Dubai’s Josh Hill takes giant step towards qualifying for the US Open

Josh Hill in action on the DP World Tour. - Supplied photo

Dubai-born Josh Hill shot a four under par 68 in the local US Open Qualifying Round for next month’s US Open at Pinehurst, the third Major of the year, to progress to the Final Qualifying Rounds.

Hill, currently on a golf scholarship at the University of Tennessee in the US, came in tied for second place at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Silver Lakes, Alabama, US, one shot back of the winner with five spots qualifying from the field of 84 players.

Local qualifying was conducted over 18 holes at 109 sites in 44 US States and Canada, which took place between April 22 and May 20, this year.

The Final Qualifying (Sectional) Rounds will also include local exempt players – to be held at 10 US sites and three internationals: one in each of Canada, England and Japan. They are played over 36 holes and are traditionally referred to as ‘Golf’s Longest Day.’

Over 10,000 golfers, both professionals and amateurs holding a handicap of 0.4 or lower, originally entered – then progress through the Local Qualifying and onto the Final Qualifiers to join the fully exempt field – completing the balance of players in the final 156-player field.

Hill will compete in one of the June 3 Qualifiers.

Hill is one of the most talented golfers to come out of the UAE and played in both the Dubai Desert Classic and Abu Dhabi Championship a combined four times and made the cut at both events in 2022.

The U.S. Open has previously been held at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2 in 1999 (won by Payne Stewart), 2005 (won by Michael Campbell) and 2014 (won by Martin Kaymer).

As an anchor site, Pinehurst will also host the U.S. Open in 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047.