Tyler Herriott, a first-year professional from Brandywine, Md., birdied the last two holes to close out a back-nine 31 and earn the medal in local U.S. Open qualifying at Hillendale Country Club, May 14. Until the late surge, he had been part of a three-way tie for the lead at 68 with professionals Thomas Bonney, Greensboro, N.C., and Joey Lane, Great Falls, Va.
With five places available for the sectional (plus two alternates), the three were joined by another professional, Sam Lyons, from Potomac, Md., and schoolboy Michael Brennan, 16, Leesburg, Va.
Five players shot 70, but only three were on hand for the playoff, which used holes No. 3-4. Matt Oshrine, an amateur from the Suburban Club in Pikesville, Md., went birdie-par to be No. 1, and Geoff Montross, a professional from TPC Potomac, went birdie-bogey (three putts) to be No. 2. Professional Sean Bosdosh, from Clarksburg, Md., medalist at Hillendale last year and seeking a fourth straight trip to the sectional site, went out at the opening playoff hole with a par.
No 13, normally a par-5, was played as a par-4 at 480 yards, making the rolling layout in northern Baltimore County play at 6,796 yards to a par of 36-35–71.
Herriott, 22, the 2016 Maryland State Amateur champion, graduated from Ohio University last year and turned pro shortly thereafter. Last year, as an amateur at Hillendale, he had 3-putt bogeys at Nos. 14-15 to fall into a tie for what turned out to be a 4-for-2 playoff for spots plus the alternates. He finished as second alternate.
This time, he birdied the opening hole and bogeyed the seventh and birdied the eighth to turn in 1-under 35. Coming back, he birdied 10 and 12, then produced a stirring finish by dropping a 15-foot putt at 17 and holing out from a bunker at 18. This last enabled him to complete a birdie sweep of the three par-5’s and advance to his first sectional on his third try.
Bonney, 26, came in wanting to atone for last year when he was 1-under going to 12 and hit it out of bounds, He made sure with birdies at 2-3-4 to set up a solid round. “The key was driving it well,” he said. “That put me in good positions and I hit a lot of greens.
Lane, 23, a Virginia Tech graduate, had three birdies on each side, a series highlighted by making three in a row at 12-13-14. He had also qualified with a 68 at Worthington Manor two years ago.
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Lyons, 29, who only recently moved to Montgomery County and is a teaching professional at Falls Road GC, was seeing the course for the first time.” You kind of had to guess on some shots,” he said. Still, he dipped 2-under on the front with a pair of short putts, then birdied 14 and bogeyed 16 coming back.
Brennan, who had qualified at Hillendale with 72 last year, and later won the Middle Atlantic Amateur in a one-hole playoff at Laurel Hill (Va.) GC. shot 35-34. The high school sophomore started birdie-birdie, added another at the eighth, then ran off seven successive pars ahead of a birdie at 17 (a 112-yard gap-wedge shot to less than a foot), which, as it turned out, enabled him to stay out of the playoff,
The area sectional will be held at Woodmont CC (North Course) on June 4, and the Open will be June 14-17, at Shinnecock Hills CC in Southampton, N.Y.
