PRESTO — For several Western Pennsylvania golfers, there was very little easing into one of the most important rounds of golf they will play this year.
With weather that went from freezing to sun-soaked and included periods of gusty winds on Tuesday at The Club at Nevillewood, 88 players competed for five spots in the Final Qualifying stage for the 126th U.S. Open..
Talon Kriebel and Amani D’Ambrosio shot 3-under scores of 69 to earn co-Low Scorer honors, joining other qualifiers in Austin Lemieux, Jason Li and Rick Stimmel in advancing to Final Qualifying.
“A little bit of everything worked today,” said D’Ambrosio, a 24-year-old who has had significant success over the last few years in WPGA competitions and USGA qualifying events. “I just kept the ball in front of me. The front nine I played really well. The back nine got a little sketchy.”
D’Ambrosio was 3-under and without a bogey through nine holes. He shot even par in the back half of his round for the 3-under mark on the day.
“The course was not set up easy and the greens were running really fast. If you kept it in play and then put yourself on the green, with how they were running, you were going to make a few.”
Kriebel, meanwhile, benefitted from a strong surge on the front nine, with one of the field's five eagles during the competition, doing so on Nevillewood’s third hole.
“I play really well at this course for some reason,” said Kriebel, a PGA professional who works at Glengarry Golf Links in Latrobe and who qualified at Nevillewood for the PGA of America Professional Championship, set for next week at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon.
“Everything just kind of clicked. I hit the ball well off the tee and got myself in good positions.”
For both players, jumping into early season competitive golf — particularly with such high stakes as a U.S. Open — was challenging.
“That’s the tricky part with these,” said Kreibel, who advanced in U.S. Open qualifying for the first time. “It’s so early in the season and, here in Pennsylvania, we’ve been hitting balls indoors. I did get to Florida three times this winter though.”
D’Ambrosio, meanwhile, has been used to getting to practice in Florida in over the years. A recent graduate of Barry University in Miami, this was the first year that he didn’t have the opportunity to frequently play down south ahead of U.S. Open Qualifying.
“A lot of simulator practice,” he said with a laugh. “We have been gifted with a lot of great weather so far this year though. So I’ve been able to get out a good bit.”
All qualifying players pre-selected their Final Qualifying site, with several options available throughout the country.
Li, a Carnegie Mellon graduate, advanced to Final Qualifying a year ago. Lemieux, the son of Pittsburgh Penguins legend Mario Lemieux, hovered around the top of the leaderboard for much of the day, shot 2-under and will look to book a trip to the U.S. Open for the first time in his life.
Stimmel, meanwhile, has once played in the U.S. Open, doing so at Pebble Beach in 2000 after going through qualifying in Western Pennsylvania. An accomplished amateur player who is now excelling as a senior player, the 58-year-old joked afterwards that his lone U.S. Open appearance came before many in the field Tuesday were born.
He and Li earned their qualifying spots in a playoff after shooting 1-under during their rounds. Sam Ryan and Nathan Piatt also shot 1-under and, following Stimmel and Li’s victories on the first playoff hole, had a lengthy battle to earn the first and second alternate spots, respectively.
All five players will look to represent Western Pennsylvania at the 126th U.S. Open, set for this coming June at Shinnecock Hills in New York.
“I’m looking forward to getting down there and trying to compete,” said Kreibel, who will play in the 36-hole Final Qualifying at Woodmont Country Club in Maryland. “Obviously, it’s a long day, so I’ll have to be patient. I’m going to try to get down to the course prior, but we’ll see if I have time with this busy schedule we have.”
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