U.S. Open sectional qualifying results: Bryson DeChambeau goes low to get to Oakmont

When Bryson DeChambeau turned professional in April, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion traded an automatic spot in the 2016 U.S. Open for the grueling, 36-hole test of Monday’s sectional qualifying.

No problem for the PGA Tour rookie with the one-size-fits-all irons and French chapeau, who rode a hot stick to an afternoon 7-under 63 at Wedgewood Golf & CC and Kinsale Golf & Fitness Club near Columbus, Ohio. That was good enough for a tie for second with Ethan Tracy for an overall 9-under 133, one shot back of medalist Carlos Ortiz.

“It’s definitely a feeling of relief and happiness,” DeChambeau told the USGA about securing his second straight spot in the national championship, which starts next week at Oakmont. “To make it through again is not easy, especially after playing the Memorial and playing two golf courses I’ve never played before. But I hit it really well. I put the pedal to the metal.”

DeChambeau, who missed the cut at the championship last year at Chambers Bay, made eight birdies and a bogey in his second 18 after posting a 70 in the morning. His inaugural turn as a pro came at Hilton Head, a week after finishing in a tie for 21st and claiming low-amateur honors at the Masters.

Ortiz, who has made just four cuts in 16 starts on the Tour this year, got his last putt to drop on a pair of 66s just before thunderstorms forced officials to stop play Monday evening, necessitating a resumption of the contest at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Among those rising early again to vie in a six-man playoff for the five positions and first alternate spot up for grabs was former world No. 1 Luke Donald.

Donald, Scottie Scheffler, Jason Allred, Richard Schembechler II, and Patrick Rodgers earned a spot at Oakmont after Daniel Summerhays made a bogey on the second hole of overtime. Summerhays will be the first alternate from the Powell sectional.

In addition to the trio at the top of the Powell leaderboard, tour pros Brendan Steele, Spencer Levin, Kevin Streelman, Jason Kokrak, and 52-year-old Wes Short also played their way into Oakmont.

The competition at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla. (one of 10 USGA sectionals on Monday), was also hit by bad weather (Tropical Storm Colin, to be exact), which forced a stoppage of play midway through the afternoon round. Players were scheduled to continue at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

In another notable story from “golf’s longest day,” up-and-coming tour pro Tony Finau appeared to punch his ticket to Pittsburgh when he birdied his final hole in Springfield, Ohio, the par-3 ninth, to come home at 1-under 139. Then Charlie Danielson did the same and outlasted Finau in a sudden-death playoff.

Billy Hurley III was trying to get back to his third straight U.S. Open after a tragic year in which his father took his own life. After missing five of nine cuts on tour this season, the U.S. Naval Academy grad fired rounds of 67 and 68 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md., on Monday to earn medalist honors and a tee time at Oakmont.

In New Jersey, amateur Chris Crawford was one of the most improbable of six players to make it to Oakmont.

Teetering on the brink of elimination on his final hole, Crawford, with his Drexel University coach on the bag, hooked his drive on the 601-yard, par-5 18th and had to play his second shot up the adjacent fairway. After knocking a 6-iron over trees to 40 feet, he buried the birdie putt to sew up the final spot.

“It wasn’t the best way of doing it,” Crawford acknowledged, but as we all know, there are no pictures on the scorecard -- only on social media.

Here are your qualifiers from “golf’s longest day” at Monday sectionals. Keep in mind that 17 players already qualified at two abroad sectionals in Japan and England, and that a handful of alternates from the 10 U.S. sectionals may also get in depending on the world rankings at the end of this week.