Knaresborough golf ace John Parry qualifies for US Open for first time since 2015
John Parry may have missed the cut for the first time as a member of the PGA Tour but he put the extra time to good use by qualifying for this week’s US Open.
The 39-year-old from Knaresborough has made a solid fist of his first season in America, recording four top-20 finishes in places like Hawaii and Texas, and making 13 cuts in a row.
That run came to an end at the Charles Schwab Challenge a week ago, but he quickly moved to prove that such a negative was an anomaly at his next appointment.
That was the 36-hole US Open qualifier at Lambton Golf & County Club in Canada ahead of the Canadian Open, which was played across Toronto.
There, Parry did not disappoint, claiming a return to the US Open – one of the four majors and among the biggest and most prestigious events in professional golf – for the first time since 2015.
And he had to hold his nerve to book his spot, prevailing in a play-off that saw compatriots Matt Wallace and Jordan Smith, plus American Ryder Cup star Max Homa, eliminated.
Parry opened with a round of 69 at Lambton and needed a strong second round to force his way into the reckoning for the six spots available in the field for the upcoming US Open at Shinnecock Hills, New York.
This he managed with a 65 to post a six-under-par total that was bettered by only three players, the Argentinian Emiliano Grillo among them.
The Harrogate GC member went into an eight-man play-off for the remaining three spots and prevailed, with Wallace, Smith and Homa among the fallers.
This will be the second consecutive major Parry has contested after making the cut but finishing down the field at last month’s PGA Championship at Aronimink.
Parry – who sits 96th on the FedEx Cup standings with the top 100 at the end of the season retaining their cards – first qualified for the US Open in 2013, then again in 2015.
Among the big names who failed to reach Shinnecock across the eight qualifying sites were former US Open winners Lucas Glover and Webb Simpson, fellow major winner Jason Dufner, Tony Finau, Brandt Snedeker, Cam Davis, Matt Kuchar and Ian Poulter’s son Luke.
At the Canadian open, Parry failed to make the cut after shooting two over, with American Bud Cauley going on to take the title from another Yorkshireman, Matt Fitzpatrick.