The old “look to your left, look to your right,” stock phrase often used on the first day of college could pertain to the U.S. Open qualifier going on Monday in Columbus, Ohio.
Every time Palmer Jackson and Jason Li look around they see PGA stars.
Jackson and Li, once stars themselves in the WPIAL and PIAA, are two of the 120 players competing for 16 spots at Lakes Golf & Country Club and Brookside Golf & Country Club.
The Columbus site is star-studded and deep. It’s where many of the non-exempt PGA Tour players who played in The Memorial will try to qualify.
Li, for instance, is playing in a group with three-time major champion Padraig Harrington.
Other headliners in the field include Rickie Fowler, Keegan Bradley, Rory Sabbatini, Jason Dufner, J.B. Holmes, Charl Schwartzel, Brendan Steele, Jhonattan Vegas, Aaron Baddeley and Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer.
The all-or-nothing, one-day grind lasts 36 holes as players vie to play in the 121st U.S. Open set for June 17-20 at Torrey Pines in San Diego, Calif.
Jackson, a Franklin Regional grad and incoming junior at Notre Dame, recently played in the NCAA Regional. The former PIAA champion carded a fifth-place finish in another tournament this season and averaged 71.67. He continues to rise in the national amateur ranks.
Li, who played at Sewickley Academy where he won WPIAL and PIAA titles, is a senior at Carnegie Mellon. He averaged 72.1 this season for the Tartans and posted three top-3 finishes and was inside the top 10 four times.
Check in on the results from the Columbus qualifier here.
