Recent tournament winners like Kristoffer Reitan and Alex Fitzpatrick have crashed the U.S. Open field, and then there’s the slew of qualifiers recently locking in a position for the year’s third major.
The Charles Schwab Challenge offers a good opportunity — one of few avenues remaining — to players still not booked for Shinnecock Hills.
Beside the Charles Schwab, there’s next week’s Memorial Tournament at Muirfield (a limited, signature-event field) and then the RBC Canadian Open on the schedule to aid and assist. Here’s a look at the two remaining pathways:
- Get inside the top 60 of the Official World Golf Ranking on June 15, the day after the RBC Canadian Open
- Earn a spot through U.S. Open Final Qualifying on June 8 (see: “Longest Day in Golf”)
Now here are the top names playing at Colonial this week who need help getting into Shinnecock Hills and where they stand on the official rankings:
- Max Greyserman (No. 62)
- Sami Valimaki (No. 64)
- Bud Cauley (No. 67)
- Rasmus Højgaard (No. 70)
- Michael Thorbjornsen (No. 75)
- Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (No. 78)
- Haotong Li (No. 80)
- Andrew Putnam (No. 81)
- Rico Hoey (No. 83)
- Stephan Jaeger (No. 84)
- John Parry (No. 86)
- Austin Smotherman (No. 89)
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout (No. 91)
- Ricky Castillo (No. 93)
- Keith Mitchell (No. 95)
- Tony Finau (No. 103)
- Mac Meissner (No. 108)
- Eric Cole (No. 117)
- Max Homa (No. 123)
Cauley, Mitchell and Thorbjornsen are three of the listed favorites to win the tournament outright this week, with Greyserman, Hojgaard and Meissner given a fair-to-considerable chance to go the distance in a field lacking any of the top eight-ranked players in the world. Their odds for making it to Shinnecock in less than a month vary considerably though.
Greyserman has been in solid form over the last month, finishing in the top 40 in his last four events. His 14th-place finish at Aronimink is worth noting here, too, as it doesn’t get him into the next major field. And in case you were wondering: a top 10 finish at TPC Craig Ranch last weekend moved him up just one spot in the OWGR and he is not exempt to play at the Memorial.
Translation: If he does well this week in Texas, the rankings should theoretically fall his way but it’s not guaranteed. A missed cut could force him into a difficult spot as the calendar flips over, but he’s already kind of there: Play well in Texas or Canada or in the Final Qualifying or become this year’s highest-ranked player not in the U.S. Open field.
Højgaard is the only player from the 2025 Ryder Cup (see: either team) that’s not currently exempt to play at Shinnecock.
He began the season inside the top 40 in the OWGR but has struggled to stay consistent with just a sole top-20 finish at the Cognizant Classic this season.
And then there are Tour mainstays Finau and Homa.
Finau failed to qualify for the Masters, snapping a streak of seven straight appearances at Augusta. He’s at risk of losing that same number of consecutive U.S. Opens played. And what’s worse? He was in the final grouping in 2018 when Shinnecock last hosted the tournament.
Finau bogeyed three of his first four holes and finished in a tie for fifth, one of just five top-five major finishes in his career.
Homa is also in a precarious situation after being knocked out of U.S. Open contention in a playoff at final qualifying last year.
He’s flashed moments this year, including a T-9 finish at Augusta, but given his current ranking there’s no viable path to Shinnecock beside an outright win or testing his hand at qualifying again.
