Former LIV Golf teammates qualify for US Open

US Open Final Qualifying is underway – and these LIV golfers past and present have found a way in to Oakmont…

One major ends and another begins. The time difference between the Quail Hollow and Tarao Country Club is so vast that the Japan leg of US Open Final Qualifying had started before Scottie Scheffler had been crowned the 107th PGA champion.

There were a number of familiar names competing at Tarao, which is in the Shiga prefecture near Osaka, including DP World Tour regular Jazz Janewattananond and Japan Tour legend Ryo Ishikawa – who is somehow still only 33 years old.

With only three spots up for grabs in next month’s US Open at Oakmont, it was all to play for in the 36-hole qualifier.

And it was Yuta Sugiura who carded the best score of the afternoon rounds to take top spot. The World No.190, who plays most of his golf on the Japan and Asian Tours, shot 68-66 to get in at 10-under-par.

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Sugiura was joined on that score by Scott Vincent after he went 67-67 to reach the same target.

It will feel like something of a redemption arc for the Zimbabwean.

Now ranked 436th in the world, Vincent was once as high as 78th before he decided to join LIV Golf. He bounced around teams before becoming a regular, first with Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC and then Kevin Na’s Iron Heads.

But the 32-year-old was relegated from LIV Golf at the end of the 2024 season, replaced by Korean Yubin Yang, and has been plying his trade on the Asian Tour since.

And in a fun twist, sneaking in third place on 9-under-par was Jinichiro Kozuma, who was Vincent’s teammate on the Iron Heads last season.

Kozuma, who has missed most of this season with injury, signed for rounds of 68-67 to sneak in ahead of Rika Kawamoto, Taichi Kho and Denwit Boriboonsub.

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Final Qualifying events also took place on Monday at Bent Tree Country Club in Dallas, Texas, and Walton Heath in England.

On June 2, there will be 10 further Final Qualifying tournaments across the United States and Canada to make up the 2025 US Open field.