The feel-good story of the US PGA Championship won't get an encore at the US Open.
Michael Block, the 46-year-old club professional who tied for 15th last month at Oak Hill Country Club, narrowly missed out on making the field for this month's major championship at Los Angeles Country Club.
Competing in a 36-hole qualifier in Toronto on Monday, Block finished sixth of 27 players but needed to make the top three to earn his spot in the US Open.
Block shot rounds of 69 and 66 to go five under at Lambton Golf & Country Club. That was two spots off the third and final guaranteed place, and one shot behind Harry Hall of England and Jimmy Walker, two PGA Tour players who were named alternates.
Ryan Gerard finished first on 11 under, with Vincent Norrman of Sweden and Ryan Armour grabbing the second and third spots.
Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo in California, moved his entry from the Los Angeles-area qualifier to Toronto because he received a sponsor's exemption to compete in the RBC Canadian Open later this week.
His 18-year-old son Dylan finished 10 over at the qualifier at Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles.
The "longest day" will carry into a second day, as the final qualifying berths in LA still must be determined.
Three players – PGA Tour regular Charley Hoffman, Josh Anderson and amateur Preston Summerhays – will compete for two US Open berths.
Three other players already booked their spots from Hillcrest, including LIV Golf's David Puig of Spain.
The largest qualifier took place in Columbus, Ohio, given that the PGA Tour was in the area for the Memorial Tournament last weekend.
Ireland's Brian Murtagh carded an even par score of 144 to fall short of qualification, leaving a total of five Irish competitors in the field in Los Angeles - Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Seamus Power, Padraig Harrington and 2022 US Mid-Amateur champion Matthew McClean.
Olin Browne Jr, the 34-year-old son of former PGA Tour winner Olin Browne, beat out 102 other players to finish on 11 under.
Stewart Cink, who turned 50 last month, earned his way into the major with rounds of 68 and 67. He was part of a large tie for third on nine under.
Other PGA Tour players advancing from Columbus included Davis Thompson, Eric Cole, Luke Listand Patrick Rodgers.
Kevin Streelman and two amateurs, Nick Dunlap and David Nyfjall of Sweden, qualified out of a four-for-three play-off, with 2009 US Open champion Lucas Glover being the odd man out.
Canada's Taylor Pendrith made the field by finishing second at his qualifier in Springfield, Ohio.
Cameron Kuchar, the 15-year-old son of PGA Tour veteran Matt Kuchar, did not qualify after shooting consecutive rounds of 76 at his qualifier in Boynton Beach, Florida.
Matthew Wolff withdrew from the qualifier as speculation persisted about his future with LIV Golf.
Once ranked as high as 12 in the world, Wolff has not performed well of late on the Saudi-funded LIV circuit and withdrew from the most recent event before the final round.
His LIV Golf team, the Brooks Koepka-captained Smash GC, unfollowed Wolff on social media and removed his name from its social media bios.
Wolff, still just 24, burst onto the professional golf scene in 2019 and won the 3M Open that year. He tied for fourth at the 2020 US PGA Championship and finished second to Bryson DeChambeau at that year's US Open.
He took a mental health break from the PGA Tour for part of 2021 and said he was doing better when he returned.
The next year, Wolff was among the PGA Tour players who competed in LIV's debut event outside London and was suspended from the tour indefinitely. Wolff has not played any major since missing the cut at last year's Masters and US PGA Championship.
Jesse Schutte and Hong Kong amateur Alexander Yang grabbed the two qualifying spots in Lakewood in Washington.
