UCLA's Knapp, UW's Pan among Pac-12 contingent at 2015 U.S. Open
The 2015 U.S. Open will feature quite a few firsts for the 115th edition of the championship. It'll be the first Open to be held in the Pacific Northwest, at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington. It'll be the first all-fescue course in the United States to host the Open. And while all these changes are coming, the familiar faces of Pac-12 athletes and alumni will also be in the mix this week at the Open.
UCLA junior Jake Knapp and recent Washington graduate Cheng-Tsung Pan both qualified for the field at Chambers Bay. Pan, who recently completed his senior season with the Huskies, will make his professional debut this week, while Knapp will compete as an amateur.
[Related: 2015 U.S. Open live leaderboard (USOpen.com)]
Pan is no stranger to competing at the highest level. The Taiwan native has played in two previous U.S. Opens (2011, 2013) and competed at the 2014 Open Championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Course. After finishing second for the individual title at the NCAA championships last month, Pan locked up his spot in the Chambers Bay field with a hole-in-one during a qualifier in Cle Elum, Washington, back on June 8.
On the other side of the spectrum, Knapp will make his major debut Thursday in the Open. Previously, the 21-year-old from Cost Mesa, California, shot a 10-under 61 at a local U.S. Open qualifier in 2012, but failed to make it out of sectionals. This past season, Knapp was part of a Bruin squad that made it to the quarterfinals of NCAA championships match play before falling to top-seeded Illinois.
Here's a full list of Pac-12 alumni in the field at Chambers Bay:
- Kevin Chappell (UCLA)
- Jim Furyk (Arizona)
- Paul Casey (Arizona State)
- Brandon Hagy (California)
- Troy Kelly (Washington)
- Alex Kim (UCLA)
- Richard H. Lee (Washington)
- Jamie Lovemark (USC)
- Phil Mickelson (Arizona State)
- Tiger Woods (Stanford)