While California native J.J. Spaun won the 125th U.S. Open golf tournament, held June 12-15 at the Oakmont Country Club in western Pennsylvania, one local golfer is savoring the experience.
There were 156 competitors trying to win the U.S. Open Championship Trophy and the Jack Nicklaus medal that goes with it. One of them was Wellington resident Justin Hicks, who is a PGA teaching professional at the Stonebridge Country Club in Boca Raton. While Hicks is not a household name in professional golf, this was his seventh time playing in the U.S. Open, after appearances in 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016.
In Hicks’ six prior U.S. Open appearances, his best finish was a 60th-place tie in 2011, though he was a joint first-round leader at the 2008 U.S. Open, when he shot an opening round of 68 and then finished in a tie for 74th place. He also played in a previous U.S. Open at Oakmont in 2016, when he finished in 67th place.
This year’s U.S. Open was Hicks’ second major golf tournament this year after also playing in the PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, in late May. While Hicks may have missed the cut at both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, he was able to enjoy the playing experience.
“I enjoyed being a part of this tournament, and my goal was to be competitive with the best golfers in the world,” said Hicks, 50. “It drives my engine to play golf with the best players.”
As Hicks reflects on his time at Oakmont, he said that the degree of difficulty was off the charts.
“It was the most difficult golf course that I’ve played,” Hicks said. “Oakmont is a bear, to put it nicely. The greens were diabolical. When you combined the speed of the greens with the break, slope and undulations, they were very difficult to manage.”
At Oakmont, his caddy was longtime friend Danny Randolph, who lives in Boca Raton.
When Hicks played in this year’s U.S. Open, he was not alone. Two of those in the gallery of 40,000-plus people were his wife Kathryn and their 14-year-old son Owen, who is a scratch golfer with plans to play on the King’s Academy boys varsity golf team this fall.
During the opening round of the U.S. Open on Thursday, June 12, Hicks witnessed one of the great shots at this year’s tournament, when his playing partner Maxwell Moldovan, a pro from Uniontown, Ohio, holed out from the first fairway for an eagle two, which momentarily put Moldovan at the top of the tournament’s leaderboard at two-under-par.
In the first round, Hicks shot 84 (14-over-par), followed by an 83 (13-over-par) in the second round, for a two-round total of 167 (27-over-par). The cut was at 147 (seven-over-par). Other prominent golfers who missed the cut included Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas and Shane Lowry, plus a handful of former U.S. Open champions, such as Dustin Johnson, Lucas Glover, Gary Woodland, Wyndham Clark and Justin Rose.
Hicks earned his way into the field at Oakmont by finishing in a three-way tie for first at a U.S. Open Final Qualifier, which was held at the Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach earlier this month. Hicks’ two-round score of 133 (65-68; 11-under-par) was low enough to finish in a three-way tie for first with Philip Barbaree Jr. of Shreveport, Louisiana, and Frankie Harris, an amateur from Boca Raton.
As for Hicks and future U.S. Open events, such as next year’s tournament at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York, he plans to attempt to qualify again, as he did this year.
“Next year, I’m hoping to continue this dream and have the chance to go out there again to play golf with and against the best in the world,” Hicks said.
His next big golf tournament will be the 79th Florida Open Championship in Naples, held July 18-20.
