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Olivia Sayer
Russell Henley entered the final round of the US Open tied for first before shooting 5-over in the final round. (Photo by Steven Colquitt)Courtesy Steven Colquitt / UGA Sports Comm
The University of Georgia was well represented in the U.S. Open, as seven former players — the most in the field from any university — competed in the event.
Harris English sat atop of the scoreboard for the former Bulldogs. The 2011 graduate finished tied for eighth after shooting 4-under-par. Throughout his professional career thus far, English has four PGA Tour victories, with his most recent coming in the 2021 Travelers Championship. Strong showings in both rounds one and two helped English secure his best U.S. Open finish since 2021, where he finished third.
The next highest finisher out of the Bulldog alumni was Russell Henley, who ended the tournament tied for 14th. After shooting 1-over in both rounds one and two, Henley had solid showing on rounds three and four. He scored 1-under-par in each round, which helped him finish the tournament two under par. The showing was good enough for his second-best career finish in his U.S. Open history.
Keith Mitchell, after missing the cut the previous year, had a strong showing in just his second U.S. Open tournament appearance after also missing the cut in 2019. Prior to the tournament, the 2014 graduate had one professional victory, which came in the 2019 Honda Classic, where Mitchell defeated renowned golfers Brooks Koepka and Rickie Fowler by one stroke. In the U.S. Open, Mitchell’s impressive statistic of +1.74 strokes earned off the tee helped him secure a 20th place tie on the leaderboard. He ended the tournament shooting one over par.
Brian Harman finished the tournament tied for 43rd after shooting 5-over-par. In the 2017 U.S. Open, the former three-time All-American shot 14-under-par and was poised for his first major title, but ended up coming four strokes short of Kopeka. This year, an array of bogies in rounds three and four dropped him all the way to 43rd in the standings.
Former Bulldogs Chris Kirk, Sepp Straka and Davis Thompson also competed in the tournament, but missed the cut after round two. Kirk and Straka both scored four over par, while Thompson, who was participating for the first time as a professional, shot 3-over.