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Six Former Pokes Head to U.S. Open, Headlined by Fowler, Noren

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7 years ago

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There will be a heavy orange contingent at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills next week for the 117th playing of our national championship. Six former Oklahoma State golfers qualified for the event, most of them through sectional qualifying on Monday (basically a bunch of incredible golfers vying for 7-8 spots per location, or about 70 spots total).

Here’s a look at the six and how they got to Erin (which I previewed here!)

Rickie Fowler

Fowler qualified about every which way you can qualify. The No. 9 golfer in the world nearly pulled off his second win of the season last week at the Memorial hosted by Jack Nicklaus. His T2 there was the 10th (!) runner up of his career.

“You look at Jack’s runner-ups in majors, you have to put yourself in position,” said Fowler. “You have to be there to get the job done. And it just shows you that a lot of the time that you don’t necessarily get the job done a high percentage of the time. You have to be in contention. The more that you’re there, ultimately, the more that you’re going to win.”

Fowler is currently the only golfer on the PGA Tour in the top 10 in strokes gained putting and driving. That’s a solid combination, and I think he has a legit chance to take the U.S. Open because of it.

Fowler was built for Opens anyway. British, U.S., Scottish, whatever. His temperament, ball flight and short game all play well at Opens, and his record reflects that — he’s finished in the top 10 in three of the last eight British and U.S. Opens (gonna ignore the fact that he’s missed the cut at the last two in the U.S.)

He’ll have a tune-up at the FedEx St. Jude Classic this week in Memphis before he heads to Erin Hills looking for major win No. 1.

Peter Uihlein

Petey U. and Talor Gooch both got in via the Columbus Sectional. Uihlein has been playing all over the world and has carved out a nice niche for himself on the European Tour.

“It’s incredible. At the end of the day,” Uihlein told Golfweek last week of his travels, “I’m out playing golf. You’re out making a living playing a game, and it doesn’t matter where in the world it is. If you’re out and having success and performing fairly well and making a good living doing it, it doesn’t matter where you are playing in my mind.”

Jordan Niebrugge

Niebrugge finished T2 in Lakewood, Washington with his dad on the bag.

“To play in the U.S. Open in front of my family and friends at Erin Hills, I don’t know what to say about that,” Niebrugge said. “I used to walk that course, think of the 2017 U.S. Open, and now I am going to play in it.”

Niebrugge is currently No. 2 on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada.

Talor Gooch

Gooch will play the U.S. Open for the first time after snagging a spot in a playoff in Columbus alongside Uihlein. “It’s what you dream about growing up as a kid,” said Gooch who is No. 27 on the Web.com money list this year (top 25 get promoted to PGA Tour next season).

Alex Noren

Noren is the most inconspicuous top 10 golfer in the history of the sport. Coming off his big win at the BMW PGA Championship in England, Noren is No. 8 in the world. Ahead of guys like Justin Rose, Jon Rahm, Adam Scott and Justin Thomas! He has not fared well over the course of his career in major championships, but he’s been tremendous no matter where he’s played in the world of late.

Kevin Dougherty

Dougherty shot 64-72 in Newport Beach to finish one behind low am at the Masters, Stewart Hagestad, and punch his ticket to Erin Hills.

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