22 hours ago
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Paolo UggettiJun 13, 2025, 05:25 PM ET
OAKMONT, Pa. -- The way the ball kissed the lip on the 15th hole and didn't trickle in for bogey felt cruel. It was as if Oakmont Country Club was showing George Duangmanee every one of its teeth on a day when his game had ghosted him.
Playing in his first U.S. Open, Duangmanee made his fourth double bogey of the day on the long par-4. Eleven holes prior, he had played pingpong on the fourth green and made a triple bogey on his way to a shocking score of 47 on the front nine.
At this level, a score near 40 over any nine holes is always an eyesore. One that nearly reaches 50 is like a unicorn. And yet, that's what Oakmont specializes in. Those who arrive at its gates with hopes of showcasing their games are often humbled in the face of a golf course that was explicitly built to frustrate them. Of the four highest single-round U.S. Open scores that have been recorded over the last 20 years, three of them have happened here.
But the beauty of the U.S. Open, as USGA CEO Mike Whan will repeatedly tell you, is its openness. Anyone can try to qualify and tee it up with the best in the world. A 17-year-old. A dentist. And a 23-year-old from Fairfax, Virginia, chasing his pro golf dream.
Duangmanee turned professional in 2024 after graduating from UVA and made his PGA Tour debut in May 2025 at the Myrtle Beach Classic in South Carolina. There, he carded two under-par rounds to make the cut and would go on to finish at 5 over for the tournament.
For a player who has only conditional status on PGA Tour Americas that he earned via qualifying school, it was further proof that he belonged. But the U.S. Open? This was different.
"I feel like this was the biggest stage of golf I've ever played in," Duangmanee said.
Duangmanee had played arguably two of the best rounds of his life to even have the chance to walk down Oakmont's fairways. At Springfield Country Club in Ohio on June 2, where several pros tried and failed to qualify for the U.S. Open, Duangmanee shot 68-67 to punch his ticket.
It's impossible to summarize this sport better than that: shoot 5 under to get into the U.S. Open, where an 86 on Thursday and a chance to flirt with 90 awaits the next day.
"I knew it was going to be a hard test coming in," Duangmanee said. "I didn't think it was going to be that hard."
An exhausted Duangmanee appeared surprised when a USGA official told him a few reporters wanted to talk to him. He had just wrestled the golf course for over five hours and had lost in a landslide. But his outlook spoke of something different.
"I'm really positive about just being here and excited for the confidence I can get from it," Duangmanee said. "It's a little bit intimidating being around people you watch on TV every week, but I'm trying to learn as much as how they practice now, how they warm up and everything. So I've been keeping an eye on how the best in the world do it, so I'm going to use that going forward."
In between holes on the back nine, Duangmanee allowed himself to breathe. He exchanged conversation with Austen Truslow, one of his playing partners, drank some water and ate a grape jelly Uncrustable. His game was in dire shape, but his attitude didn't have to be.
"Going into today, I just wanted to have fun out there," Duangmanee said. "I knew I was kind of out of it after my first round, so I just tried to enjoy the experience as much as possible, try to keep my head up, and I didn't really get down on myself. I just kept going, and I was just happy to be here."
The frustration was certainly there. When he was unable to get the ball from the fescue to the green on 17, he dropped his head in disappointment. His shot from the rough wasn't much better, but Duangmanee simply kept going. Every shot was not without its routine. On a day when Oakmont ejected players left and right, including some of the best in the world, Duangmanee had opted to grind.
His tee ball on 18 -- a wayward shot that landed in a fairway bunker thanks to a driver that had been giving him trouble all day -- set up the stage for what would determine his final score. Duangmanee pitched out of the bunker and left himself a tricky wedge shot, which landed long of the hole. The downhill par putt never had a chance of going in and slipped well past the hole.
The dream of the U.S. Open had brought not just Duangmanee here but his family too. Both of his parents, his brother (a junior on UVA's golf team), his grandfather, his girlfriend and more family had all traveled to Pittsburgh to watch him play. Whatever he shot would be secondary.
"It does mean a lot to have people who want to be out here and watching me play golf and supporting me," Duangmanee said.
On a humid afternoon in Pittsburgh, with the stands around the 18th green that will be packed in two days' time barely filled, Duangmanee lined up his bogey putt. He had left himself 6 feet, 7 inches.
He studied it carefully, as if it were to make the cut, and poured it in.
As Duangmanee walked toward his caddie he couldn't help but crack a smile. His 89 is tied for the second-highest score in a single round at a U.S. Open over the last 20 years.
"Just making it here was a big accomplishment for me," Duangmanee said. "It proves that what I'm doing, the hard work I'm putting in practice, is paying off. Being able to compete against the best guys in the world. It's really where I want to be."
Oakmont might be sending Duangmanee home with his scorecard reading plus-35, but he's not leaving. He put in a lot of work to get here, and he's not ready to move on just yet.
"I'm definitely going to take at least three or four days off and just enjoy it with the family," he said. "I think I will stay around. We're already here, and it's the U.S. Open."
