June 9, 2010
Jon Curran was dreading Tuesday.
Scheduled to travel from New Jersey to Arkansas for the Hooters Tour’s Bentonville Open, Curran had a 6 a.m. flight and 10-hour drive awaiting him the day after Monday’s U.S. Open sectional qualifying event at Canoe Brook Country Club.
Thirty-seven holes later, his schedule changed dramatically. After shooting a 2-under-par 142 to tie for fourth place, Curran won the first playoff hole to earn a spot in the 110th United States Open Championship at Pebble Beach.
“[The travel schedule] was definitely on my mind, but only after I had finished,” Curran said.
A three-foot par putt was all it took to give the former Vanderbilt All-American a more favorable itinerary. After PGA Tour pro Parker McLachlin missed his par putt right, Curran did not hesitate in writing his ticket for one of golf’s four major championships.
Monday marked Curran’s third attempt at a sectional qualifying event, but his first since he turned pro last year and began earning paychecks for his golf prowess.
As easy as pros may make golf look on television, earning a living on the course is no simple task, and Curran has learned a lot in 12 months of grinding on mini tours.
“This year, I’ve missed four Nationwide Monday qualifiers in a row by one shot,” Curran said. “I came close last year in Q school. Coming down to the last round, the last few holes, I just barely missed out, and that was pretty devastating. However difficult that may have been at the time, I learned something through all of it.”
On Monday, Curran put his experience to good use and turned one good day of golf into the chance of lifetime. More than 9,000 golfers entered local qualifying events in May, but only 77 of those players will be teeing it up at Pebble Beach next week. The remainder of the Open’s 156-man field consists of players who have reached exempt status through prior results or earnings.
Without having seen the track at Pebble Beach, Curran is excited about a course that his swing instructor, Jim McLean, says should be a good matchup for his game.
Not everything in California will be unfamiliar to Curran. Friend Kevin Velardo, who caddied for Curran on Monday, will again be on the bag this week. The pair played junior golf together in Massachusetts before Velardo attended St. John’s.
“Kevin knows my game well,” Curran said. “He really knows his stuff. We’d been working on some mental things with putting, and he just casually mentioned something to me as I put my ball down for that final putt, and I just knew it was going in.”
Another familiar face at Pebble Beach will be 2007 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year and another former VU All-American, Brandt Snedeker. Snedeker made it through a sectional qualifier stacked with fellow PGA Tour pros who are in Memphis for this week’s St. Jude Classic.
Separated by a six years, the two never played together at Vanderbilt. But after a slow start to Curran’s spring season, the Massachusetts native looked to Snedeker for advice.
“He just told me to stay positive. Instead of getting hard on yourself, you have to step away every now and then and give yourself a pat on the back.
“If you miss by one shot four or five times, you’re obviously right there,” Curran added. “If you’re close to the number, you just have to stay focused on what’s going on and not on the consequences of what it could lead to.”
Curran’s first U.S. Open will be Snedeker’s fifth. The Nashville native’s best finish came in 2008 with a ninth-place result that earned him an exemption into last year’s Open.
The U.S. Open has featured a pair of Commodores two other times in past six years. Snedeker made his Open debut at Pinehurst in 2005 when then-rising junior Luke List was making his second appearance. Both players returned two years later to play at Oakmont, with Snedeker finishing 23rd his second time out.
“It is a tremendous honor for any athlete to play in their national open, but for two Vanderbilt Commodores to play in the upcoming U.S. Open at Pebble Beach is extraordinary,” VU Head Coach Tom Shaw said. “Brandt and Jon represent two of the best to ever play at Vanderbilt. It will be exciting to follow their progress at one of the country’s most beautiful courses.”
The 110th United States Open begins Thursday, June 17. A 36-hole cut will whittle the field of 156 golfers down to the low 60 scorers (and ties) and any player within 10 strokes of the leader. More than 30 hours of television coverage will be devoted to the event on ESPN and NBC.
