One of the most improbable entrants in the 2009 U.S. Open serves as a testament to Woody Allen’s observation that 80 percent of success is just showing up.
Matt Nagy, a member of the Kennesaw State golf team, played the round of his life in a sectional qualifier at Hawk’s Ridge in Ball Ground to earn one of three spots in the Open.
But is wasn’t so much how well Nagy played to qualify for the U.S. Open as how he arrived at his opportunity.
Nagy, a Buena Vista resident who has played two years at Kennesaw after compiling an excellent junior record in the state, tied for seventh in the local qualifier at Pinetree Country Club, which is located about a driver and a wedge from the college campus.
With nine players from the local qualifier advancing to sectionals, Nagy and five others headed to a playoff. A seventh golfer, mini tour player Jay McLuen of Athens, also shot 69 but was long gone by the time the playoff was held.
Two players birdied the first playoff hole to advance. Another birdied the third extra hole to get the final spot, while another player parred the hole to earn first alternate status. That left Nagy and the other remaining player to decide the second alternate spot, typically a meaningless exercise.
With no remaining daylight, the two players battled for four holes until Nagy emerged as the winner with a par in the dark on the seventh playoff hole.
That gave Nagy the slightest sliver of status for sectional qualifying, and after a very short night of sleep, he awoke early and placed a call to the pro shop at Hawk’s Ridge. He was advised to come on up and see what happens, and decided to make the trip to Ball Ground, a tiny community in north Cherokee County near Canton.
Nagy and an alternate from another qualifier were both on site, but thanks to the convoluted system used by the USGA to determine such matters, Nagy was ahead of the other guy and was the first alternate. The first alternate from the Pinetree qualifier, Nationwide Tour player Zoran Zorkic, lives in Houston, and fortunately for Nagy, had signed up for another sectional qualifier.
In order to play, Nagy needed one of the 43 entrants at Hawk’s Ridge to fail to show up. He didn’t make the effort to warm up, figuring he wasn’t going to get to play.
About midway through the tee times, however, Nagy got the word that there was a no show and he was cleared to play. Recent Georgia graduate Brian Harman, who was exempt into sectional qualifying thanks to his selection to the 2005 Walker Cup team, did not make it to Hawks Ridge, reportedly because he thought the qualifier was the next day.
Without warming up, Nagy headed to the 10th tee to join Nationwide Tour player John Kimbell and Georgia Tech signee Seth Reeves.
Nagy made it through the first 18 holes in respectable fashion, shooting 1-under 71. However, he trailed 14 players, and with two 66s and five 67s on the board after the morning round, his hopes were the proverbial slim and none.
With a few minutes to kill before the start of the second round, Nagy headed to the range and evidently found something. Or so he thought.
He pushed his opening tee shot, but followed with what he described as “my best shot of the day,” an approach to 6 feet which he holed for birdie.
Nagy thought a 65 might be good enough to qualify, and after 12 holes, had carded five more birdies and was 6-under for the round.
Instead of basking in his hot round, Nagy said he “told myself I was three-over and needed to fight to get back to par.”
Three more birdies followed, and when Nagy signed his scorecard, the numbers added up to 63. Nine pars. Nine birdies.
Nagy tied PGA Tour veteran Matt Kuchar for medalist honors at 10-under 134, with Kuchar posting scores of 66-68. Recent Georgia Tech standout Cameron Tringale was third qualifier at 135 (67-69), two strokes clear of the next lowest finishers.
“This is the best feeling ever,” said Nagy, who was just starting to grasp the fact that he was going to be teeing it up the following week against the best players in the world.
Nagy has played well in his two seasons at Kennesaw, but will be one of the lesser known collegiate players in the Open field, along side standouts from Clemson, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Florida and recent NCAA champion Texas A&M.
His junior career included runner-up finishes in both the Georgia PGA and GSGA junior championships, but Nagy never was as big a name in state junior circles as Harman, whose failure to show up resulted in the biggest break of Nagy’s golfing career.
Three of the most prominent names in the field at Hawks Ridge tied for sixth in the qualifier at 138.
Acworth’s Jason Bohn, who endured several unpleasant back operations after qualifying at Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek for the ’08 U.S. Open, shot 64 in the second round, but an opening 74 doomed his chances.
Fellow PGA Tour player Billy Andrade shot 71-67, but instead of heading to Memphis for that week’s tour stop, was scheduling an MRI to have a painful spot in his ribs looked at.
Former Georgia PGA member Kris Blanks withdrew from the Nationwide Tour event in the Washington, D.C., area the day before so he would not have to play 36 holes on consecutive days, but rounds of 70-68 at Hawk’s Ridge were not good enough.
Cherokee CC assistant Kevin Roman, the lone Georgia PGA member in the field, fired a second round 66, but came up short at 139. Also shooting 139 were Atlanta native Ned Michaels (68-71) and Nationwide Tour player Blake Adams of Eatonton (71-68). A few days later, Adams shot 63 in the first round of the Nationwide Tour event in Knoxville.
Kimbell, one of Nagy’s playing partners, shot 67 in the morning, but withdrew midway through the second round, He had walked 63 holes the previous two days in the Nationwide Tour event, and is suffering from a painful foot injury.
Qualifying outside Georgia for the Open were tour players Chris Kirk of Woodstock and Augusta’s Cortland Lowe. Kirk, who also qualified for the Open last year, got the final spot in a playoff outside Washington, D.C., while Lowe earned medalist honors in Dayton with scores of 62-68—130. Earlier this year, Lowe qualified for the PGA Tour event in San Diego and made the cut.
Among the state’s PGA Tour players who failed to qualify for the Open were Davis Love, Jonathan Byrd, Heath Slocum, Troy Matteson, Vaughn Taylor and Charles Howell.
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