Local kid makes good at Open qualifier

Nine holes in — at 2 over par — he was but another face in a small crowd.

Yet, walking up his 36th hole of the day, there was his father on the phone making hotel arrangements for a week at Oakmont (Pa.), the classic host for this U.S. Open. Yeah, a lot of special happened on the kid’s last 27 holes.

The top three earning the Open invitation was a diverse group, emblematic of the stew that the U.S. Open prefers to concoct every year. There was the 27-year-old veteran of tours both foreign and domestic, winner of the Open de Argentine last year, Kent Bulle of Glasgow, Ky. (11 under for 36 holes). And the 37-year-old grinder from whatever Tour would have him, Frank Adams III of Salisbury, N.C. (7 under)

And then there was teenager from just down the street, little used as a freshman at South Carolina, who only lately began putting the pieces of his game together and Monday got himself into a stretch of holes that went beyond simple golf into something more profound (8 under).

Where do you start with Stachler’s magical, mystical tour? How about with his 12th hole of the day, a tight little par 4?

A wicked slice off tee and Stachler was courting the water snaking up the right side of the fairway. Two more feet and the ball would have been wet. As it was, it nestled low of the bank of the hazard.

Stachler semi-squatted just to lay the blade of his club on the ball, looking at the hole 136 yards downrange. Not a stance that portends great things.

“I was just trying to make contact with the ball, really, it was so far below my feet,” he said. “I thought if I get this on the green I’ll be happy with it.”

“It was probably the most incredible shot I’ve ever played.” Sure enough, Stachler put the ball on the green. As a bonus, it rolled in the hole for an eagle.

Something almost surreal had been jarred loose. Stachler was 1 under his last six holes of the first round, which still left him in a tie for 8th after the opening 18 holes.

In his brief life, Stachler never had a nine-hole stretch like the one that began his afternoon round. A 6-under 30 was just the ladder called for to make his big climb.

“The hole looked like a bucket to me on the front nine,” he said. “I couldn’t miss.”

Stachler, a high schooler at both Milton (freshman) and Cambridge, a collegiate player at South Carolina who made just four appearances for the golf team early in the season, shot 65 in the afternoon to lock up a spot at the U.S. Open.

“I really didn’t expect it to happen this fast, especially not even playing on my college team for the whole second semester,” he said.

As fate would have it, Stachler played at Oakmont just last week with a friend. He liked it fine. There will be, however, a tad more pressure when he returns next week.

“I’m hoping to do what I did today — just stay calm and let my golf game take me where I need to go,” he said, sounding wise beyond his years.

As for some of the other notables at this site, the magic was elusive.

Five percent of this 38-man field was named Schniederjans. Big brother Ollie, the former Georgia Tech top-ranked amateur in the world, now making a living on the Web.com Tour, finished 3 under for the day. Little brother Luke, an incoming Yellow Jacket, was two strokes south of that.

Four others in the field were current or former Georgia Tech players. Roberto Castro, coming off a 66 Sunday that vaulted him to a T-11 at the Memorial could not quite go low enough upon returning home to Atlanta (3 under). Behind him were Jacob Joiner (1 under), Bo Andrews (1 over) and James White (6 over).

The lone Georgia Bulldog in the field, senior-to-be Jamie Lopez Rivarola shot 76 in his opening round and withdrew.