Season comes to an end for Crawford at US Open | The Triangle

Season comes to an end for Crawford at US Open

Photo courtesy Drexeldragons.com
Photo courtesy Drexeldragons.com

Despite missing the cut to qualify for the final two rounds, Drexel graduate Chris Crawford had an eventful week at the 2016 United States Open men’s golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club in Plum, Pennsylvania.

His U.S. Open run on the sixth hole of the practice round June 14 when Bill Henaghan, Crawford’s caddie and family friend, slipped and fell in a bunker, which resulted in a fracture of Henaghan’s left ankle.

The injury he sustained prevented Henaghan from being on the bag for Crawford during the actual tournament.

Despite the absence of his longtime caddie, Crawford got off to a strong start in the first round of the tournament June 16. Crawford parred the first 5 holes in the first round, which included four par-4s and a par-5.

Ironically, the first hole the Crawford bogeyed in the round was hole 6, the same hole that stole away his long-time caddie. In response to the bogey, Crawford posted back-to-back pars on holes 7 and 8 respectively. Following a second bogey on hole 9, Crawford finished his front-nine at 2-over-par.

While his performance was relatively consistent throughout the front-nine, Crawford’s back-nine was a roller coaster. After scoring pars on holes 10 and 11, Crawford carded a double bogey on hole 12, which pushed him to 4-over-par for the day. Crawford rebounded on hole 13 with a birdie that brought his score back down to 3-over-par.

Following a par on hole 14, Crawford shot a double-bogey on hole 15 and a bogey on hole 16, which marked the first time in the tournament that Crawford scored higher than par on consecutive holes.

On the final two holes of the first round, Crawford birdied hole 17 and bogeyed hole 18. He finished the day with a 6-over-par 76.

Similar to how he did on the first day of the tournament, Crawford had a strong front-nine in the second round June 17. Crawford knocked in seven pars and two bogeys to once again shoot 2-over-par on the front-nine.

However, the back-nine was yet again a struggle for Crawford. The Drexel graduate opened round two’s back-nine by carding 3 consecutive bogeys on holes 10, 11 and 12. Crawford was able to settle down as he shot 5 straight pars on holes 13 through 17.

On his last hole of the day, Crawford shot a bogey, which brought his score to 6-over-par for the second round and 12 over-par for the tournament. Despite hovering around the cut-line until halfway through the second round, Crawford ended up missing the two round cut of 147 by 5 strokes.

While he was unable to make the cut, Crawford was particularly impressive in his short game. In the two rounds he competed in, Crawford averaged 1.67 putts per green, while the field averaged 1.71 putts per green.