Meet the New England golfers playing in the 2023 US Open
Three players with Massachusetts ties will represent the region at the Los Angeles Country Club.
Golfers from New England are a rare find at international tournaments — especially relative to those hailing from places like California and the American South — owing at least in part to the Northeast’s bitter winters and long offseasons.
Though this year’s US Open won’t offer a home crowd to its New England golfers — last year the tournament was held at The Country Club in Brookline — three players with Massachusetts ties will represent the region at the Los Angeles Country Club.
Vermont-raised Keegan Bradley, Wellesley’s Michael Thorbjornsen, and former Boston College golfer Christian Cavaliere will begin play at the US Open Thursday, with the first wave of players teeing off at 9:45 a.m.
Here’s what to know about this year’s New England players.
Keegan Bradley
Bradley’s seventh-place finish at last year’s US Open was an afterthought to many of his hometown fans. The crowd whooped and hollered and chanted “Kee-gan, Kee-gan” as he strolled to the green on the 18th hole Sunday.
“Man, I’ll remember that for the rest of my life,” Bradley said then. “It was really special. I’m happy that my family was here to see that, and it was just amazing.”
A Boston sports devotee, Bradley wore crisp white shoes that bore hallmarks of his favorite teams, including Celtics-green laces on his right foot, Bruins-gold laces on his left, and the Red Sox’ No. 27 of his wife’s uncle, Carlton Fisk.
He was in contention for the lead after the penultimate round.
Bradley, who hails from Woodstock, Vt., and attended Hopkinton High School, is currently ranked No. 24 in the world. He captured his first PGA Tour win in four years at the Zozo Championship outside of Tokyo last October. Since then, his best finish was a tie for 10th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
Michael Thorbjornsen
Just over a month removed from winning the Pac-12 championship, Wellesley native Michael Thorbjornsen will ship out to LA for the third US Open appearance of his young career.
A graduate of Wellesley High School, Thorbjornsen was named the 2023 Pac-12 Golfer of the Year and a first-team All-American following his junior season at Stanford. His 69.26 scoring average across 35 rounds was the second-lowest in program history.
Since winning the Pac-12 championship at the end of April, Thorbjornsen has been going practically nonstop. He and the Cardinal headed to Las Vegas for an NCAA regional in mid-May, where Thorbjornsen finished at 15-under 201, the best 54-hole score in his career.
At the NCAA championship at the end of May, Thorbjornsen shot an uncharacteristic 12-over 292 to finish tied for 68th in the nation.
From there, he headed to Summit, N.J., June 5 and earned medalist honors in a 36-hole qualifier, securing his spot in the US Open.
At the 2019 US Open, hefinished 79th as a 17-year-old (and reigning US Junior Amateur champion).
Christian Cavaliere
Though he’s not a born-and-bred New Englander, Cavaliere built roots in the Northeast as a golfer at Boston College from 2016-19, earning All-ACC Academic and All-New England honors. While at BC, he won three straight Westchester Amateur championships from 2017-19 and started a custom golf apparel company out of his dorm room.
When the COVID-19 pandemic sent students home in March 2020, Cavaliere continued to grow his apparel company, now called Tremont Sporting Co., out of his parents’ dining room in Katonah, N.Y.
The idea of playing golf professionally eventually went by the wayside as Cavaliere focused on his business. But he continued to play after work, and with the encouragement of friends, he found his way back to golf and signed up for a US Open qualifier in June.
“No expectations like that,” Cavaliere told PGATour.com, hinting that making the US Open was a surprise. “Local qualifying was my first competitive round since mid-September. It had been a while and I played well.
“It was just like, ‘Oh, I want to go compete again.’ I love competing and we’ll see where it goes.”
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com