The road to the U.S. Open is already tightening, and Tony Finau is on the wrong side of it. With the third major of the year three weeks away, the field can still be shaped two ways: by climbing into the top 60 of the Official World Golf Ranking on June 15, or by surviving U.S. Open Final Qualifying on June 8.
Finau knows what that stage can look like. He was in the final group on Sunday the last time Shinnecock Hills Golf Club hosted the U.S. Open, and he entered that final round in a four-way tie for the lead with Brooks Koepka, Daniel Berger and Dustin Johnson in 2018. He faded to a tie for fifth after bogeying three of his first four holes, but it still counted as one of his five top-five major finishes.
The problem now is not whether Finau has shown he can handle pressure at this level. It is whether he can get into the tournament at all. He remains outside the top 100 in the world ranking, a precarious place for a player who has appeared in seven consecutive U.S. Opens. Earlier this year he also failed to qualify for the Masters, ending a streak of seven straight appearances there.
His recent form has at least given him a foothold. Finau shot 67-63-69-65 to finish sixth at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, good for his first top 10 in more than a year. But the result did not move him far enough to ease the pressure, and it leaves him still dependent on a late climb or a long day on June 8.
That kind of scramble is familiar to more than one player sitting just outside the line. Ruangroj Potgieter, the reigning Rookie of the Year, is ranked 76th and is not yet in the U.S. Open. He tied for third after 36 holes at the PGA Championship before finishing outside the top 30, but he is not in the field at Colonial and is not currently qualified for the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. The picture is even tighter for the highest-ranked player not yet exempt for Shinnecock Hills, Max Greyserman.
Greyserman finished tied for ninth in Dallas, jumped only one place in the rankings, and is playing the Charles Schwab Challenge this week. He is not exempt into the Memorial Tournament next week either. Earlier this month he was tied for third through 36 holes at the PGA Championship and went on to finish tied for 14th. Across his major career, Greyserman has made five cuts in seven starts as a professional, has never finished worse than tied for 33rd when he has made the weekend, and owns three top-25 finishes in major championships.
The cutoff dates leave little room for drift. June 8 is the Longest Day in Golf, when final qualifying will decide who gets through the gate the hard way. A week later, the world-ranking list will lock in the top 60 after the RBC Canadian Open. For Finau, who is still fighting for any tee time he can get this year, the next two Sundays may matter more than the last one did.
