Photo by: Red Box Pictures
Former Husky Chris Babcock Heads to New York For US Open
June 12, 2018 | Men's Golf
SEATTLE – Former University of Washington golfer Chris Babcock put together a pair of impressive rounds last week and earned a spot as one of 156 players participating in the 118th U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., this weekend.
Babcock competed at UW from 2013-16, posting a 73.0 stroke average as a senior. He helped the Huskies to three NCAA Championship appearances and a pair of top three finishes in the Pac-12 in four seasons. But since graduating in 2016, he hasn't seen a lot of professional golf action. Babcock participated in the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada Q School competition last March, finishing 21st, and missed the cut at his only other professional competition in 2017.
But the Shoreline native and Shorewood High School grad put it all together over the course of two qualifying competitions this spring and—as a result—is heading to New York and the US Open.
The road to Shinnecock is a tough one. This year, 8,537 golfers began their quest at the local qualifiers with just 500 advancing to the sectional round. Those 500 joined 360 others who earned local exemptions at one of 10 sectional qualifiers with just 78 earning a berth to the US Open. Babcock was among that small percentage to see their tickets punched to New York.
"I started at Riverside Golf Club in Portland, where I shot a four-under-par 68, which was good enough to win the local qualifier and move to the sectional," said Babcock. "I had a couple of weeks of in between before heading back to Beaverton for the sectional, which is 36 holes in one day. The course is set up tough and you just have to grind it out a little bit. I wasn't playing all that great coming in, so I was just trying to keep it manageable. My expectations weren't too high, but I got a little more comfortable as the round went on."
After carding a three-under 68 over the first 18 holes, Babcock posted a three-under through the front nine of the second round. He would card a 65 over the final 18 holes of the day to finish at nine-under 133 to finish second in the event and earn a spot at the US Open.
"I had a pretty good idea that I qualified when I finished my second round," said Babcock. "After the morning round I believe the number to get in was four-under to stay in contention and I had a three-under 68. Once I turned on the front nine of the second round at three-under to get to six-under total on the day, I knew that a good back nine would do it for me. I was able to shoot a bogey-free back nine. Once I was able to do that, I figured I was in."
However, it seems as though the hardest part was just beginning for Babcock. Once the sectional qualifier finished on June 4, he had just a few days to make his way to New York.
"It is pretty crazy. The turnaround is pretty fast which I'm learning here," said Babcock. "I don't have an agent or anything so I've had to handle the booking and everything and it's been a grind. I found a caddy at Shinnecock—Eric Ryder—who has been there a number of years and knows the course very well. He is very experienced. But I also had to work on getting my family out here and make all of the arrangements. But now that I am here, I've been focused on the golf."
"This is my first time here and my first time in New York," said Babcock. "I haven't spent a whole lot of time in the northeast. We don't get to get out too much for sight-seeing and I sure hope I don't have a lot of free time on Saturday and Sunday!"
Babcock is joining some of the biggest names in golf at the Open including one of his idols—Tiger Woods. During his first few days in New York, he had the chance to play a practice round with some of the PGA's best.
"I'm usually underwhelmed by that type of thing, but I did have a great experience playing nine holes on Sunday with Rickey Fowler, Justin Thomas and Jimmy Walker," Babcock said. "I had finished my round and asked to join them and they were more than happy to let me play. They offered good advice and tips as well as offering help if I needed it. So, many thanks to them. They made my experience that day a great one."
While playing among some of golf's royalty on one of its biggest stages, it's hard not to imagine the nerves Babcock will be battling come Thursday afternoon.
"I'm just worried about my first tee shot on Thursday. If that gets airborne I'll be happy," he said. "There is definably an element of relaxation there where you trust your preparation. There is no secret that I'll be nervous; I'm not going to be able to hide that at all. Personally, I play better when I'm a little nervous. The idea is just to embrace it. As cool as those other guys look on TV, I know that they are nervous, too."
Babcock will be the 10th UW golfer to appear in a major tournament, joining recent Huskies C.T. Pan, Nick Taylor, Alex Prugh and Brock Mackenzie, who was recently inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame. He is quick to praise his time at UW and his former teammates for their help along the way.
"Playing at UW did a good job to prepare me for this tournament," Babcock said. "We were a competitive team and it wasn't odd to see arguments among the team since we were all so competitive. That competitive spirit carries over into whatever you do, whether golfing in US Open, competing in business or in life."
"One of my biggest memories of UW is just spending time around the guys," said Babcock. "I learned the most from C.T. Pan and Jonathan Sanders probably since I spent the most time around them. I learned a lot just from the way they go about things. They were classy dudes. I think I really learned something from everyone I played with, but they were at the top of the team and real leaders."
He also peppered former UW Head Coach Matt Thurmond with questions to better his game.
"I wore out (Coach Thurmond) with questions, that's for sure," said Babcock. "I would ask him things every chance I could. I went in with the attitude that these four years would come and go quickly so I just tried to soak up as much as I could."
Babcock had some advice for the current group of Husky golfers: "Work hard!"
"You can sleep and worry about all of that other stuff when you are done," he said. "Those four years come and go quickly, so take advantage of the time you have. You don't get chances in that atmosphere often, so work hard now!"
Babcock will be one of the final golfers to begin on Thursday, teeing off at 2:42 p.m. from the 10th tee. He will start the second round at 8:57 a.m. on Friday morning. Fans can follow the leaderboard at https://www.pga.com/events/usopen/leaderboard or watch the US Open on Fox and FS1 throughout the weekend.
Babcock competed at UW from 2013-16, posting a 73.0 stroke average as a senior. He helped the Huskies to three NCAA Championship appearances and a pair of top three finishes in the Pac-12 in four seasons. But since graduating in 2016, he hasn't seen a lot of professional golf action. Babcock participated in the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada Q School competition last March, finishing 21st, and missed the cut at his only other professional competition in 2017.
But the Shoreline native and Shorewood High School grad put it all together over the course of two qualifying competitions this spring and—as a result—is heading to New York and the US Open.
The road to Shinnecock is a tough one. This year, 8,537 golfers began their quest at the local qualifiers with just 500 advancing to the sectional round. Those 500 joined 360 others who earned local exemptions at one of 10 sectional qualifiers with just 78 earning a berth to the US Open. Babcock was among that small percentage to see their tickets punched to New York.
"I started at Riverside Golf Club in Portland, where I shot a four-under-par 68, which was good enough to win the local qualifier and move to the sectional," said Babcock. "I had a couple of weeks of in between before heading back to Beaverton for the sectional, which is 36 holes in one day. The course is set up tough and you just have to grind it out a little bit. I wasn't playing all that great coming in, so I was just trying to keep it manageable. My expectations weren't too high, but I got a little more comfortable as the round went on."
After carding a three-under 68 over the first 18 holes, Babcock posted a three-under through the front nine of the second round. He would card a 65 over the final 18 holes of the day to finish at nine-under 133 to finish second in the event and earn a spot at the US Open.
"I had a pretty good idea that I qualified when I finished my second round," said Babcock. "After the morning round I believe the number to get in was four-under to stay in contention and I had a three-under 68. Once I turned on the front nine of the second round at three-under to get to six-under total on the day, I knew that a good back nine would do it for me. I was able to shoot a bogey-free back nine. Once I was able to do that, I figured I was in."
However, it seems as though the hardest part was just beginning for Babcock. Once the sectional qualifier finished on June 4, he had just a few days to make his way to New York.
"It is pretty crazy. The turnaround is pretty fast which I'm learning here," said Babcock. "I don't have an agent or anything so I've had to handle the booking and everything and it's been a grind. I found a caddy at Shinnecock—Eric Ryder—who has been there a number of years and knows the course very well. He is very experienced. But I also had to work on getting my family out here and make all of the arrangements. But now that I am here, I've been focused on the golf."
"This is my first time here and my first time in New York," said Babcock. "I haven't spent a whole lot of time in the northeast. We don't get to get out too much for sight-seeing and I sure hope I don't have a lot of free time on Saturday and Sunday!"
Babcock is joining some of the biggest names in golf at the Open including one of his idols—Tiger Woods. During his first few days in New York, he had the chance to play a practice round with some of the PGA's best.
"I'm usually underwhelmed by that type of thing, but I did have a great experience playing nine holes on Sunday with Rickey Fowler, Justin Thomas and Jimmy Walker," Babcock said. "I had finished my round and asked to join them and they were more than happy to let me play. They offered good advice and tips as well as offering help if I needed it. So, many thanks to them. They made my experience that day a great one."
While playing among some of golf's royalty on one of its biggest stages, it's hard not to imagine the nerves Babcock will be battling come Thursday afternoon.
"I'm just worried about my first tee shot on Thursday. If that gets airborne I'll be happy," he said. "There is definably an element of relaxation there where you trust your preparation. There is no secret that I'll be nervous; I'm not going to be able to hide that at all. Personally, I play better when I'm a little nervous. The idea is just to embrace it. As cool as those other guys look on TV, I know that they are nervous, too."
Babcock will be the 10th UW golfer to appear in a major tournament, joining recent Huskies C.T. Pan, Nick Taylor, Alex Prugh and Brock Mackenzie, who was recently inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame. He is quick to praise his time at UW and his former teammates for their help along the way.
"Playing at UW did a good job to prepare me for this tournament," Babcock said. "We were a competitive team and it wasn't odd to see arguments among the team since we were all so competitive. That competitive spirit carries over into whatever you do, whether golfing in US Open, competing in business or in life."
"One of my biggest memories of UW is just spending time around the guys," said Babcock. "I learned the most from C.T. Pan and Jonathan Sanders probably since I spent the most time around them. I learned a lot just from the way they go about things. They were classy dudes. I think I really learned something from everyone I played with, but they were at the top of the team and real leaders."
He also peppered former UW Head Coach Matt Thurmond with questions to better his game.
"I wore out (Coach Thurmond) with questions, that's for sure," said Babcock. "I would ask him things every chance I could. I went in with the attitude that these four years would come and go quickly so I just tried to soak up as much as I could."
Babcock had some advice for the current group of Husky golfers: "Work hard!"
"You can sleep and worry about all of that other stuff when you are done," he said. "Those four years come and go quickly, so take advantage of the time you have. You don't get chances in that atmosphere often, so work hard now!"
Babcock will be one of the final golfers to begin on Thursday, teeing off at 2:42 p.m. from the 10th tee. He will start the second round at 8:57 a.m. on Friday morning. Fans can follow the leaderboard at https://www.pga.com/events/usopen/leaderboard or watch the US Open on Fox and FS1 throughout the weekend.
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