Thornberry, Burns qualify for U.S. Open at Ridgeway
Over the years, Braden Thornberry has seen it as a fan. Sam Burns knew it by personal experience.
“Been coming to Open qualifiers since I was 12, and I’ve learned, you shoot 6- or 7-under in this event, and you’re headed for a playoff,” Thornberry, Ole Miss’ junior star from Olive Branch, said after he and his former LSU rival Burns made sure they weren’t still on the Ridgeway Country Club course in Monday’s twilight.
Burns, who survived a six-man playoff two years ago to clinch his first U.S. Open bid, started his day by tying the Ridgeway course record with a 9-underpar 62. The 21-year-old former LSU star from Shreveport followed that up with a 6-under 66 at Colonial Country Club’s iconic South Course. It kept his choke hold on medalist honors, and the first of 11 Open bids that were up for grabs here. His 15-under par was five shots better than PGA veteran Steve Stricker (last year’s medalist in this event) and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes.
"You look for bits of confidence every time you play, things you can build on,” Burns said.
Thornberry, coming off a rough NCAA tournament in Oklahoma, shot 9-under 134 (66-68) to finish as the lone amateur in Monday’s event and is headed to next week’s 118th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y. He finished in a fourth-place tie with Lanto Griffin of Blacksburg, Va., who had a 7-under 65 at Colonial to start the day.
“You’ve got to have a short memory to play this game, and getting the early birdies in both rounds helped me relax,” said Thornberry, also 21. “Opening with the 65 allowed me to play the second round without so much pressure, and I didn’t do anything dumb out there today.”
It’s been a great year already for Burns, one of four current and former LSU golfers who have qualified for the Open. He had a top-10 finish in the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic in Florida – playing the Sunday round with Tiger Woods. Last month, he scored his first Web.com tour event in Savannah, Ga.
At Ridgeway, he closed with three birdies and an eagle in the final five holes. The eagle came as he holed out a 130-yard wedge shot on the par-4 15th hole.
Scott Stallings of Knoxville, Tyler Duncan of Columbus, Ind., and Sebastian Vazquez of Mexico finished the day at 8-under 135 and punched their ticket to Long Island.
Eleven golfers tied at 7-under and faced a playoff for the final three available Open spots. It didn’t last long. Eric Axley of Knoxville eagled the par-4 10th hole at Ridgeway, while Aaron Wise of Las Vegas and Matt Jones of Australia carded birdies and made their plans for next weekend.
Big 12 champion Grant Hirschman of Oklahoma, a former St. George’s standout, shot 5-under 138 and missed the cut by two shots. One stroke back was twotime U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen of South Africa. He was seeking to earn a spot at Shinnecock, where he won his second Open in 2004.