Forget Steve Stricker, Ernie Els and even Lee Westwood, who is making his PGA Tour Champions debut this week, at the U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island. One of them may win the title at a great, historic venue but let’s take a moment to celebrate some of the really cool stories of the amateurs who have made the field.
There are 19 amateurs teeing it up this week, which is impressive in its own right given that more than 3,000 golfers submitted entries for the 44th U.S. Senior Open, the third-most in the championship’s history. They were competing for about 75 available qualifier spots, with more than half the field having exemptions based on past performance and senior tour status.
We’re not going to run through all the ams — though do wonder how often Brad Steven gets confused for former Butler University and current Boston Celtics GM Brad Stevens — but there are so many compelling storylines among this bunch that we’re compelled to share some of the better ones.
The president and CEO of shaftmaker Fujikura played college golf at San Diego State University and has long been one of the industry’s top sticks. In fact, he once qualified for the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open. The 54-year-old shot 70 and survived a 4-for-1 playoff at a qualifying tournament last month at Goose Creek in California. It will be his third USGA Championship after previously competing in the 1997 U.S. Amateur at Cog Hill won by Matt Kuchar, and the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Bandon Dunes won by Trip Kuehne. Schnider has got his 15-year-old son, Luke, caddying for him, his 85-year-old dad watching in the gallery and suffice it to say, we don’t need to wait for the Darrell Survey to know he’s using Fujikura shafts.
Kuehne of Southlake, Texas, topped the leaderboard at the Qualifier at Metropolis Country Club in White Plains, New York, shooting a 2-over 72 to earn medalist honors and qualify for the Senior Open for a second straight year. He’s a U.S. Mid Amateur past champion (2007) and lost to Tiger Woods in the U.S. Amateur final at TPC Sawgrass in 1994. His brother Hank won the U.S. Amateur and his sister Kelli played on the LPGA Tour.
Kuehne is a rare amateur star who never turned pro. He represented the U.S. on three Walker Cup teams.
Will Zalatoris and caddie Scott Fawcett pose for a photo after Zalatoris’ victory at the U.S. Junior Amateur.
Fawcett of Frisco, Texas, shot 68 in an Oklahoma Qualifier to earn one of three spots available. He played collegiately at Texas A&M and qualified for the 1999 U.S. Open. But his playing career fizzled out on the Web.com and Hooters tours. He is best known as the creator of the Decade Golf System, using data analytics to help pro golfers make better decisions on the course.
Don’t ask us how to pronounce his last name because we don’t know. What we do know is he’s a lawyer from Chicago who apparently can golf his ball and he’s buddies with Michael Jordan. When he shot 70 and qualified as co-medalist at his site for Newport, MJ called up Ernie Els and asked him to do him a solid. A practice round with the Big Easy? It doesn’t get much better than that for Vrdolayak, who is making his U.S. Senior Open debut.
In 1995, Fanagan was teammates with Padraig Harrington in the 1995 Walker Cup. They joined forces to win a match against Tiger Woods. Twenty-nine years later, Harrington joined the World Golf Hall of Fame two weeks ago and is one of the tournament favorites while Fanagan is set to make his U.S. Senior Open debut. The old friends reunited for a practice round.
Fanagan, 58, qualified by finishing as runner-up in last year’s U.S. Senior Amateur Championship.
Yes, Gary Koch is a pro who won six times on the PGA Tour before becoming a television analyst for NBC Sports. He came out of retirement to work the U.S. Open for Peacock and he’s coming out of retirement this week to compete in the U.S. Senior Open, making his first start on the Champions Tour since 2018. At age 71, he became the oldest qualifier in this national championship. His story one might say is better than most, so we’re shoehorning him into this story with the ams. Once upon a time, he was a kid playing in USGA championships and he’s still doing it all these years later.
“The very first one was 1968, USGA Junior at The Country Club, Brookline, Mass. I was 15 years old. So here we are 56 years later getting to compete in another USGA Championship,” Koch said on Wednesday. “I can’t think of any other sport where something like that could happen. Long history. Played in 17 U.S. Opens. Part of a broadcast of 22 U.S. Opens. Played on two Walker Cup teams, a World Amateur team. Just a lot of great memories provided me by the game of golf and also the USGA.”
