2 days ago
50-year-old qualifier Justin Hicks is playing bogey golf at 2025 U.S. Open
50-year-old qualifier Justin Hicks is playing bogey golf at 2025 U.S. Open
Would you take bogey golf at Oakmont this week? Here's betting most of you would.
For the actual U.S. Open participants, bogey golf is not what they have in mind but that's what 50-year-old Justin Hicks was doing Thursday in the first round.
He opened with two bogeys, then had two pars, then got back to bogey golf with a double on the fifth. three straight bogeys followed by another double had him at 9 over at the turn.
Hicks, if you were wondering, played his way into the 125th U.S. Open after being one of three medalists at a final qualifier on June 2 at Emerald Dunes Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Hicks bested the likes of Graeme McDowell, Neal Shipley, Sam Ryder and Nicolai Hojgaard to punch his ticket to Oakmont.
His only two first-nine pars came on Nos. 3 and 4. Those are the holes that are separated by the famous church pew bunkers. Throughout the history of the golf course, pews were added along the way. During Gil Hanse's work ahead of this year, he added a 13th pew.
A bogey on 10 put him at 10 over.
Justin Hicks is Bo Derek, the perfect 10. (See below) — Adam Schupak (@AdamSchupak) June 12, 2025
Hicks joined the PGA Tour in 2011 but his run mostly ended in 2016. He has played in three Tour events in 2025 before making the Open. These days he mostly teaches at Stonebridge Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida.
