Austin Dobrescu thrives in windy U.S. Open qualifier

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This article was published 08/05/2024 (611 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Austin Dobrescu had two feelings when he got out of his truck on Monday morning.

The first was a stiff wind tugging on the door. The second was excitement.

The Brandonite couldn’t have drawn up a better forecast for a United States Open local qualifier.

“I was pretty excited it was windy because I felt like that would level the playing field a bit,” Dobrescu said. “With where my game was at, I figured that would probably be my best chance because I haven’t been playing a ton and my game’s not super sharp. I figured if I could ball strike it around, I’d maybe have a chance.”

Eight hours later, Dobrescu walked off the first playoff hole at the Country Club of Sioux Falls, S.D., and received a plaque commemorating his top-five finish and right to play a final qualifier on June 3.

If he emerges from the 36-hole event at Cherry Hill Club and Lookout Point Country Club in Ontario, the Dallas Athletic Club or Springfield Country Club in Ohio — the three preferences he submitted — he’ll compete in the 124th U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina from June 13 to 16.

It only gets tougher from here, as regular PGA Tour players who didn’t earn one of 70 to 80 exemptions or receive special ones because they’re named Tiger Woods will be scattered across the 13 sites. Between three and eight players will emerge from each qualifier to round out the 156-player field.

For Dobrescu, being one step away now would seem less likely than a few years back. He turned professional in 2020 and tried his hand at mini-tour events around North America.

For the past year, however, he came home and went to work building Evo Golf Performance and Social Club, an indoor golf facility on Pacific Avenue.

He opened in November and has stayed busy updating and managing Evo while teaching lessons. On one hand, he has regular access to incredible golf simulator technology to fine-tune his game. Though as most people in the golf industry know, there’s less time for practice than most expect.

“It’s definitely made a difference in being able to prep in a short period of time for an event like this,” Dobrescu said.

“But it’s been such a new experience for me, the whole running a business and teaching so much and figuring out a different game.

“Golf hasn’t been my main focus for the past year, but I put so much time in a few years back and my teaching as well, I feel like I’ve turned into a more knowledgeable golfer by helping other people.”

Dobrescu played NCAA Division I golf for Chicago State, then came home and won back-to-back Golf Manitoba match play titles while making some terrific runs at the provincial amateur before he turned pro.

His experience paid off as he and fellow Evo co-owner Evan Nachtigall practised on Saturday evening and Sunday.

Dobrescu said he played poorly the first night and had to tweak a few things in his full swing and putting going into Sunday. It was a little better, but not great. Still, he had to stop adjusting and trust the swing he had on Monday.

“I’ve known this for a long time playing college golf and all the other golf I’ve played, you’re not going to find it on the range right before you go play,” Dobrescu said. “You just gotta put those swing thoughts out of the way. I had one swing thought — keep the backswing short and get to the left side.”

He started with a few pars then cancelled out some perfect approaches leading to birdies with miscues for bogeys before rolling in a birdie on the ninth to get to 1-under par.

Dobrescu knew the course from a Dakotas Tour event a few years back and felt he’d just played the easier nine based on the direction of the wind, which hovered around 40 kilometres per hour with gusts as high as 78.

“A lot of the holes on the front, the wind was off the right so it’s easy for a right-handed player to just rip at it and it’ll fall left if you miss right — the wind’s going to hold it up,” Dobrescu said, adding the second nine would feature the opposite and exaggerate his misses more.

“I hit it on the back nine with some of my best ball-striking, probably ever.”

He hit eight greens in regulation and calmly two-putted for par, then got up and down on the 18th hole to give himself a chance.

Dobrescu waited in the clubhouse for an hour of scoreboard watching by himself, then another with Nachtigall, who shot 76 to sit in a tie for 27th with Winnipeg’s Sam Diamond.

He ate a hot dog, drank a white Gatorade and went back outside to roll some putts and found out he’d be in a three-for-two playoff.

He whacked five balls on the range and headed for the tee, then pumped a three-wood through the fairway into a bunker. Thankfully, Grand Forks, N.D., native Cole Hanson hit his approach past the green and Dobrescu knew par was out of the question from there.

He played it safe and accepted a miss short of the green from 115 yards. He missed his par save but didn’t need to play another hole after Hanson made a double bogey.

The last Brandonite to play in a U.S. Open was the late Dan Halldorson in 1988 when he finished T40.

Now, more than a year removed from competitive golf being his main focus, Dobrescu is one great day away from by far the biggest stage he’s ever seen.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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