US Open Qualification: A Day of Thrilling Golf Drama

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00:00Longest day in golf.

00:02And if you're just tuning in and haven't heard me and Scotty talking about it,

00:0612 U.S. Open qualifiers, the last chance to get into the U.S. Open next week.

00:12You've got PGA Tour players, live players, dentists, garage door installers,

00:18like everything all over the world.

00:19And this is what makes it so great, Smiley, is everyone's got a shot to get into the U.S. Open.

00:25Have you ever done the greatest, the longest day in golf before?

00:28Have you been part of this before?

00:31You know what, Mike?

00:32First off, good to be with you.

00:34And yes, I have.

00:35I actually, first time I did it was right out of college and was successful.

00:39I had shot 67 in the morning and they were taking three spots in Georgia.

00:44And I could not have been more nervous on the back nine of that last 18 holes.

00:51I think I probably shot three or four over.

00:54I ended up shooting like 76, but made it through by one shot.

00:57It was playing ridiculously hard.

00:59We were playing a course called Setten Down in Atlanta, but it qualified for my first

01:03U.S. Open and Pioneers is all the way back in 2014.

01:07But I think it's pretty cool, though, Mike.

01:09You know, when you think about the U.S. Open, you think about a grueling test.

01:13You think about not only all the shots you have to hit physically, but the mental tests.

01:17And there's no better way to finish a field out than making guys play 36 holes.

01:25Like even Max Homa is playing today, who I think most people would think that he would

01:30be inside the top 60 and would be already qualified.

01:33But he isn't.

01:34And guess what?

01:34He's carrying his own golf bag today.

01:36I mean, you've got to love that.

01:39I love it.

01:40I saw that shot of Max.

01:42I haven't looked at his sight recently.

01:44I don't know where he's at right now.

01:46He's close.

01:46He's close right now.

01:47I got a little TV over here.

01:49He was one of the last guys in last time I looked.

01:52I, as I tell you all the time, Max is a guy that I like rooting for.

01:56I like betting on Max.

01:57I like rooting for Max.

01:58So I'm hoping that he could be, and he's a good, tough golf course player as well, which

02:03I would like to see Max in there next week.

02:04But you've got things, Smiley, like a high school junior in Georgia who's destroying the

02:11field right now.

02:12There's a dentist in Washington who's in the lead, a former PGA player who's a garage door

02:20installer.

02:21He played at, he played at LSU with me.

02:25He was a senior when I was a freshman.

02:26So he's one of the best ball strikers I've ever seen.

02:29So not, I don't, this guy could be working for 10 years and he's, he could still show

02:34up, uh, in any course in the country and just get a case of the stripes and hit it

02:38right where he's looking.

02:39So not surprised to see that he's playing well today.

02:42Last thing on this, how annoyed do some of the, the pros get, let's just say like, you've

02:48got guys out there today and I'm not going to single guys out, you know, Cameron young,

02:51other guys who aren't going to get through today.

02:53And they see dentists and high school juniors getting through.

02:58Does it fire them up more?

02:59Does it really piss them off?

03:00Like what?

03:01I wonder if you're a pro and you see this stuff going on, what do you think?

03:05Oh, it's part of the U S open.

03:06And I think Graham Dillette, uh, when I made it to L or excuse me, when I made it to the

03:11U S open for the first time, I'm playing a practice round with him.

03:14Um, he, he pulled me aside and basically said, you earned your way here to this event.

03:19And he was a professional player at the time on the PGA tour.

03:22And that meant a lot to me, a player who had no status at the time, just coming out of college.

03:26And it really kind of settled me in and thought, you know what?

03:30I did earn my way here.

03:31And there's plenty of other players that didn't, I should be proud, uh, to be here and, and

03:36just play my, play my tail off.

03:38And then you, and then the gun goes off and then you start the U S open and then you realize,

03:42holy crap, this tournament's hard.

03:44I see what all the hype is about.

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