How did this Danville golfer, ranked 401st in the world, qualify for the U.S. Open?
It hasn’t been an easy rookie season on the PGA Tour for Redwood City native and Danville resident Kevin Velo.
But he had one of his most enjoyable moments of his golf career on Monday.
Velo shot an 8-under 132 over 36 holes at Lambton Golf & Country Club just outside of Toronto to qualify for his first major, the 125th U.S. Open, later this month at historic Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.
Velo shot a 5-under for the first 18 holes and 3-under for the final 18 as he finished as the top qualifier among 60 golfers who were competing for one of seven available spots at the site for the Open, which begins on June 12.
“To play at a historic place like Oakmont coming up, I’m super excited,” Velo told NBC Sports. “I’m going to have to change my flight plans a little bit here and book a house. But I’m extremely excited.”
Velo’s accomplishment came on what is dubbed Golf’s Longest Day, with U.S. Open qualifying events taking place all over North America. Hundreds of golfers from around the world, including several PGA Tour players, took part in marathon 36-hole events during sectional qualifying, searching for one of 47 available spots.
Any professional or amateur with a 0.4 handicap index or lower can sign up to compete for a spot at the U.S. Open.
Velo did not start focusing on golf until his early teens, and as a freshman at Monte Vista, did not make the typically deep and talented varsity or junior varsity golf teams.
But Velo put in the work, developed his game at San Ramon Golf Club and the driving range at The Bridges Golf Club, returned to tryouts as a sophomore, and qualified for the varsity team.
Velo graduated from Monte Vista High School in 2015 and San Jose State in 2019. The Spartans were the only school to offer a scholarship to Velo, who was also a standout soccer player at Monte Vista.
Now he’ll be at Oakmont, which has hosted nine U.S. Opens and counts Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Dustin Johnson, and Ernie Els among its past champions.
“I don’t really have words for it right now. It’s still a little bit of shock,” Velo said. “But it’s our national open. I mean, to have a chance to play and possibly win the U.S. Open is the best thing in the world. So, really excited.”
Velo, 27, spent last season on the Korn Ferry Tour and finished 15th on the points list to earn his PGA Tour card for this season. The highlight of his year was winning the Astara Golf Championship in Bogota, Colombia, a victory that helped propel him to the PGA Tour.
As a PGA Tour rookie, Velo’s made three of 13 cuts. His best result was a tie for eighth place at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April. Velo has $190,449 in earnings this season, is 172nd on the FedExCup list, and is 401st in the latest Official World Golf Rankings.
But he put it all together on Monday with just 10 birdies and two bogeys.
“Shooting 5-under in the first round is a great start, but you almost have more pressure coming in. You can’t go fire at everything and make bogey,” Velo said. “So we played super conservatively in an aggressive way — which doesn’t really make sense — but we took on the pins that we could in the second round, and we played at the center of greens when we couldn’t, and made a couple of birdies coming in.”
Velo is in Southern Ontario to compete in this week’s RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto.