Former Campbell golf standout Brad Fritsch secured a place in the 2015 U.S. Open Monday by finishing in tie for seventh place at the Columbus, Ohio sectional qualifier. A 2000 Campbell graduate and current member of the Web.com Tour, Fritsch shot 69-67—136 over two rounds Monday to earn a berth in next week's Open (June 15-21) at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.
A native of Manotick, Ontario and resident of nearby Holly Springs, N.C., Fritsch will be making his second trip to the U.S. Open. He also qualified for the 2006 event.
"For one who hasn't spent a ton of time on the PGA Tour, this means a lot," said Fritsch from Cleveland, where he is preparing for this week's Web.com Tour stop at Lakewood Country Club. "When I first qualified for the open (2006), I wasn't nearly as experienced and didn't know what to expect. This year I'm going there to play well. It's gratifying to qualify, but I won't be star struck. I've played with all of those guys the last few years."
On Monday, Fritsch played two distinctly different courses in his 36-hole sectional qualifier. He started from the 10th tee in the morning at Lakes Country Club and made the turn at even par. He then hit the flag stick on his approach to the first green (his 10th hole of the day) and made five birdies over the next nine holes to finish the morning at three-under.
"It wasn't a clean round," said Fritsch. "I made some putts, but also had what I'd call sloppy bogeys. I left there thinking that I could have gone very low."
A 90-minute rain delay divided Fritsch's second round Monday at Brookside Golf and Country Club.
"It was really narrow, so I kept it between the trees," said Fritsch. "I had one birdie and 10 pars over the first 12 holes, then the rain came and that softened up the greens. I was able to be a little more aggressive down the stretch then made a couple of pars to finish."
An hour-long wait followed, leaving Fritsch to watch the scoreboard before finally knowing his trip to the Pacific Northwest was secure.
"It was a bit of a nervous time," he said, "but after a while you knew there were only so many people who could catch you."
Fritsch then drove Monday night from Columbus to Cleveland in time for a Tuesday practice round on the par-71 Lakewood Country Club, site of this week's Rust-Oleum Championship.
A two-time Academic All-American at Campbell (1999, 2000), Fritsch earned his best finish of the year (and eighth-place tie) two weekends ago at the Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh and followed with a tie for 27th (-13) at the Greater Dallas Open. He has made five of the last six cuts and moved up to 81st on the Web.com Tour money list.
While a member of the Canadian Tour, Fritsch qualified for the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y. He moved up to the Web.com tour in 2007, then played on the PGA Tour Canada in 2010 and 2011. Fritsch returned to the Web.com tour in 2012 before earning a spot on the PGA Tour in both 2013 and 2014. He won the 2014 Web.com tour qualifying tournament at 27-under-par (six rounds).
Located on Puget Sound near Tacoma, Wash., Chambers Bay features rolling fairways, towering dunes, undulating greens and unpredictable coastal winds. The traditional links land course is a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design.
Coverage is available at USOpen.com.
