SANTA CRUZ — Wave by wave, foursomes made their way to the scorer’s table on Wednesday afternoon to sign off their scorecards. They did so with smiles on their faces and a bounce in their step.
This, after battling for five hours on pristinely manicured Pasatiempo Golf Club, the unforgiving and heralded gem of legendary golf course architect Alister MacKenzie.
All of them started their day with intentions of proving themselves worthy of moving one step closer to hallowed ground — Shinnecock Hills Golf Club Southampton, N.Y., site of this year’s U.S. Open. — and most of them had their dreams crushed, some quicker than others on the par-70 layout. Still, they smiled.
Former Santa Cruz High and San Jose State standout Isaac Weintraub chips onto Pasatiempo’s first hole during the U.S. Open Local Qualifying on Wednesday. Weintraub shot par on the hole, (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Most of them concealed the agony of a lost opportunity at the Local Qualifying tournament, one of at 110 held in U.S., Canada and Mexico. Instead, they gushed to USGA officials, and this reporter, about an dream realized.
Jack Rahon, of Orange, was among them. He called his round a bucket-list experience.
“This is a world-renowned course and the fact I could play a U.S. Open qualifier here is awesome,” said Rahon, who completed his collegiate golf career at Seattle University in 2023. “It was one of my favorite courses ever.”
Only six players in the field of 77 live in Santa Cruz County. The majority of players came from up and down the state. And for 15 others, their journey was significantly further. The field included golfers from Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Illinois, and Michigan, among others.
And for a lucky few — the five low scorers — the outing was even better: They advanced to the next stage, Final Qualifying.
Amateur Jay Leng Jr., of San Diego, and Rahon shot 4-under-par 66 to share medalist honors. Manav Shah, of Bakersfield, and amateur Jackson Suh, of San Francisco, each shot 68, and Andrea Topping, of Magalia, shot 69 to advance.
Topping survived a playoff with Noah Norton of Alpharetta, Georgia, and Christian Castillo of El Dorado Hills to secure the final spot to the next stage. Norton is the first alternate for the site and Castillo is the second.
Brant Schenk, of Santa Cruz, sinks his putt on Pasatiempo Golf Club’s first green on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Chris Audi, of San Fransisco, hits his second shot on the 10th hole at Pasatiempo Golf Club on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Casey Ramback, of Aptos, tees off on the second hole during U.S. Open Local Qualifying at Pasatiempo Golf Club on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Santa Cruz’s Isaac Weintraub and his brother Eli enjoy some time together as Eli caddies for Isaac on Wednesday at the U.S. Open Local Qualifying at Pasatiempo Golf Club. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Austin Hardman, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, does a bit of landscaping as he gets out of trouble on the first hole on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Lucius Niesen, of Scotts Valley, hits his tee shot on the 10th hole at U.S. Open Local Qualifying at Pasatiempo Golf Club on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Former Pasatiempo Golf Club assistant pro Bobby Kent hits his first tee shot on Wednesday during U.S. Open Local Qualifying. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Brant Schenk, of Santa Cruz, hits his tee shot on the second hole at U.S. Open Local Qualifying at Pasatiempo Golf Club on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Lucius Niesen, of Scotts Valley, tries to will his ball to curve toward the green on Pasatiempo Golf Club’s 10th hole during U.S. Open Local Qualifying on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Former Santa Cruz High and San Jose State standout Isaac Weintraub chips onto Pasatiempo’s first hole during the U.S. Open Local Qualifying on Wednesday. Weintraub shot par on the hole, (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
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Brant Schenk, of Santa Cruz, sinks his putt on Pasatiempo Golf Club’s first green on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Scotts Valley High freshman Lucius Niesen turned in the top finish of the local contingent. He finished his round with a birdie on hole No. 9 for an even-par 70, one stroke shy of making the playoff. He finished in a five-way tie for eighth place.
Aptos’ Jacob Holmes (71) tied for 13th and amateur Ryan Slater (72), a MVC School and USC alum, tied for 19th.
Watsonville’s Isaac Weintraub, a former Santa Cruz and San Jose State standout, and Aptos amateur Casey Ramback each shot 75 and tied for 33rd.
Santa Cruz’s Kyle Nelson (76) tied for 41st and Santa Cruz amateur Brant Schenk (83) took 69th.
For the some of the Pasatiempo newcomers, who played it for the first time earlier this week, Wednesday’s qualifier was about more than a score and top-five placing, it was about an experience.
Rahon shelled out $330 to play the course for the first time Tuesday in a practice round. It was money well spent; he mapped the course well.
“It paid off today, because I played pretty solid today,” he said.
Brant Schenk, of Santa Cruz, hits his tee shot on the second hole at U.S. Open Local Qualifying at Pasatiempo Golf Club on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Rahon made short birdie putts on hole Nos. 7-9 to jump-start his round.
“Iron play was dialed in,” said Rahon, 26, who works part time at an accounting firm and part-time at Anaheim Hills Golf Club.
His putter was also on point. He made a 20-foot putt for birdie on No. 12 and 15-footer from off the green on No. 14.
His lone bogey came on the par-3 15th hole.
Rahon said he doesn’t get to hit a ton of balls, but makes sure its quality of quantity when he does.
“I like to keep my body fresh,” he said. “I make sure each ball I hit is fully focused, full pre-shot routine.”
Leng Jr., a sophomore at Stanford University, played the course four times from April 12-15 for the Western Intercollegiate. He turned in a bogey-free performance. He also birdied holes Nos. 7-9 and did the same on No. 13.
Shah, who completed his collegiate career a decade ago at UCLA, turned in some amazing shots, too. He also birded Nos. 7 and 8, and carded eagle on the par-5 ninth hole, which checks in 492 yards from the tips. He survived bogeys on Nos. 10 and 18.
Suh, a former tennis player at Cal who hails from Issaquah, Washington, and transitioned to competitive amateur golf, is a member at Olympic Club.
Santa Cruz’s Isaac Weintraub and his brother Eli enjoy some time together as Eli caddies for Isaac on Wednesday at the U.S. Open Local Qualifying at Pasatiempo Golf Club. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
He started on No. 10 and made the turn at 2-under, but took a triple-bogey 7 on No. 1. He rebounded and shot 3-under over his final eight holes, carding birdies on hole Nos. 2, 4, and 6.
“It means a lot,” said Suh, 27, of advancing. “First U.S. Open sectionals, so I’m super excited. Today’s round was pretty spotless until I got a ball stuck in a tree on the 10th hole, made triple. I thought I was out of it, but I bounced back really nicely with three birdies and got it done.”
Suh did a mental reset after his blowup on No. 1.
“I definitely should’ve been a lot more mad than I was,” he said. “But then I looked around and I was like, ‘This is a pretty special course, so lets have some fun.’ ”
Suh said his difficult chip on No. 8 helped secure a clutch par and set him up for a stress-free finishing hole on No. 9. “That was big,” he said.
Suh played Pasatiempo for the first time Tuesday and credited a member in his practice round for helping the cause, strategically.
He cherished both rounds. “It was awesome,” he said. “I’ll definitely be coming back her a lot. I’ve heard of it forever and have been meaning to come down for so long, but haven’t made the trip. I’ll definitely be making the trip pretty often now.”
Magalia, a small logging town north of Chico, doesn’t have a golf course, so Topping, who works at Brambles Golf Course in Middletown, commutes to Redding and Red Bluff to get his work in.
Austin Hardman, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, does a bit of landscaping as he gets out of trouble on the first hole on Wednesday. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)
He played Pasatiempo four times over the past month to prepare for qualifying. His round featured four birdies and three bogeys.
Topping, 35, who played at University of Hawaii and helps coach at Simpson University, believes the pins were in tricky positions to compensate for the receptive, but still tricky, sloped greens, which were punched and sanded last month and still had some residual sand.
He made a 30-foot putt for birdie on No. 1 — his 10th hole — but it was his approach shot from behind a tree on the right side that he cherished.
He hit a cut shot with a 7-iron into the wind, 160 yards uphill, to land in a good spot on the green. “It set me up for that (putt),” he said.
He three-putted No. 9 for bogey, which landed him in the playoff, but rated his putting as a “B+.”
“My caddie and I, we told each other, ‘Lets just enjoy the fact we have the privilege to be on Alister MacKenzie’s course for the USGA.’ Bad greens or not, this was definitely a top-10 moment.”
Scotts Valley’s Niesen tied for 43rd in his first attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open last year at the Preserve Golf Club in Carmel. He fared significantly better on his home course, with another year of experience.
He finished with three bogeys and three birdies, two of which came on his final four holes. His late push came up just short.
“I think some of the pins were pretty tough, they were pretty tucked, but most of them were pretty fair,” Niesen said. “This golf course, the greens are obviously super sloped, but I don’t think they put a lot of pins out there what were completely unfair.”
Niesen has played Pasatiempo pretty much since he started walking, but never in a USGA event.
“It was an amazing experience,” he said. “I just tried to trust my own game and trust my knowledge of the course. I didn’t try to force anything really. I just tried my best to play my game.”
THE LEADERBOARD
T1, Jay Leng Jr. (a), San Diego, 66
T1, Jack Rahon, Orange, 66
T3, Manav Shah, Bakersfield, 68
T3, Jackson Suh (a), San Francisco, 68
T5, Andrea Topping, Magalia, 69