in the field this week.
He went thru local qualifying, likely the same place as Eric Detrich did at Crumpin Fox golf club near my old home of RI (in the middle of Massachusetts), and attended nearby Boston College. Two golfers in a row come from colleges I closely followed growing up and have never come across before. Weird.
Anyway, I’m sure Matthew is delighted to be playing in the U.S. Open, but I can’t imagine him playing more than two days. His best finish in the college year was a second at the Health Plan Mountaineer Invitational a couple of months ago. No notable college players were in the field.
3. Spencer Tibbits (N/A yet)
Current Status
Sophomore at Oregon State.
Recent Form
N/A
Pebble Beach Form (All years except 2010 was the At&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where two rounds are played at Pebble Beach
- N/A
Commentary
One of the youngest players in the field this week, the 20-year-old from Oregon has played Pebble Beach on three different occasions before this week. He doesn’t have any college accolades to speak off yet and had a scoring average of 71.65 this year. While that would be suitable for most golfers, that won’t get it done on the PGA Tour, but if he shots a pair of 72’s, he could see the weekend.
Qualifying Site: Springfield Country ClubÂ
1. Zac Blair ($6,500/$7,600)Â
Current Status
Currently #52 on the Web.Com Tour Money list.
Recent Form
33-31-MC
Pebble Beach Form (All years except 2010 was the At&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where two rounds are played at Pebble Beach
- 2018-MC
- 2017-48
- 2016- 60
Commentary
Hailing from Utah, the 28-year-old is spending this year on the Web.com Tour after finishing #170 last year in the FedEx Cup standings. He’s a seasoned pro, however, as he’s raked in over $3.3 Million and made 73 cuts in 119 events played. He has one top-five and five top-10’s in his career.
Statistically, Zac is a very short hitter, but accurate hitting 76% of his fairways this year and hitting over 73% of his greens. That could be a good recipe around Pebble, but will he have enough length to take advantage of the shorter holes?
2. Chip McDaniel ($6,100/$7,300)
Current Status
Just turned Pro.
Recent Form
MC–71–5
Pebble Beach Form (All years except 2010 was the At&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where two rounds are played at Pebble Beach
- N/A
Commentary
The recently turned pro from Kentucky came out of nowhere to Monday qualify for the Punta Cana Championship and ended up in 5th. That got him another start at the Valero Texas, where he made the cut, which earned him a sponsor invite to the Wells Fargo, where he missed the cut. So, he will work to try and get a couple more starts on the PGA Tour, and earn enough FedEx Cup points to hopefully either get into the Web.com tour finals or status on that tour next year.
He is very talented and had a good college career, and since we’ve already seen a bit of success with that top-five in the Dominican, he’s one that I might have in a couple of lineups at these low prices. Also, when matchup bets come out, pending on who he’s up against, he might be a good target since many bookmakers likely don’t know much about him.
3. Brian Stuard ($6,600/$7,800)
Current Status
Currently #73 on the FedEx Cup Standings.
Recent Form
33–64–59
Pebble Beach Form (All years except 2010 was the At&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where two rounds are played at Pebble Beach
- 2019-45
- 2018-MC
- 2017-MC
Commentary
For those of you that may be new to my content, Brian has a very special place in my fantasy golf heart. It was he who I *expertly*(got quite a bit lucky) picked in one of my first ever lineups in DFS golf. It happened to be the Zurich Classic, and it also happened to be weather suspended three round tourney that finished on a Monday. Talk about a crazy set of circumstances to have your first big score on. All said and done that lineup earned me a second place in the dogleg contest, good for $20,000. The rest is history (filled with many highs and lows).
Brian has endured a pretty good season, maybe not his best, but does have two top 10’s and has only missed two cuts in the calendar year. His iron game has been much better this year, likely why his results are good, ranking 49th on tour gaining just about three-tenths of a stroke per round. He hits over 70% of his fairways from the tee, ranking 12th on the season, but as with Zac Blair, doesn’t hit it very far, ranking 203rd in driving distance.
4. Nick Hardy ($6,200/$7,400)Â
Current Status
Currently does not have status on any of the major professional golf tours.
Recent Form
27–MC–MC
Pebble Beach Form (All years except 2010 was the At&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where two rounds are played at Pebble Beach.Â
- N/A
Commentary
Hardy was a highly touted player out of the University of Illinois but has not materialized at the pro-level. He had a chance to secure web.com tour status on the final three holes, but played them in two over instead, missing out. So, now the only way for him to get stats is to try and Monday qualify on both tours or receive sponsor exemptions to get any starts. His latest was just a few weeks back at the Evans Scholars Invitational where he made the cut and placed 27th. If there was ever something to jump-start a career that just hasn’t gotten off the ground, a good week at the U.S. Open might do it.
5. Brett Drewitt ($6,200/$7,200)Â
Current Status
Currently #80 on the Web.Com Tour money list
Recent Form
63–14–MC
Pebble Beach Form (All years except 2010 was the At&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where two rounds are played at Pebble Beach.Â
- 2017-33
Commentary
Hailing from Australia, the 28-year-old has struggled to keep and ultimately lost his card after one season on the PGA Tour in 2017. In that year he made nine cuts in 19 tries, earning 184K and finished 196th in the FedEx Cup standings. He’s played the last two years on the Web.com Tour with similar success making about 50% of his cuts. Not quite good enough to earn a promotion back to the PGA Tour.
Statistically, he finds himself about average in almost every category, ranking a tad higher in putting, 32nd to be exact. Maybe he gets himself a ‘cut-sweat’ come Friday, but I’ m not banking on him making a run this week, even with the decent finish at the Pro-Am back in 2017.
