Utah golfers work to qualify for the U.S. Open
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The U.S. Open is still a couple months away, but local golfers had the chance to try to qualify for the national championship on Monday.
“This is what we dream about playing in major championships,” BYU Assistant Golf Coach Todd Miller said.
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Miller is like the 90 other golfers who were vying for five available spots at Alpine Country Club today, trying to get to golf’s biggest stage.
“I love the U.S. Open. I love the U.S.G.A. I played in U.S. Junior. I played in a couple of those. I played in the U.S. Amateur, and I’d always wanted to play in a U.S. Open,” Miller told ABC4.com. “The time has kind of passed for me. I don’t play enough anymore, but I still just do it for the fun of it.”
For others, it’s the dream of playing the biggest names in golf in the U.S. Open.
Angus Klintworth is a freshman golfer from South Africa at Brigham Young University, and he said playing at the U.S. Open would mean a lot.
“I was actually speaking to my mom. She’s back home in South Africa where I’m from, and she’s just like, ‘Oh, are you nervous?’ And I was like, ‘Kind of nervous,’ Klintworth said. “I mean, it’s kind of a big deal.”
Simon Kwan also golfs at BYU — and he’s the grandson of Johnny Miller.
“The U.S. Open, I mean, it’d be my first major I’d play in. I mean, my grandpa won it, obviously, back in the seventies,” Kwan said. “If I could play in it or just find a way to get in there, I’d be probably one of the greatest things that happened in my life so far.”
Bode Salas is a golfer at Utah Tech, and the U.S. Open would mean “everything” to Salas.
“I mean, it would be a dream come true. It really would,” Salas said. “I mean, you dream of moments like this to make it to a big stage like the U.S. Open. So, I mean, it would be amazing.”
Hayden Banz plays at Weber State University.
“That would just be like a dream for me. I’ve always wanted to do that,” Banz said. “I’ve made it to the second stage before and played with some of the biggest players. It was a great experience and I’d like to get there again.”
The U.S. Open isn’t really all that open. You have to have a handicap of 1.4 or lower to even enter.
And if you make it out of the local qualifier, you still have to get through a sectional qualifier, so the odds are long — but that doesn’t stop them from trying.
Colin Clawson of Utah Golf Association Championships and Golf Operations said the local competition is the first big event of the year.
“It is a little bit of a pipe dream, but it’s fun to dream, right? And it’s a fun event for us to,” Clawson said. “There’s always a little bit more buzz with the U.S. Open qualifier, but you never know. All you need is to get hot for a couple rounds.”
Klintworth won Monday’s qualifier with a four under par 68. So, he still has a chance to make it to the U.S Open.
“It’d be life changing, if I’m being honest. Dreams come true. I mean, since I was little, that’s what you would practice for,” Klintworth said. “That’s what you would play on the putting green for, saying, ‘Hey, this is to win the British Open or this is to win the U.S. Open,’ — and now to have an actual chance of trying to qualify is just it’s thrilling, to be honest. It’s a lot to look forward to.”
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