Leonard back in U.S. Open field

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

After three years of coming up short in qualifying, Justin Leonard earned a return to the U.S. Open.

The 1997 British Open champion, who has won 12 times on the PGA Tour but not since 2008, was among the 16 players at the Columbus site who qualified for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst June 12-15.

“It’ll be fun,” said Leonard, who’ll turn 42 on the day of the Open’s final round.

“And Pinehurst is one of my favorites, so a little extra incentive there.”

Leonard was co-medalist through 36 holes on Monday at Brookside and Scioto. He tied for 15th at the Open in Pinehurst in 1999 when Payne Stewart won and tied for 23rd in the 2005 championship won by Michael Campbell.

Missing another shot at making the field was Boardman resident Garrett Frank. He shot rounds of 79 and 72 at Springfield Country Club’s qualifier.

Brian Stuard won one of three spots there by going shooting 64 and 65. Chris Thompson and amateur Will Grimmer were the other two to qualify.

Among the more notable names to qualify were Bo Van Pelt, Mark Wilson, Kevin Tway and Luke Guthrie, South Korea’s Seung-Yul Noh and Hyung Sung Kim, Australia’s Aaron Baddeley and Rod Pampling and England’s Paul Casey.

Playing 18 holes on each of two difficult courses after playing four rounds nearby at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, Baddeley said it’s a grueling way to spend what is usually a day off.

“To come out and play good is a bonus,” he said after tying for 37th at the Memorial on Sunday.

“I played really nice last week. I made like a million birdies. I just made way too many bogeys.”

Pampling had played Pinehurst when it hosted the U.S. Open in 2005.

“But not for many days,” he said with a laugh.

“I saw the hay a lot. Hopefully there’s not as much hay. I guess it’s changed a lot from the last time. It wasn’t an enjoyable experience. I’m looking for something different this time.”