Englishman Nathan Kimsey earned medalist honors at the U.S. Open final qualifying event on Monday at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England, with six others joining him in the U.S. Open field.
Frenchman Ugo Coussaud won a four-for-one playoff to break a tie for seventh at 10 under, beating LIV Golf member Thomas Detry of Belgium along with Hennie Du Plessis of South Africa and Andrew Wilson of England.
Kimsey, 33, shot rounds of 68 and 62 to post a 10-under-par 130 over 36 holes, two clear of Spaniard Rocco Repetto Taylor. Tied at 11 under and also advancing were Filippo Celli of Italy, Matthew Jordan of England, Angel Hidalgo of Spain and Niklas Norgaard of Denmark.
Kimsey qualified for his first U.S. Open and just his second major championship overall. He made the cut and tied for 40th at the Open Championship last summer at Royal Portrush.
The English site serves as the final qualifying tournament for European players and is the first of 13 final qualifying sites in all. Players are also contending Monday in Dallas, Japan will have a qualifying site on May 25 and the other 10 are scattered across North America on June 8, often called “golf’s longest day.”
LIV Golf’s Peter Uihlein was atop the leaderboard during 36-hole qualifying at Dallas Athletic Club on Monday. Players there are playing one round at the Blue Course and one at the Gold Course.
Nine spots are available for a field rife with PGA Tour and LIV Golf talent.
Uihlein was 8 under par eight holes into his second round following a first-round 67, according to the USGA’s online leaderboard. Hayden Springer, Tom Kim of South Korea, Sebastian Munoz of Colombia, Doug Ghim and Kevin Streelman were all in positions to qualify or join a playoff.
Others attempting to qualify in Dallas include Sergio Garcia, the Spaniard and LIV member who failed to make it last year after playing 25 U.S. Opens in a row; Tom Hoge; Mackenzie Hughes of Canada; and Byeong Hun An of South Korea, who joined LIV earlier this year.
