Road to Erin Hills Ends Monday

June 02, 2017

Pairings/Scoring

The SCGA will host one of the largest Sectional Qualifiers for the U.S. Open on Monday in Newport Beach, as 103 competitors compete for six qualifying spots in this month's U.S. Open, to be played at Erin Hills. Players will each play 18 holes at Big Canyon Country Club and Newport Beach Country Club beginning at 7 a.m. Monday. Notables in the field include:

• Shintaro Ban, 21, of San Jose, Calif., won the 2016 California State Amateur one year after his older brother, Shotaro, accomplished the same feat. Shintaro helped the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) win the 2017 NCAA West Lafayette Regional and Mountain West Conference titles. Ban, an All-West Region and All-MWC selection, competed in the 2013 U.S. Amateur. Shotaro was an All-Pac-12 Conference performer at the University of California-Berkeley.
• Ray Beaufils, 30, of Australia, is a former rugby player who earned conditional status on the Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour in 2010. Beaufils, who resides in Phoenix, Ariz., trained with the Australian Institute of Sport and later appeared on Golf Channel’s “Big Break Greenbrier.” He won the 2013 California State Open with a 4-foot putt on the second playoff hole.
• Charlie Beljan, 32, of Mesa, Ariz., has played in three U.S. Opens, including a tie for 18th in 2015 at Chambers Bay. He started his professional career on the Gateway Tour and earned his PGA Tour card in 2012. Beljan won the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic later that year. In 2002, he claimed the U.S. Junior Amateur title, defeating Zac Reynolds in 20 holes.
• David Berganio Jr., 48, of Granada Hills, Calif., has played in six U.S. Opens. His best finish was a tie for 16th in 1996. Berganio, a two-time U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, advanced to the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 through both qualifying stages and tied for 28th. Berganio, who was a University of Arizona teammate of 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk, was provided his first set of clubs by a local priest.
• Cameron Champ, 21, of Sacramento, Calif., was chosen first-team All-Southeastern Conference and helped Texas A&M University finish second in the 2017 SEC Championship. Champ, a product of The First Tee program, tied for fifth individually at SECs. His father, Jeff, was a catcher at San Diego State University who was selected in the 33rd round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Baltimore Orioles.
• Sean Crocker, 20, of Long Beach, Calif., earned All-Pac-12 Conference honors, including his second first-team selection, for the third consecutive year. He tied for second at the NCAA Washington Region and led the University of Southern California to the team title. Crocker, who was born in Zimbabwe, learned the game from his father Gary, a professional cricket player. He made it to the 2015 U.S. Amateur semifinals and reached the quarterfinals of the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur.
• Aaron Dexheimer, 36, of San Diego, Calif., is a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska during the summer and a caddie at Del Mar Country Club in the winter. He grinded on mini-tours for more than a decade before taking over his father’s fishing operation.
• Allen Geiberger Jr., 29, of Palm Desert, Calif., is the son of Al Geiberger, who played in 20 U.S. Opens and tied for second in 1969 and 1976. Al Geiberger, the 1966 PGA champion, became the first player to shoot 59 in a PGA Tour event, the 1977 Danny Thomas Memphis Classic.
• Paul Goydos, 52, of Coto de Caza, Calif., has competed in 10 U.S. Opens. His best finish was a tie for 12th in 1999 at Pinehurst No. 2. Goydos has two PGA Tour and four PGA Tour Champions wins, including last year’s Charles Schwab Cup Championship. He began his career on mini-tours and supplemented his income as a substitute teacher.
• Stewart Hagestad, 26, of Newport Beach, Calif., won the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship by defeating Scott Harvey in 37 holes. He produced the largest comeback victory (4 down with 5 holes to play) since a 36-hole Mid-Amateur final was introduced in 2001. Hagestad, the 2016 Metropolitan Golf Association Player of the Year, was the low amateur (tie, 36th) in the 2017 Masters Tournament.
• Max Homa, 26, of Corona del Mar, Calif., is attempting to qualify for his second U.S. Open, having played in 2013 at Merion Golf Club. Homa, an All-American at the University of California-Berkeley and a member of the 2013 USA Walker Cup Team, has won twice on the Web.com Tour. He reached the quarterfinals of the 2010 U.S. Amateur.
• Beau Hossler, 22, of Dallas, Texas, is attempting to qualify for his fourth U.S. Open. He shot a 4-under 68 in the Houston, Texas, local qualifier to advance to sectional play. Hossler, an All-American and two-time Big 12 Conference Player of the Year at the University of Texas, played in the 2011 U.S. Open at age 16 and tied for 29th in 2012. He has competed in 11 USGA championships and was a member of the 2015 USA Walker Cup Team.
• Cheng Jin, 19, of the People’s Republic of China, earned Pac-12 Conference All-Freshman recognition and helped the University of Southern California win the NCAA Washington Regional. He won the 2015 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and earned an invitation to the 2016 Masters, where he missed the cut. He has played in two U.S. Amateurs and three U.S. Junior Amateurs.
• Jake Knapp, 23, of Costa Mesa, Calif., competed in the 2015 U.S. Open after qualifying through the local and sectional levels. Knapp, who played at UCLA, was the medalist in the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada Q-School at San Jacinto, Calif., in March. He shot a 61 at Newport Beach Country Club in 2012 U.S. Open local qualifying. Knapp reached the Round of 16 in the 2015 U.S. Amateur.
• Edwin Kuang, 15, of Murrieta, Calif., was the second-youngest competitor in last year’s U.S. Amateur Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club. He shot a 69 to earn co-medalist honors in U.S. Open local qualifying at Andalusia Country Club, in La Quinta, Calif. Kuang is a sophomore on the Murrieta Valley High School team.
• Gregor Main, 27, of Danville, Calif., advanced to his first U.S. Open through both local and sectional qualifying last year. Main, a third-team All-American at UCLA, was the stroke-play medalist in the 2011 U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills.
• Scott McCarron, 51, of La Quinta, Calif., spent four years working in the family clothing business after playing as a collegian at UCLA. He returned to golf in 1992 and won three times on the PGA Tour. He later worked for Golf Channel and Fox as a broadcaster. He has won three PGA Tour Champions events since June 2016. McCarron has played in six U.S. Opens.
• Collin Morikawa, 20, of La Canada Flintridge, Calif., was chosen All-Pac-12 Conference first team for the second consecutive year as a sophomore on the University of California-Berkeley team. Morikawa, who won last year’s Sunnehanna Amateur, was the 2016 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. He tied for sixth in the 2017 Pac-12 Championship.
• Danny Ochoa, 22, of Carlsbad, Calif., miscalculated a jump on his motocross bike eight years ago and broke his humerus bone after his bike landed on top of him. Two metal rods were placed in his left arm, and he was looking at a year of recovery. Ochoa, who is a fifth-year senior on the University of Southern California team, returned in seven months and later placed fifth at the 2010 Callaway Junior World Golf Championships.
• Josh Sedeno, 19, of Roseville, Calif., is a redshirt freshman on the University of Alabama team. He helped the Crimson Tide tie for third in the NCAA Washington Regional. Sedeno competed in the 2014 and 2015 U.S. Junior Amateurs and was the runner-up to Shotaro Ban in the 104th California State Amateur. Sedeno’s family can trace its roots to the original native Hawaiians.
• Justin Suh, 19, of San Jose, Calif., helped the University of Southern California win the NCAA Washington Regional. Suh, a sophomore, was selected All-Pac-12 Conference first team. He qualified for the U.S. Open and advanced to match play in the U.S. Amateur last year. Suh reached match play in four consecutive U.S. Junior Amateurs, from 2011-14. His sister, Hannah, played in the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open.
• Jonah Texeira, 21, of Los Angeles, Calif., advanced to the semifinals of the 2016 U.S. Amateur Championship, losing to Brad Dalke, 3 and 2. Texeira, a junior on the University of Southern California team, helped the Trojans win this year’s NCAA Washington Regional. He earned All-Pac-12 Conference honors for the second consecutive year. His sister, Keana, is a pop singer.
• Sahith Theegala, 19, of Chino Hills, Calif., reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Amateur, losing to eventual champion Curtis Luck, 2 up. Theegala, a sophomore on the Pepperdine University squad, was chosen West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Year and earned first-team All-WCC honors for the second consecutive year in 2017. In February, Theegala won the Collegiate Showcase to earn a spot in the PGA Tour’s Genesis Open and went on to tie for 49th.
• Duffy Waldorf, 54, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., has competed in 13 U.S. Opens, including a tie for ninth in 1994 at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club. He has won four PGA Tour events and twice on PGA Tour Champions. He received his nickname Duffy from his grandparents. He tagged along on the golf course and they called him “Little Duffer.”
• Brandon Wu, 20, of Scarsdale, N.Y., shot a 9-under-par 63 in U.S. Open local qualifying at Yocha Dehe Golf Club, in Brooks, Calif. Wu, a sophomore on the Stanford University team, made 10 birdies with one bogey and was medalist by five strokes. He was born in Danville, Calif., but lived in Beijing for five years. He was a second-team All-Pac-12 Conference selection and a teammate of Maverick McNealy, the 2016 Mark H. McCormack Medal recipient.