While the 125th U.S. Open men’s golf tournament set for June 12-15 will be held at the historic Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, one of the many “roads” to the U.S. Open actually started in Wellington.
On Monday, May 5, the Wellington National Golf Club hosted an 18-hole USGA local qualifier for the U.S. Open. It was one of 110 qualifiers — 13 of which were held in Florida — that were conducted around the nation from mid-April to mid-May.
On May 5, 84 golfers, including 43 amateurs and 41 professionals, played 18 holes at Wellington National. Each was hoping to finish in the top five, allowing them to advance to one of 10 36-hole U.S. Open final qualifiers held around the U.S. on Monday, June 2. The nearest final qualifier will be held at the Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach — the only one in Florida. At each final qualifier, every contestant will play two 18-hole rounds in one day. Only a few golfers at each venue will earn a spot in the 156-player field that will congregate at Oakmont in mid-June. It will be the 10th time that Oakmont is hosting the U.S. Open, which is more than any other golf course.
Of the 84 players in the field at Wellington National, the low medalist was Arth Sinha, an amateur from Melbourne, Florida. He recorded a six-under-par round of 66. In his round, he had ten pars, seven birdies and one bogey.
The other four qualifiers were Matthew Marigliano, an amateur from Palm Beach Gardens; Tyler Stachkunas of Lake Worth, who is a member at Wellington National; Michael Gligic of Canada; and Carson Klawonn of West Palm Beach. Marigliano shot a five-under-par 67, while Stachkunas, Gligic and Klawonn had four-under-par 68s.
In addition to determining the top five finishers, the local qualifier in Wellington was used to determine two alternates for the final qualifier at Emerald Dunes. Alternates are added to the field if a player has to withdraw in advance of the round. Three golfers vied for those two spots — Giuseppe Puebla, an amateur from Royal Palm Beach; Austin Lemieux, an amateur from Sewickley, Pennsylvania; and Ethan Cairns, a pro from Davie. After the second sudden-death playoff hole, Puebla recorded a three on the 18th hole to earn the first alternate spot. It took another six holes of sudden death play in order for Lemieux to grab the second alternate spot.
Of the 84 players in the field, some of the golfers have famous fathers. Those sons of well-known fathers were Charlie Woods, son of 14-time major golf champion Tiger Woods; Cameron Kuchar, son of nine-time PGA Tour winner Matt Kuchar; Olin Browne Jr., son of 2011 U.S. Senior Open champion Olin Browne; and Austin Lemieux, son of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey star Mario Lemieux.
To be eligible to enter the local qualifier at Wellington National, each amateur player must have an up-to-date handicap index based on ratings for men not exceeding 0.4.
This was the fourth consecutive year that a U.S. Open local qualifier has been staged at Wellington National. Owner Doug Marty considers it an honor to host and stage such an event.
“Our course is long and difficult enough to challenge the participants in these qualifying tournaments,” Marty said. “We make sure our course is in great shape to host these qualifiers.”
In recent years, Wellington National has had a strong track record of being a qualifying site for other prestigious tournaments.
“We have a great relationship with the PGA Tour, USGA and the PGA of America,” Marty said. “This year, we hosted qualifying tournaments for the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic of the Palm Beaches, the Puerto Rico Open and the Corales Puntacana Open. In addition to this year’s U.S. Open, we hosted a qualifier for the Florida State Senior Open.”
Of those 84 players at Wellington National, 41 of them were from Palm Beach County and six are based in Royal Palm Beach and Wellington. Of the 84 players who competed, 49 came from Florida. The remaining players hailed from 13 U.S. states and nine countries — Australia, Brazil, Czechia, Germany, Peru, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Spain and Wales.
