Harold Varner III narrowly misses qualifying for US Open, a hurdle of his own choosing
Harold Varner III will spend the next month at home in Charlotte, a welcome respite from his new globe-trotting life on the LIV Tour, a chance to spend some time with his 18-month-old toddler.
It’s not bad, but he would rather have been away, on the other side of the country. Varner missed qualifying for the U.S. Open on Monday, two three-putts and a missed birdie putt on his 36th hole at Old Chatham Golf Club away from a trip to Los Angeles in a week.
“I wanted to play,” Varner said. “And when you really want something…”
Varner didn’t have to go through this a year ago, when his performance on the PGA Tour earned him a spot in Brookline. He’s still playing every bit as well as he was then, but his circumstances and surroundings have changed.
When he made the choice to leave the PGA Tour, with its many paths to the U.S. Open, for the Saudi-fueled LIV Tour last September, he put himself in the same position as all the non-elite PGA pros, mini-tour grinders, up-and-coming amateurs and one 15-year-old Broughton freshman who were all battling it out across the country for a ticket to Los Angeles Country Club.
There were 74 hopefuls at Old Chatham on Monday, playing for five spots and two alternates. (Nine saw the writing on the scorecard and quit after the first 18 holes.) Varner was unambiguously the most famous of the bunch, although Raleigh’s Doc Redman, a former Old Chatham caddie and the 2017 U.S. Amateur champion, may be more famous on the property.
Through 12 holes on the day’s second 18, Varner was comfortably in contention at 7-under par. Then a whole bunch of players shot past him into double-digits and his birdie try on his final hole came up inches short. He ended up three shots back, so at least that miss wasn’t the margin. He finished at 8-under; it took 11-under to qualify.
Patrick Cover, a former UNC Wilmington golfer from Charlotte, secured a spot. Redman ended up in a four-way playoff for the second alternate spot at 9-under. UNC’s Dylan Menente was six back at 5-under. Chesson Hadley finished eight back. And Smith Summerlin, the 15-year-old from Raleigh, missed by a lot more than that, but wasn’t complaining.
“I’ve played in a bunch of junior tournaments, but I’m realizing how good the pros really are,” Summerlin said. “It’s pretty incredible the shots they can hit. I learned a lot about decision-making. It’s a lot different than junior golf.”
These are the fine margins of qualifying, a random and pitiless affair unlike any other golf tournament, with no prizes for eighth place and beyond, that Varner knew he would have to surmount. Unlike some of his compatriots, Varner has been clear-eyed and unambiguous in his reasons for joining LIV. He did it for the money, period, end of story. None of that “growing the game” or “challenging the power structure of the PGA Tour” nonsense for him.
Perennially and perpetually on the verge of his first PGA Tour win, in his prime, the Gastonian did the math and jumped at a chance to secure generational wealth for his family. HV3 was looking out for No. 1, or more accurately, Nos. HV4 and a potential HV5 and so on. Varner had a price and LIV met it, and he was willing to live with the consequences. This is one of them: a 36-hole marathon on a Monday against a bunch of guys who don’t have millions in the bank, almost all of them with a lot more to lose than Varner.
Had he stayed on the PGA Tour, and played the way he’s played since leaving, Varner would surely have found one exemption or another into the U.S. Open field — he made it last year based on his Official World Golf Ranking, and thanks to a pair of top-30 finishes at the first two majors, nearly made it in via that route again regardless. Instead, he was among 14 LIV players out here on the fringes, trying to fight their way in, and nearly did in this first U.S. Open final qualifier played in North Carolina since 1979.
It is not likely the last. With the field full of Korn Ferry players from this weekend’s UNC Health Championship in Raleigh, it makes too much sense not to let them stick around town, and Old Chatham’s growing reputation within USGA circles makes it a natural spot.
In that previous one, played at two courses in Charlotte, Arnold Palmer had to fight his way through qualifying, 15 years removed from his most recent Open title. (He did, and finished tied for 59th at the Inverness Club.) Palmer held his tongue that Monday when it came to his opinion of complicated rules that went against him. Varner might have had the same gripe 44 years later, but had no complaints.
“No, hell no,” Varner said. “That’s what it’s all about. I love it. I enjoy it. I thrive on it. I’ve done it once. I’ll do it again. I’m still playing well, so it doesn’t take away any of that.”
He exchanged numbers with one of his playing partners, made an urgent request for a beer and departed, back to his new life, similar and yet so different from the other 68 players at Old Chatham who also won’t be playing in the U.S. Open. None of them cashed checks at the Masters and PGA Championship, but they’re all taking the next major off.
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This story was originally published June 6, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Harold Varner III narrowly misses qualifying for US Open, a hurdle of his own choosing."
