Last player into field was eighth alternate Brad Adamonis was astonished. As officials assembled seven contestants tied for two alternate slots in a sectional qualifier at Woodmont Country Club, two couldn’t be found. They had forfeited their chance to play in the U.S. Open.
No chance Adamonis would bolt. Every year since he turned 14, he had tried unsuccessfully to qualify for the U.S. Open.
When the 38-year-old tees off in the Open for the first time Thursday morning at Congressional, it will be a shot 25 years in the making.
“It’s nice to get in,” Adamonis said. “It’s kind of a surprise.”
Kind of? Adamonis, a long-time pro on the fringes of the Nationwide and PGA tours, was the last man to make it into the field. He was the eighth alternate granted a slot.
Adamonis grew up a prodigy. At age 12, he won a junior world title. All four years at Cumberland (R.I.) High he led the school to a state championship.
But success hasn’t come as readily since he turned pro out of Miami (Ohio). His breakthrough came in 2007 when he won the Nationwide WNB Golf Classic, then made it through PGA Tour Q-School.
In the next two years, Adamonis made more than $1.2 million, but it wasn’t enough to keep his tour card. In 27 PGA and Nationwide Tour events over the last season and a half, Adamonis hasn’t cracked the top 30. Earlier this month at the Prince George’s County Open, he picked up his biggest check this year — $3,300 — when he tied for 36th.
But the next day, Adamonis went to Woodmont for Open qualifying and put together his best two rounds this season. It wasn’t a smooth ride. After shooting a 66 on Woodmont South, he struggled to a 40 on the front nine of the North. His dream was slipping away.
But then Adamonis relaxed and played a spectacular back nine — six birdies on the last eight holes. On the first playoff hole, his caddie and friend from high school, Chris Simmons, talked him out of hitting a 58-degree wedge.
“Just hit a smooth 54,” Simmons suggested.
It was the right choice. Adamonis dropped his shot to within a foot of the hole for a birdie, eliminating three players. Former Open qualifier Drew Weaver rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt to extend the playoff. But on the next hole, Weaver made a bogey, and the first alternate went to Adamonis.
When he tees off Thursday morning, it will be his first appearance in a major. The dream began at a local qualifying tournament 25 years ago when he was star-struck by a local PGA Tour player.
“Billy Andrade was in the field, I was like, ‘Wow,’ so I kept coming back each year,” Adamonis said. “Now I’m finally here. It took a while.”
