Iaciofano Advances to U.S. Open Final Qualifying
Joey Iaciofano is headed to U.S. Open Final Qualifying.
Iaciofano carded a three-under 69 on Tuesday at Kirkbrae to advance to final qualifying.
“I was really excited going into it, especially now with how big of a confidence boost it is for me going into my tournament this week,” Iaciofano told GolfNewsRI after the round.
Before relocating to Florida, Iaciofano grew up playing at Kirkbrae with his dad, and although it has been awhile, the memories paid off.
“As I started to play, even the practice round, I started to remember all the ways the greens broke, where they broke too, I started remembering the whole course,” said Iaciofano.
It is unknown where Iaciofano will play his final qualifier, however, he is hoping to get the Maryland location.
The other qualifiers were medalist Matt Costello, Ricky Stimets, Jim Renner and Carson Erick.
Aidan Emmerich and Jay Sherwood took the two alternate spots.
Iaciofano’s Round
Iaciofano opened with a birdie on the first hole, but gave it right back with a bogey on the second.
The Oxbridge Academy junior would bounce back with birdies on the fourth and eighth holes to turn at two-under 34.
On the back side, Iaciofano rolled in back-to-back birdies on ten and 11 to move to four-under on the day.
After five-straight pars, Iaciofano bogeyed the 17th hole to drop him back to three-under on the day.
The bogey did not prove costly.
“I still thought that three-under was going to have a pretty good chance. Usually three-four under is the number in these qualifiers” said Iaciofano.
Iaciofano closed the round with a par save on 18 after and impressive bunker shot.
Road Ahead for Iaciofano
Iaciofano will next play in the Scott Robertson Memorial from May 15-17, before teeing it up at the Western Junior in Chicago in June.