Sargent, Moldovan, Potgieter, and Carr will play the weekend

U.S. Open Amateurs: Sargent, Moldovan, Potgieter, and Carr will play the weekend

Maxwell Moldovan, playing his second U.S. Open,
was one of four amateurs who made the cut (USGA)

Gordon Sargent leads a group of four amateurs who will compete for low amateur honors this weekend at the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.

The long-hitting Vanderbilt golfer shot rounds of 69-71 to comfortably advance to the weekend at even par, tied for 30th.

“It means a lot,” said Sargent. “There were 19 ams here I think, something like that, so, yeah, it gives me confidence I’m playing good and just go play some good golf on the weekend.”

Sargent is joined by Maxwell Moldovan, Aldrich Potgieter, and Ben Carr, all of whom finished two rounds at 2 over par, right on the cut line at a tie for 49th.

It’s Moldovan that is making the most of the opportunity.

The Ohio State Buckeye golfer was the 3rd alternate after losing out in a gut-wrenching eight-hole playoff in Final Qualifying on June 5. He got the call a week later when the top 60 exemption category wasn’t filled, and ended up being the last person to get a tee time at Los Angeles Country Club.

After moving to No. 19 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, the pair of 71s posted by Moldovan put him in position to make more points, and up his chances of getting selected to represent the USA at The Walker Cup in September.

Moldovan took the time to call into our podcast on Wednesday before his practice round.

Potgieter (of South Africa) gained entry through his British Amateur victory last year. Carr got into the field as the runner-up in the 2022 U.S. Amateur. The champion Sam Bennett, who is now a pro, also made the cut and sits at 5 under par.

In all, 19 amateurs made the U.S. Open field this year.

Amateur Leaderboard

69-71 (T30) Gordon Sargent

71-71 (T49) Maxwell Moldovan

70-72 (T49) Aldrich Potgieter

70-72 (T49) Ben Carr

71-74 (MC) Barclay Brown

73-73 (MC) Preston Summerhays

74-72 (MC) Michael Thorbjornsen

73-73 (MC) Bastien Amat

77-71 (MC) Nick Dunlap

74-74 (MC) Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira

74-75 (MC) Karl Vilips

72-77 (MC) Christian Cavaliere

71-78 (MC) Omar Morales

72-77 (MC) Wenyi Ding

74-75 (MC) Michael Brennan

73-78 (MC) Matthew McClean

79-74 (MC) Alexander Yang

77-77 (MC) Isaac Simmons

78-78 (MC) Brendan Valdes

View results for U.S. Open