Sagstrom to face Coughlin in Shadow Creek final

BROOKLINE, Mass. – World top-five players Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas were all among those to break par in Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Open. Adam Hadwin shot 4-under 66 in the afternoon to take the solo lead. Scattered across the first page of the leaderboard at The Country Club, though, are some lesser-known names who haven’t jockeyed for a PGA TOUR title in quite some time, if at all. It’s part of the U.S. Open’s mystique, as the world’s elite compete on the same playing field as dozens who earned their tee times via 36-hole Final Qualifying. The Country Club, after all, is where 20-year-old amateur Francis Ouimet beat British stalwarts Harry Vardon and Ted Ray at the 1913 U.S. Open. Here’s a look at four lesser-known names in the mix after Thursday’s opening round. MJ Daffue (3-under 67) The South African met two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen when he was in middle school, and the two remain close. Now after making a late decision to attempt U.S. Open qualifying due to crossing the fail-safe points threshold to secure his first PGA TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour, Daffue (sounds like Duffy) is on the leaderboard at The Country Club. He played collegiately at Lamar University, turned pro in 2012, and after a series of agonizing misses at Second Stage of Q-School, he earned guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour starts for the first time via Final Stage Q-School last fall. Money has been tight at times for the 33-year-old, who has admittedly battled depression amidst job uncertainty and loss – in 2013, his now-wife Kamie’s mom Jill tragically passed away after tripping on a street corner and being struck by a car. “My life is really good,” Daffue said after the opening round. “I have a great family, and everybody is healthy, and I think just being grateful for things has really given me a step back, and looking from the outside in … eventually, this is just a game. “We’re playing against the best in the world,” he added, “and this is just a privilege to be here.” Callum Tarren (3-under 67) The Englishman played collegiately at Radford University in Virginia and bounced around on various smaller tours before earning Korn Ferry Tour status via the No. 1 spot on the 2018 PGA TOUR China Order of Merit. He returned to Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in 2019, where after losing his swing during a 7-over 42 on the second nine of his opening round, he carded a final-round 65 to earn guaranteed starts on the number. After missing the cut at the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season-ending Pinnacle Bank Championship last August, Tarren flew home for the birth of his first child, daughter Sofia. He made it just in time, spent a couple days at home in England, and flew back to the U.S. for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, where he secured his PGA TOUR card. He secured his spot at The Country Club via Final Qualifying in Toronto, where he played in a twosome with Brandon Hagy. They completed the second round in 2 hours, 55 minutes, returning Tarren to a comfort zone of playing speedy rounds as a kid. His clubs arrived in Boston a day late, but based on his early returns at Brookline, he wasn’t fazed. “I’m kind of pinching myself,” said Tarren upon realizing he shared the U.S. Open lead through the morning wave Thursday. “Just excited with my start, and let’s see what the next few days hold.” David Lingmerth (3-under 67) The Swede and former University of Arkansas golfer wasted no time after earning his TOUR card via the 2012 Korn Ferry Tour. He recorded two runners-up as a TOUR rookie in 2013, and won the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday in 2015. For the former junior hockey standout, though, the golf game had fallen on hard times. Lingmerth hasn’t recorded a top-10 finish on TOUR since July 2017, and he has battled myriad injuries in his quest to recapture past form. He herniated two discs in his neck in 2017, and fractured his kneecap during a pickup hockey game in 2019. “There have been some tough days, not going to lie, and you start asking yourself those questions,” Lingmerth said. “But I’m pretty stubborn, and I’m not one to give up. Deal with the fact that I am where I am today, and I’ve just try to get better every day.” Lingmerth recently started working with coach Mark McCann – who also works with TOUR veteran Russell Knox – near his home base in northeast Florida. He’s optimistic, and early returns at Brookline suggest he’s on the right path. Hayden Buckley (2-under 68) The native of Tupelo, Mississippi, played at the University of Missouri on a 2 percent scholarship, essentially as a walk-on. Buckley’s junior golf results failed to attract buzz across the Division I landscape, but positive word-of-mouth reviews led Missouri coach Mark Leroux to offer him a spot on the team without seeing him hit a single shot. With a homemade swing, Buckley channeled an underdog mentality into a successful career as a Tiger, ultimately earning third team All-American honors as a senior in 2017-18. The same underdog mentality served Buckley well as he played the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour season on conditional status. He arrived at the LECOM Suncoast Classic in February 2021 as an alternate, and warmed up on the range Thursday morning – in the dark – without a tee time. A last-minute withdrawal provided Buckley a spot in the field, and he proceeded to win the event in a playoff and earn his first PGA TOUR card. Buckley entered the U.S. Open with just one made cut in his last seven starts, and he stands No. 112 in the FedExCup. He earned his way here, though, and is taking advantage.

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It’s not uncommon for PGA TOUR players to give their golf clubs a unique touch with custom stampings. Whether it’s their initials, family members’ names or movie quotes, the paint-filled engravings can add a special flair to their tools of the trade. While Justin Thomas’ current Titleist “621.JT” irons do have his initials stamped on the hosel, the stampings aren’t the only unique feature of the clubs. The irons are actually 1-of-1 prototypes made specifically to meet Thomas’ personal preferences. He is arguably the best iron player of the post-Tiger era, having finished no worse than sixth in Strokes Gained: Approach in each of the last six seasons. His iron-play prowess was on full display in his victory at last year’s THE PLAYERS. After flirting with the cut line Friday afternoon, Thomas shot 64-68 on the weekend while displaying full control of his ballstriking. He hit the first 17 greens in the final round, as well. He used a set of stock Titleist 620 MB (muscleback) irons here last year. Those clubs were released to the public in 2019. The blade-style construction of the stock 620 MB blades featured thin soles, thin toplines, compact shapes and little offset. The problem is, however, that Thomas doesn’t want “little” offset; he wants none. As a reminder, the term “offset” refers to how far the leading edge of the face sits behind the hosel. By general rule, the more offset an iron has, the it is to square the face at impact. Many TOUR pros use irons with reduced offset to avoid hooking the ball too much, whereas amateurs tend to use irons with more offset to reduce their slice. Most golfers, though, even on the PGA TOUR, use some semblance of offset to add forgiveness. But not Thomas. Although Thomas helped provide Titleist with early feedback on the 620 MB irons, as Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck explains below, he would have his gamer irons bent to remove any offset. “The biggest thing is we’re always trying to work with our TOUR pros on finding things that will help them play better,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “Justin’s been an important part of that feedback loop in our development of muscleback irons over the years. Throughout his career with Titleist, we’ve taken his feedback, talking to him about sole design, toe shape, etc. So, as we brought (620 MB) prototypes to him, he was able to provide feedback and he really allowed us to move that into what became the 620 MB. Based on what we looked at over time, one of the facets he likes is no offset. Not a little offset, but none. Literally zero offset, so the leading edge and the hosel are in-line with each other. That’s obviously not something preferred by all players, so what we were doing for the 620 MBs for him was bending the offset out.” The offset modifications helped provide the look and performance that Thomas needed, and he used the purposely-bent 620 MB irons to win at TPC Sawgrass last year. Bending irons, however, doesn’t always create the perfect sound, feel and most elegant overall look. Unsatisfied, Titleist sought to provide Thomas with the exact irons he wanted in all facets. “We wanted to provide the best looking, best feeling and best performing irons for one of the best iron players on Tour,” Van Wezenbeeck said. That’s when Titleist and its R&D team started working closely with Thomas to develop what would eventually become the 621.JT irons. They built a number of prototypes with differing shapes, soles, CG (center of gravity) placements, and offset to determine what truly suits Thomas’ preferences. What they settled on were irons that were essentially identical to the original 620 MB irons in terms of overall shaping, sole grinds, materials (1020 carbon), and grooves. The only true difference is the 621.JT irons have zero offset, which is just how the defending PLAYERS champ likes them. “They came to me and said let’s create (a set of irons), anything that you want to change,” Thomas told PGATOUR.COM. “Obviously I loved it, everything about (my irons) already, but the changes are so minor. … It just was about getting the best feeling iron, the best sounding iron. It’s one of those clubs that obviously you have to hit it properly for it to be that way, but one of those ones where you kind of hear it and you turn around like, ‘What is that?’…They look awesome.” Thomas started using the new 621.JT irons at the 2021 CJ CUP @ SUMMIT in November 2021, and he still has them in the bag this week to defend his title at THE 2022 PLAYERS Championship. While he is looking for his first win since last year’s PLAYERS, Thomas is ranked 26th in this season’s FedExCup thanks to four top-10s in six starts.

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