Next Important: The 2020 US Open Field Is Slowly Completing, With More Slots Available This Week | World of golf

While most golf enthusiasts focused Sunday on the PGA championship at TPC Harding Park, another tournament 630 miles north was unfolding with its grand championship intrigue.

Lee Hodges’ two-time win at the WinCo Foods Portland Open not only earned him his first career title on the Korn Ferry Tour. The 25-year-old Alabama native also grabbed a spot in his first US Open when played for the month. next to the Winged Foot.

“It was pretty exciting along the stretch, I just tried to keep it together,” Hodges said after his triumph at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. “It hasn’t sunk yet. It probably won’t sink today, maybe tomorrow. It is special. You look back and see how much you’ve fought and it’s pretty interesting. “

If COVID-19 hadn’t shortened the KFT schedule, the Portland Open would have served as the regular season finale of the tour, with the top 25 players on the season points list earning PGA Tour cards. With that tradition dormant, the USGA officials, unable to conduct qualifiers to fill the US Open field this year, have decided to use the points list to give five promising players the chance to play at the Winged Foot.

Joining Hodges from the list of KFT points are Will Zaltoris, Davis Riley, Taylor Pendrith and Paul Barjon. Hodges finished 15th on the points list earlier in the week until his win brought him to third place. Barjon was also out of the top five playing Pumpkin Ridge, but a T-2 finish pushed him to last place in qualifying. (Dylan Wu and Mito Periera were the two eliminated players.)

The KFT five weren’t the only ones to get exemptions from Winged Foot over the weekend. The impressive PGA championship results of Matthew Wolff (T-4) and Cameron Champ (T-10) have taken them to the next major of the year, allowing them to join seven other players (Ryan Palmer, Mackenzie Hughes, Michael Thompson, Adam Long, Daniel Berger, Richy Werenski and Troy Merritt) whose performances at PGA Tour events over the past four weeks have earned them the Winged Foot invite.

Two more seats at the US Open are available at this week’s Wyndham Championship, reserved for players who finish in the top 10 this week at Sedgefield Country Club who aren’t already in the majors. Additionally, the US Amateur is this week at Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon. The winner and runner-up will not earn seats at the Winged Foot, but rather at the 2021 US Open in Torrey Pines. But the top seven players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking after the game ends will have qualified for the US Open.

After this week, another 15 free seats will remain available for the US Open. The top 10 point winners not otherwise exempt from swing in the UK of the European Tour will be added to the field, along with five other Korn Ferry Tour players based on a separate points list for the next three KFT events, which would be the Korn Ferry Tour Finals if not for the coronavirus.