13-Year-Old Golf Phenom Attempts To Be Youngest In U.S. Open History

LOS ANGELES, CA — A 13-year-old from Burbank was attempting to be the youngest player to qualify for golf's U.S. Open Monday at Hillcrest Country Club.

Jaden Soong earned one of the last two spots in the 36-hole qualifier by shooting an even-par 72 at the local qualifier May 15 at Brentwood Country Club, finishing in a three-way tie for fourth in the field of 90, then making a 12-foot putt in a playoff.

The seventh-grader at Thomas Starr King Middle School would be the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Open, breaking the record set by Andy Zhang, who was 14 when he qualified for the 2012 U.S. Open.

Jaden began playing golf when he was 12 years old. His favorite player is Jordan Spieth, a three-time major champion, including the 2015 U.S. Open.

The Hillcrest final qualifier is among 10 being held Monday in the United States and Canada. The final number of available spots will be announced Monday.

Other golfers attempting to qualify Monday at Hillcrest Country Club include:

-- Brendan Steele, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, most recently in the 2017 Safeway Open, who now plays on the LIV Golf tour. The 40-year-old Steele is seeking his sixth berth in the U.S. Open and first since 2021. His best finish in the U.S. Open was a tie for 13th in 2017.

-- Dylan Block, an 18-year-old senior at Tesoro High School in the unincorporated South Orange County community of Las Flores who helped the Titans win the CIF-SCGA SoCal Regional title May 24.

Block tied for second in the local qualifier at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo on May 3 with a 4-under-par 68.

Block is a son of Michael Block, the head golf professional at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo who tied for 15th in last month's PGA Championship, the highest finish among club professionals. The elder Block will be playing in Monday's U.S. Open qualifier in Toronto;

-- Long Beach State sophomore Ian Gilligan, the 2023 Big West Conference Golfer of the Year and conference champion who overcame a battle with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma that included seven rounds of chemotherapy at age 15; and

-- Adriel Abaoag, a 16-year-old junior at John Burroughs High School in Burbank who tied for third in the local qualifier at Crystalaire Country Club in Llano on May 2 with a 3-under 69, including an eagle;

Golf Channel will provide 10 hours of coverage of what has been dubbed "Golf's Longest Day," from 4-6 a.m., 9-11 a.m. and 3-9 p.m.

The U.S. Open will be played June 15-18 at the Los Angeles Country Club, the second time it will be played in Los Angeles and the first since 1948 when it was played at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.

City News Service