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There will be plenty of 25-year-olds caddying for their mates on Monday at one of 10 US Open finalists across the country.
One of them happened to be a four time PGA Tour winner.
yesterday PGA Tour winner.
After winning the Memorial Tournament Sunday night, Victor Hovland marked Monday morning for a day of repeating for his friend and former Oklahoma State teammate Zack Paocho. Hovland — clad in an untucked T-shirt, black shorts and a pair of battered sneakers — arrived at the final US Open qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, hours (maybe minutes) after celebrating the biggest win of his life. But there will be no celebration on Monday, at least until Hovland helps Paushu reach one of the coveted 11 spots in the national championships next week. (Aside: We’ll go out on a limb and say no fund has ever won $3.6 million the day before a 36-hole circuit.)
Paocho is one of 108 Columbus players vying for 11 spots at the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club. Brookside Golf and Country Club, the site of today’s playoffs, is just 15 minutes from Muirfield Village, where Hovland survived rough conditions on Sunday to beat Denny McCarthy in a playoff and win the Memorial.
In recent years, proximity to the memorial has turned the Columbus qualifier into a hotbed for non-exempt PGA Tour professionals. Last year, Rickie Fowler and Matt Wolfe were two of the biggest names to try their luck at Brookside, although neither player qualified on Monday after Muirfield Village.
But Hovland’s qualifying feat is more impressive than any of the aforementioned qualifying matches because Hovland comes less than 15 hours after the biggest win of his life. According to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, the duo had dinner Tuesday night in Columbus and Paocho “bitched” the idea of having a Hoovland loop for him in the qualifiers. Hofland accepted.
Of course, Hovland had no idea he would be the last man standing on Sunday in Muirfield Village. But apparently no reason, not even a life changing win, was enough to let down one of his teammates on the 2018 NCAA Championship winning Oklahoma State team.
Bauchou did not meet Hovland’s success after they (along with Wolff) left OSU to turn pro in the summer of 2019. Bauchou, the current world number 1859, holds no status on the PGA or Korn Ferry Tours. His final start on the PGA Tour was in April at the Mexico Open, but resulted in a missed cut.
Paocho’s career at Oklahoma State came to an unofficial end when the 2019 NCAA Tournament Semifinal game had extra holes against Stephen Chervone of Texas. Bauchou’s three-footer to extend the match on the first extra hole spun 180 degrees around the hole and popped out to eliminate Oklahoma State.
But there’s a chance some of those bad memories can be erased in Columbus on Monday, especially if Hovland can help Paocho secure a spot in the LACC. Then Bauchou’s attention will turn to finding Looper for the US Open, because last we checked, Hovland already had plans this week.