Taking a long road to Erin Hills
Li first from China to make major cut
TOWN OF ERIN – Haotong Li isn’t a name that jumps out when you think of golfers competing in a major championship.
That’s because Li, who is playing in his first U.S. Open, also is the first golfer from China to make a cut in a major.
And the road to Wisconsin wasn’t easy.
Li, who lives in Shanghai, turned profes- sional in 2011 and played early in his career on the OneAsia Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia.
In 2016, he mostly competed on the European Tour, but he did make the cut in his lone PGA Tour event at the WGCHSBC in Shanghai. He finished 63rd after shooting a 7372-74-77-296.
To get to Erin Hills, he began his qualifying at the Walton Health Golf Club Old Course. He shot 67-64—131 to earn one of 15 spots in the England qualifying. Entering the U.S. Open, Li, 21, was ranked 128 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
He continued his impressive play on Thursday and Friday at Erin Hills by carding a 74 in the first round and following with a 70 in the second. Li was one of five players to hit every fairway on Friday.
Unfortunately, the third round on Saturday was unkind. Playing with Lee Westwood in the morning, Li fired a 40 (4-over par) on the front nine and was 2 over on the back until reaching No. 18.
That’s when his game hit rock bottom.
He carded a 9 on the par-5, 667-yard hole and finished with a 42 on the back for an 82, placing him in last place.
Regardless of how Li performed on the course Saturday, fans may recognize his name now. Miller comments on Thomas’ 63: Johnny Miller’s
63 is still a round for the ages in Johnny’s mind.
Exactly 44 years to the day Miller shot his 8-under-par 63 at Oakmont, Miller was at Erin Hills on Saturday when Justin
Thomas posted a 9-under 63, breaking the record for lowest U.S. Open round in relation to par.
Miller had left for the airport a little more than an hour before Thomas broke the mark. The 1973 U.S. Open champion was participating in fan Q&As for Lexus and the United States Golf Association.
“Hats off to him, it’s a great round.” Miller said via phone as he was headed to Utah for Father’s Day. “Justin Thomas is a streak player and I was a streak player. He’s swings aggressively.”
Gracious and even seeing similarities in Thomas’ game with his style, Miller couldn’t help but wonder if the course setup was more Tour event than U.S. Open.
“It’s a great round and 9 under is amazing in U.S. Open pressure,” he said. “But you can’t really compare it considering the width of the courses. The setup is more like a tough tour event than a U.S. Open course.”
Miller pointed out that the course was softened by rains and set up cautiously by the USGA.
“We had two other guys shoot in the 60s that day,” Miller said. “Today they had how many shoot in the 60s? So you can’t really compare Erin Hills to the setup at Oakmont.”
On Saturday, there were 18 rounds in the 60s at the par-72 Erin Hills.
Miller took nothing away from Thomas’ round or Erin Hills, but he remained consistent with his views in recent years that the traditional U.S. Open course setup faced by
his era is not the same today.
“It’s a good golf course, it’s just that the way it was set up made it gettable,” he said. “If they would have had 26-, 27yard wide fairways it would be one of the toughest courses they’ve ever played.
“And the greens are absolutely beautiful, but not too difficult to putt.” Decisions, decisions:
Faced with the option of putting through the rough or pulling out a wedge and chipping on No. 8 during his third round Saturday, Rickie Fowler made the wrong choice.
Fowler pitched the ball to about 18 feet and then missed the next putt for a bogey. It dropped him two shots off the lead.
Fowler came back to birdie the par-3 ninth to get back to one shot back. He finished with a 68, two shots out of the lead. Casey finds more trouble: Paul Casey is looking to recover from another triple bogey.
Casey swung and missed from the tall fescue on No. 3, chipped out and watched the ball roll off the green on the other side. He finished with a 7 on the par 4 and a 75 for the round.
The Englishman also had a triple bogey on No. 14 in the second round, but he finished with a 1-under 71 and a share of the 36-hole lead.