A couple of weeks removed from competing for Kansas at an NCAA regional, — the KU men’s golf team’s eighth in a row — KU senior Gunnar Broin achieved a monster individual achievement over the weekend.
Broin was one of a handful of golfers who emerged from a Monday qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, for a spot in next week’s U.S. Open, one of golf’s four major tournaments.
After shooting back-to-back rounds of 65 and 68 at the Ohio State University Golf Club, Broin advanced by surviving a four-players-for-three-spots playoff to snag a spot in the Open.
He was one of five qualifiers from the 68-man field in Columbus and one of just 68 golfers — of 937 who began the day with U.S. Open dreams — who qualified via this route throughout the country.
According to a KU news release, Broin, who will compete as an amateur, is believed to be the first active KU golfer to qualify and tee off in one of the PGA Tour’s major championships.
The 124th U.S. Open will run June 13-16 at Pinehurst No. 2 in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
In all, 156 players will tee it up at the event, including former KU golfer and 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. The event will consistent of four rounds — next Thursday through Sunday — with the top-60 players (and ties) after two rounds surviving the cut and advancing to the weekend.
We’ll track Broin down later this week to find out how he did it and what qualifying means to him, but, for now, here’s what we know about him.
• The Shorewood, Minnesota native was widely regarded by the members of the 2023-24 team as the biggest hitter of the bunch. That was particularly true off the tee, where he mashed his drives and put his ball into play deep down the fairway on most holes.
• Broin transferred to KU before the 2022-23 school year after spending two seasons (2020-21 and 2021-22) at Colorado State University. While at CSU he qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship twice.
• During his time with the Jayhawks, he has been in KU’s lineup in all 26 events over two seasons. As a junior, he carried a season-long stroke average of 72.0 while recording three top-5 finishes with 11 rounds under par. This past season, his stayed consistent, finishing with a scoring average of 72.59 while carding two top-20 finishes and one inside the top-10. He fired seven rounds under par during his senior season and was the top KU finisher at two events.
• The communications major had a monster prep career back in Minnesota. He was the state’s No. 1-ranked junior male player in 2020 and earned all-conference honors four times. His 63 at the Minnesota Boys State High School tournament tied the state record in 2019. And he also won the Minnesota Junior PGA Championship that same year.
