Maryland Golfers McCarthy and Hurley III at the 116th US Open Championship
Denny McCarthy, the former outstanding area amateur from Rockville, now a professional playing out of Jupiter, Florida, and Billy Hurley, III, from Annapolis, missed the cut in the 116th U.S. Open Championship, currently under way at Oakmont Country Club in suburban Pittsburgh. McCarthy played the last 29 holes in 2 over par to finish 76-72–148, while Hurley finished 78-75–153. The cut fell at 146.
After the completion of his second round, McCarthy said, “There were no rain delays and I played really well [2 over par]. Overall, it’s just a hard course and really, really, really demanding. It just requires every part of your game. You have to play really good golf just to make pars. It’s just so difficult. When you get a decent birdie look, you feel like you have to make it because they don’t come along very often. So, an uphill look from 15-20 feet, even with a foot of break, you feel as though you have to make it. It’s tough because you know you’re not going to get many opportunities. You’ll get some with quality shots but you’re not going to get that many. . .which is why the course plays so difficult.”
What will he take away from the experience?
“I know I can play in these conditions. I proved it last year at Chambers Bay [U.S. Open, made the cut]. The second round, I played really solid — good composure. I was 2 over and it could have been 2 under. It’s just really hard to convert the opportunities, tough to make it happen.”
Up next will be the second half of the Web.com Tour as he works and learns through his first year as a professional.
Of his opening 76, he said, “I really didn’t play that badly — a few bad swings. I got in trouble a few times and it’s easy to make big numbers. Two early doubles [and 5 over after seven holes], dug a hole and clawed my way back. After something like that, you just have to keep hitting shots — the same mindset. It’s more of a pride thing. I didn’t want to throw up an 80; I just wanted to get through the round and finish strong and that’s what I did.”
Of Thursday’s 6:45 a.m. start, he declared, “It’s tough. I had never hit the first tee shot in any tournament before, let alone the U.S. Open. I played nine holes Wednesday, and was out of there by 2 in the afternoon and made sure I got my rest. I was back about 5:10 a.m. and started my warm-up routine about 5:45. After those early holes, I played some really good golf coming down the stretch and I take that into the second round. As for the rain delays, they didn’t change anything. You deal with them the same way you did in the juniors or as an amateur.”
At the completion of his second round, Hurley said, “I just hit it in too many bunkers, too many pitchouts and everything like that. The short turnaround [Hurley did not play Thursday, then played two rounds Friday] did not make a difference. I thought the preparation of the golf course did. It changed between rounds and it was tough to adjust to and left us guessing in the afternoon.
Asked about Thursday’s delay, he replied, ” The challenge wasn’t the delay, the challenge was just the golf course changed from the last time I saw it on Wednesday. It’s a totally different golf course right now.
[Instead of dry and firm, it was recovering from the rainstorm. All of a sudden you are trying to adjust to stuff you haven’t practiced. That was the challenge and I didn’t do very well with it. The quick turnaround is not a big deal, it’s trying to do it better. I wasn’t very good this morning so I’ve got to do a lot better this afternoon.”