Ouch! Landon Michelson played well enough to qualify for the U.S. Open, but signed an incorrect scorecard and was disqualified from the Vero Beach sectional.
Golf's longest day is starting to wrap up at some of the smaller sectional qualifying sites in the eastern United States. Players at the Florida, New York, and Georgia sites can rest easy, with our first 10 qualifiers making it to Pinehurst. Here's a rundown from some of the earlier sectionals.
Old Oaks Country Club & Century Country Club, Purchase, New York
- 80 players for 4 spots
- Complete scores here
- 31 players for 2 spots
- Complete scores here
At the Purchase, New York site, veteran Lee Janzen, a two-time winner of the U.S. Open, was the biggest name to just miss out on another berth in his national championship. Bob Ford, the club pro at Oakmont and Seminole, also came up short and was a combined 10-over on his 36 hole day. Janzen, on the other hand, was just two shots shy of the even-par score that was good enough to grab the fourth spot. Janzen, you'll recall, was DQ'd and bounced out of the Woodmont sectional last year because he wore hard spikes. Here are your qualifiers at the New York MGA site, along with those who just missed:
| Place | Player | Score |
| T1 | Quinn, Fran | -3 |
| T1 | Oppenheim, Rob | -3 |
| 3 | Renner, James | -2 |
| 4 | Dobyns, Matthew | Even |
| Did Not Qualify | ||
| T5 | Wilson, Cameron (a) | 1 |
| T5 | Lovemark, Jamie | 1 |
| T7 | Murphy, Trevor | 2 |
| T7 | Matthews, Brandon (a) | 2 |
| T7 | Rocha, Alexandre | 2 |
| T7 | Janzen, Lee | 2 |
| T7 | Bozzelli, Dominic | 2 |
| T7 | Leopold, Robert (a) | 2 |
Ansley Golf Club (Settindown Creek Course), Roswell, Georgia
| Place | Player | Score |
| 1 | Norlander, Henrik | -4 |
| 2 | Kaufman, Smylie (a) | -2 |
| Did Not Qualify | ||
| 3 | Cone, Trevor (a) | -1 |
| 4 | Hebert, Michael | Even |
| 5 | Woltman, Daniel | 1 |
| 6 | Demoss, Mookie (a) | 2 |
| T7 | Martinson, Justin | 3 |
| T7 | Reimers, Hans (a) | 3 |
Quail Valley Golf Club, Vero Beach, Florida
- 55 players for 4 spots
- Complete scores here
Daniel Berger, the son of a tennis pro who came up playing golf against some of the best as a teenager in Jupiter, rolled to the top spot in Vero Beach. He posted a combined 10-under score. Berger should be a full-time regular on the PGA Tour soon, and now he'll get his first big test at the toughest test in the sport. He'll be joined by Nicholas Lindheim, Andres Echavarria, and Aussie pro Aron Price, who occasionally pops up on PGA Tour leaderboards. But Price was the beneficiary of a fluky rules mishap.
| Place | Player | Score |
| 1 | Berger, Daniel | -10 |
| 2 | Lindheim, Nicholas | -7 |
| T3 | Echavarria, Andres | -3 |
| 5 | Price, Aron | -2 |
| Did Not Qualify | ||
| T6 | Horsfield, Sam (a) | -1 |
| T6 | Maclean, Sebastian | -1 |
| T8 | Thompson, Curtis (a) | Even |
| T8 | Maguire, M.J. (a) | Even |
The biggest story from this sectional was not the four guys who made it through, but the one who didn't for signing an incorrect scorecard. Landon Michelson, who just finished his college career at Rice, signed a card that was one shot lower than his actual score. It was almost certainly an honest mistake, and his actual score, one stroke higher, still would have put him through to Pinehurst. He started the day not even eligible to play in the sectional, but when Tour pro Freddie Jacobson did not show up, Michelson got in and then took advantage by playing well enough to get to the U.S. Open. Unfortunately, signing an incorrect card is something that happens with greater frequency than you can imagine.
We'll continue to update as results come in from around the country, including the two PGA Tour pro loaded sectionals in Memphis and Columbus.