Florida State senior John Pak was one of 13 amateurs who started the week at the 120th U.S. Open. He was the only one left standing Sunday at Winged Foot.
The 21-year-old Pak, who opened his first major championship in 1-under 69, finished at 18 over, which was good enough for a share of 51st place and most importantly, low-amateur honors.
“I've never played in anything like this, a golf course this hard, a competition this tough,” Pak said. “It just proves that all this hard work that I've done is finally paying off, and it shows that my game is at a point where I can try and compete against the best players in the world.”
Pak will have a path when he turns pro next summer thanks to PGA Tour University, which will award Korn Ferry Tour cards to the top five college seniors according to the program’s points standings. Ten more cards will be handed out for access to one of the Tour’s international circuits.
Heading into the fall, Pak leads those rankings. While he and his fellow Seminoles will not play until the spring, Pak has built himself a bit of a cushion atop the standings thanks to his stellar play as a junior and most recently his performance last week at the U.S. Open.
Four of the next five players in the PGA Tour U rankings also teed it up in last week’s major, including Vanderbilt’s John Augenstein, who moved up to sixth, just outside that coveted top 5.
Here’s a look at the latest rankings:
- 1. John Pak, Florida State
- 2. Chun An Yu, Arizona State
- 3. Davis Thompson, Arizona State
- 4. Sandy Scott, Texas Tech
- 5. Austin Eckroat, Oklahoma State
- 6. John Augenstein, Vanderbilt
- 7. Garett Reband, Oklahoma
- 8. McClure Meissner, SMU
- 9. Trevor Werbylo, Arizona
- 10. Jovan Rebula, Auburn
- 11. Quade Cummins, Oklahoma
- 12. Cooper Dossey, Baylor
- 13. Spencer Ralston, Georgia
- 14. Hunter Eichhorn, Marquette
- 15. Tim Widing, San Francisco
- 16. Tripp Kinney, Iowa State
- 17. Devon Bling, UCLA
- 18. Zack Taylor, Coastal Carolina
- 19. Michael Feagles, Illinois
- 20. Jack Trent, UNLV
- 21. Matthias Schmid, Louisville
- 22. Christopher Gotterup, Rutgers
- 23. Luke Schniederjans, Georgia Tech
- 24. Graysen Huff, Auburn
- 25. Mason Andersen, Arizona State