The Five: ‘Cinderellas’ to watch at 2026 U.S. Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – The U.S. Open is golf’s ultimate meritocratic test, with a hearty portion of the field having earned their spot at Shinnecock Hills via 36-hole Final Qualifying on "Golf’s Longest Day.”

In total, 68 players in this year’s field qualified via that pathway and will go toe-to-toe with the game’s heavyweights, chasing the U.S. Open title across four rounds at the famed William Flynn design.

Do any stand a chance? It’s rare, but doable. Jason Gore in 2005 is the epitome of the “Cinderella,” pushing himself from Local Qualifying all the way to the final pairing on Sunday at Winged Foot. Geoff Ogilvy won, but Gore’s story remains an inspiration for the 44% of the field who will play this week as a qualifier.

So which Cinderella stories are worth monitoring this week? Here are five players who could play a factor.

Miles Russell

There’s no Charlie Woods on the bag to add to the fever pitch of Miles Russell discourse, but the 17-year-old junior is plenty worthy of the chatter he’s getting.

Russell made it through Final Qualifying in Florida to earn his first major start, a milestone that we will likely look back on a decade from now as the start of a decorated career. Russell has already made waves on the pro golf circuit, playing a smattering of Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR events in the past three seasons and blowing past any expectations you could place on a teenager. He’s made three starts on the Korn Ferry this year and finished in the top 15 once. In 2024, he became the youngest player ever to make a cut on the Korn Ferry Tour. He’s also a two-time Junior PLAYERS champion.

Russell, a rising high school senior, has committed to Florida State.

J.B. Holmes

From one of the youngest players in the field to one of the oldest, 44-year-old former Ryder Cupper J.B. Holmes is back in the U.S. Open for the first time since 2019.

The start will be a bit of redemption for Holmes, whose last major start at the 2019 Open Championship got off to an incredible start before an equally incredible fall. Holmes led after the first and second rounds before shooting 87 on Sunday to fall from third to 67th.

The five-time TOUR winner fell on hard times in recent years. He’s made only three cuts in 23 starts over the last four seasons, and this qualification came out of nowhere. That’s the beauty of the U.S. Open, though. One strong day of golf can propel you all the way to major championship glory. Now, can Holmes turn back the clock and capitalize on this opportunity?

Jimmy Stanger

It’s not too often a major carries the stakes of a PGA TOUR card, but that’s the case for Jimmy Stanger, who will need a solid finish if he hopes to continue playing regularly the rest of this season.

Hat tip to Ryan French of Monday Q Info for pointing this out, but Stanger needs 22 FedExCup points to fulfill his medical extension, and he has only one start remaining to get it done. Had Stanger not qualified for the U.S. Open, that last start would have come at the John Deere Classic in a few weeks. But now Stanger will need to survive an incredibly deep field at Shinnecock Hills in the first major start of his career. To make matters more tenuous, Stanger nearly locked up the medical exemption in Canada last week, but missed by one shot when he made bogey instead of par.

So now to fulfill the medical, Stanger will need to make the cut and finish 40th or better. If he doesn’t, he will have only limited status the rest of the year. So even if Stanger doesn’t contend this week, there’s a reason to be cheering on this cinderella through the finish.

Spencer Tibbits

It’s been a rollercoaster few weeks for Tibbits, who experienced the ultimate heartbreak at Final Qualifying only to get a late call-up to his second major start. Let us explain.

Tibbits lost in an epic playoff for the final spot of the Oregon qualifier, losing out to Andrew Putnam after nine extra sudden-death holes, which extended into Tuesday. That put Tibbits' U.S. Open hopes in the hands of the field, relying on withdrawals or other openings to get in. That call came on Monday, and now Tibbits is in. The 27-year-old Oregon State grad has played in only one other major, the 2019 U.S. Open.

To call this unexpected is an understatement. That prior U.S. Open is the only other OWGR-sanctioned event Tibbits has played. He doesn’t have a world ranking. He’s never played the DP World Tour, Korn Ferry Tour or PGA TOUR Americas. He’s a cinderella in every sense of the word. Is it likely he contends? Probably not. But if he does, it would be one of the coolest stories we’ve seen in a long time.

Ben Kohles

One of the hottest golfers in the field also happened to make it through qualifying, and he did it over a dizzying 24 hours. Kohles won the Korn Ferry Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX two weeks ago, then hopped a flight from South Carolina to Maryland later that night to get to the Final Qualifier the next morning. Then he went out and posted 7-under over two rounds to finish second and easily punch his ticket to Shinnecock. This is Kohles’ third U.S. Open and fourth major start.

While many of the cinderellas are good stories, not many can be expected to play well. That shouldn’t be the case for Kohles, who was the Korn Ferry Tour’s Player of the Year in 2024 and is back in the winner’s circle again this year in his most recent start. That’s a ton of confidence to take into a U.S. Open, so it shouldn’t be a surprise if Kohles threatens contention this week.