PROVO — Zac Blair came out the the other side of “Golf’s Longest Day” with his second U.S. Open berth in three years.
The former BYU golfer who grew up in Plain City fired a 36-hole total of 8-under-par 132 Monday to finish tied for first in the final qualifying round at Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio.
It will mark the fourth U.S. Open bid since Blair finished tied for 40th in his debut major on the PGA Tour in 2014, and his third consecutive start at the USGA’s open championship to be held June 18-21 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York.
The former Fremont High standout led after 18 holes with 6-under 64 in Springfield. He carded back-to-back birdies on the front nine that helped him to 2-under 68 in his second 18, arriving in the clubhouse tied for first with Pittsburgh’s Neal Shipley.
The duo finished one shot up on PGA Tour pros Dylan Wu, Billy Horschel and Nick Hardy, who finished tied for third at 7-under 133. Former Ohio State golfer Max Moldovan nearly forced a playoff, but his birdie putt in the rain on the 18th green cut just short to cement the five-for-five qualifier.
Tony Finau wasn’t so lucky in Ohio as his fellow Utah native.
Finau was in contention after shooting 65 in his first trip around the course of the “Longest Day in Golf,” and his momentum kept up with a pair of birdies after teeing off on the back.
The Rose Park native gave them back with a pair of bogeys on the second and fourth holes. He pulled one back on the fifth hole but a bogey on the eighth led the West High alum to even-par 70 in his second 18 holes to finish tied for 10th and two shots beyond the cut.
Nearly 460 miles away in Canada, Patrick Fishburn came agonizingly close to punching his own ticket.
The former BYU golfer from Ogden carded 66-68 for a 36-hole total of 6-under 134, good for an eight-way tie for fourth in the qualifying site at Lambton Golf and Country Club in Toronto, Ontario.
But Fishburn three-putted on the first hole of an eight-for-three spots playoff to fall just shy of his goal.
The 2016 Utah state amateur and 2017 Utah Open champion shot 4-under 66 in his first 18 holes to jump into contention in the qualifier hosted by Golf Canada. But a pair of bogeys on the front nine of his second round and a double bogey on the par-4 ninth dropped Fishburn into the playoff.
The west coast site in Sacramento, California, was where four current or former BYU golfers tried to qualify, including standout freshman Kihei Akina.
Akina was headed in a dubious direction in his first 18 holes, but an eagle on the par-5 first hole after teeing off on the back helped him open with a 69 and stay in contention for one of four qualifying spots out of Del Paso Country Club.
The Big 12 freshman of the year and Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman carded three bogeys en route to a front-nine 37 in his decisive round. Akina rebounded with a pair of birdies to open the back, and added another birdie on the par-5 15th hole.
Fellow Lone Peak High alum Carson Lundell opened the first 18 holes at Del Paso shooting 2-under 70. But the BYU graduate struggled down the stretch, with bogeys on Nos. 16, 17 and 18 among his six of the afternoon to fall to five shots off the cut line.
Akina’s older brother Keanu, the former Pleasant Grove High basketball player, shot 73-74 in Sacramento to finish in a tie for 49th at 5-over.
BYU’s Jackson Mauss nearly overcame a 76 in his first round by shooting 1-under 70 that included an eagle on the par-5 15th hole. But the redshirt freshman from Draper couldn’t overcome an early deficit that included 37-39 in the opening 18 holes.
Taylor Montgomery topped the leaderboard at Del Paso after the two-time Sand Hollow Open winner from Las Vegas shot 69-66 to hold off a trio of amateurs by one stroke for his third U.S. Open qualification.
“Today was probably the best I’ve hit it in a long time,” Montgomery told the Golf Channel after his 36-hole round. “My game hasn’t been very good for the last couple of years, so it’s really nice to qualify for the U.S. Open. I’m pretty excited.”
University of Utah golfer Brandon Robison narrowly missed out on his first U.S. Open in final qualifying in Creswell, Oregon.
The Centerville native shot 71-71 to finish with a two-day total of 2-under 142 and tied for fourth at Emerald Valley Golf Club in the final round with just two qualifying spots up for grabs.
Former Olympus High golfer John Fox shot 75-76 to finish at 7-over 151 at Emerald Valley.
Richfield native Dusty Fielding finished eight shots off the cutline in the four-player qualifier in Westerville, Ohio.
The former JUCO All-American at Dixie State and 2018 Utah Open champion, shot 1-over 73 through his first 18 at Lakes Golf and Country Club in Westerville, Ohio.
The former caddy of Utah golf hall-of-famer Jay Don Blake who now plays out of Lehi rallied with a 2-under 70. But it wasn’t enough before finishing tied for 32nd in the field.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.