Seven Former Pro Athletes Who Are Trying To Qualify For The 2026 U.S. Open At Shinnecock Hils

The U.S. Open is often widely regarded as the toughest test in golf each year, and the 126th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills will very likely come down to the greatest golfers in the world duking it out for victory.

But the beauty of the U.S. Open is that it is just that, open to anyone and everyone whose handicap meets a certain threshold and who thinks they have what it takes to qualify.

The qualifying process for those who haven’t earned exemptions through previous victories or strong play on the PGA or DP World Tour involves several rounds of qualifying tournaments.

Former Pro Athletes Hoping To Qualify For 2026 U.S. Open

This year, a number of former professional athletes in sports other than golf are hoping to find their way to Shinnecock Hills.

The list includes former NFL players, former MLB players, one tennis player, and one current NHL captain, each of whom has a golf game that most amateurs would absolutely kill for.

While no former pro athlete has ever actually made it all the way to the U.S. Open, NHL referee Garrett Rank did qualify for the 2018 event, which was also held at Shinnecock Hills, but shot 18-over for the first two rounds and missed the cut.

Brooks Koepka went on to win the event, marking the second of back-to-back victories.

These seven former athletes are all hoping to become the first to break through and actually make the U.S. Open itself in 2026.

Aaron Hicks

Former MLB outfielder Aaron Hicks spent the majority of his pro career with the New York Yankees, with whom he was renowned for his impressive outfield defense.

But Hicks is a great all-around athlete, as evidenced by his impressive golf skills. At pme point, Hicks had his handicap down to 0.9 while still playing Major League Baseball.

Hicks grew up playing in the same youth program and on some of the same courses as Tiger Woods.

“Everybody wanted to follow in the footsteps of Tiger, especially all the local kids, because he grew up where we did,” he said in a previous interview with the New York Times.

Tony Romo

By now, everyone knows all about former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo’s elite golf game.

Romo played 14 seasons for the Cowboys and made four Pro Bowls, all while keeping his golf game sharp. He currently boasts a 1.6 handicap, which is the best of his career.

He also won the 2018 American Century Championship, an annual celebrity event at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort, and Tiger Woods described Romo as the best celebrity golfer that he’s ever played with.

Romo once called golf his “joyful obsession,” explaining how he loved all the intricacies of trying to improve his golf game.

J.T. Miller

New York Rangers captain J.T. Miller didn’t exactly have the best season is in the NHL, as the Rangers were one of the league’s most disappointing teams. Although he did manage to win an Olympic gold medal with Team USA.

Now, Miller is hoping to find more success on the golf course, where he has an impressive 0.2 handicap. He tried and failed to qualify for the 2025 U.S. Open and Oakmont, and now he’s back again this time around.

Oddly enough, Miller is a left-handed shot on the ice but a right-handed golfer, which must work for him somehow, considering he’s both an NHL All-Star and a near-scratch golfer.

Mardy Fish

The lone tennis player on the list, Mardy Fish, may well be the best golfer. Fish, a multiple-time grand slam quarterfinalist who reached as high as No. 7 in the world in tennis, is a two-time American Century Championship winner and even appeared in a PGA Tour event in 2022, although he missed the cut.

Ironically, Fish said in an interview with Golf.com that he doesn’t even like golf all that much. He’s just good at it.

“I’m not saying it to be cocky. I have a really hard time going out and just swinging the club and, like, playing a [full] round,” he said. “I need either three really good friends that I wanna hang out with, or it needs to be a big-money game. I need the action.”

Clearly, making the U.S. Open qualifies as “the action” in this case.

Danny Woodhead

Danny Woodhead played 10 seasons in the NFL, split between the New York Jets, New England Patriots, San Diego Chargers, and Baltimore Ravens.

Now the former undersized running back is hoping to make a run at the U.S. Open, something he’s been working on for several years.

“I’ve been playing golf since I was young,” Woodhead told MyGolfSpy in 2022. “But once I retired (in 2017), I was like, let’s get serious. It’s a challenge for me. I wanted to see how good I could get.

“I’ve heard people say that I can’t do things for so long,” he added. “I like it when people question me. People said it would be hard to get to scratch. I never said it was going to be easy. But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean I’m going to say, ‘I guess I can’t.’”

Although making the U.S. Open may well be his toughest test yet.

Tyler Clippard

If Fish isn’t the best player on this list, then that honor goes to former MLB relief pitcher Tyler Clippard, who played in the big leagues for 15 seasons and made two All-Star Game appearanced for the Washington Nationals.

We couldn’t track down Clippard’s official handicap, but at least one site has him as a better-than-scratch golfer, and Clippard has stayed plenty busy playing tournament golf in his current home state of Florida.

On his Instagram page, Clippard even describes himself as a “Retired thrower of baseballs, hitter of golf balls.”

Shigetoshi Hasegawa

Shigetoshi Hasegawa had an impressive career in the NPB before signing with the then-Anaheim Angels in 1997, where he slotted in as a middle-of-the-rotation starter.

Hasegawa played nine seasons in the major leagues, making the All-Star Game in 2003 as a member of the Seattle Mariners.

He then turned to golf, where he appeared in two PGA Tour Champions events in 2019 and a third in 2020. He missed the cut in each of the three events, but it’s clear that Hasegawa takes his golf game extremely seriously.

At 57, Hasegawa would not only be the first former professional athlete to qualify for the U.S. Open, he’d also be one of the oldest amateurs to qualify for the event in modern history.