Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK
A UPS driver named Nick Barrett was one of the hundreds of golfers who were hoping to punch their ticket to the U.S. Open in a qualifying tournament on Monday. Unfortunately, he found himself disqualified after falling victim to a somewhat ironic oversight that led to him being eliminated from contention.
The U.S. Open will unfold at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania next week, and on Monday, the 156-person field was essentially firmed up with the help of the ten regional qualifiers where the golfers who participated were gunning for one of the 47 spots that were up for grabs in the second-to-last major of the year.
Those events attracted plenty of PGA Tour players who’d been unable to secure one of the exemptions reserved for the pros as well as plenty of talented amateurs who were hoping to end up in the mix by the time “Golf’s Longest Day” came to a close (the qualifying tournaments are open to anyone who has a handicap of .4 or better).
That second category included Nick Barrett, a 31-year-old from Catonsville, Maryland who spends plenty of time on the golf course when he’s not piloting the UPS truck he drives for a living based on the posted scores responsible for the +2.7 handicap on his GHIN profile (which also says he was an even more impressive +5 at his peak).
Barrett was one of the 84 golfers who headed to the North Course at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville to play the 36 holes used to determine which four competitors would end up earning a place in this year’s U.S. Open.
Now, it’s a bit hard to imagine Barrett would have ended up making the cut when you consider he shot a one-over 73 in his first round of the day, as the last two golfers to get a spot (Bryan Lee and Marc Leishman) finished tied at -3 and competed in a three-man playoff to punch their ticket to Oakmont.
According to The Baltimore Sun, he was deprived of the opportunity to improve on his opening round after failing to submit a signed scorecard within the allotted time after wrapping up the initial 18, as he’d finished eating lunch when he reached in his back pocket and realized he’d forgotten to turn it in at the scorer’s tent.
The man who is in a line of work where signatures are an integral aspect of the job attempted to correct the mistake but was informed he’d already been disqualified, and he was understandably dismayed by the “total gut punch” that brought his day to a premature end.
There’s always next year, but that won’t make this year’s result any less disappointing.