Brayden Garrison represented his club well.

In The Country Club’s first time hosting a USGA local qualifier, Garrison, the head teaching professional, not only advanced but also finished first out of 78 golfers. He shot a 66 and finished six under par, becoming one of four golfers to advance to the finally qualifying round for the U.S. Open.

Garrison, a former professional who hung it up to focus on being a father, was hired at the club last week, but he has been a member for a couple of years.

He likely would have played anywhere that hosted the event in East Tennessee, but when Garrison heard that it would be coming to TCC, he said it was a no-brainer.

Garrison used his course knowledge to his advantage. He birdied the first two holes and was able to settle in early despite the windy conditions.

“I had a lot of fun getting back into competition,” he said. “I knew first few holes out there are real scoreable, and you had to take advantage of the first five holes for sure. Gave myself a great opportunity to start the day. At that point, I kind of relaxed, because I at least got off to a good start. I knew the conditions were about as difficult as they could get for the golf course, with how hard the wind was blowing. So I knew if I just got off to a good start and managed the middle stretch of the golf course, which is pretty tough, and I knew people would be making mistakes all day. Thankfully, I had the course knowledge to put myself in the proper situations and places on the golf course. I ended up doing exactly what I wanted to do, and on the back nine, I was able to make a couple more (birdies).”

Garrison knew he was having a good round, but didn’t add his score up until the end. After finishing at or under par for the first 17 holes, he slipped up and bogeyed the 18th hole. However, he knew low scores would be hard to come by given the conditions, to ease the “sting” of his bogey. By the end of the day, there were only nine scores under par.

“It kind of left a bad taste in my mouth, and I kind of took away a little bit from what I accomplished on the 17 holes prior, but I was happy to come in and see where I was on the leaderboard, and just glad it held throughout the rest of the day.

“I think I had a two-shot lead with the guys that were at three and four under par,” he said. “They were still on the golf course. And I mean, with the wind blowing and how it was playing, I knew I was going to be safe, because achieving a score like that, especially in those conditions, was pretty cool.”

Garrison now moves into the final qualifying round for a chance to secure a spot in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York. This will be his fourth time advancing to the 36-hole final qualifier, and while he has come close to Shinnecock Hills, he has never advanced despite coming close on two occasions.

Garrison’s first selection for the final qualifier is BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach, Fla.

He’s previously done the qualifier in Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md., but he felt a change in scenery could benefit him.

“Once you get to these sectional qualifiers, pretty much everybody there is a Korn Ferry, a PGA player, or a European Tour player. The competition is tough as it gets, and it’s the same deal where there’s a limited number of spots. It’s a long day, 36 holes is a lot of walking. I’m keeping a good head on my shoulders, and I’m definitely in a great frame of mind this year, going into it. And hopefully going to a new spot and maybe going against some different competition would change up some mojo, and I can get a tee time at Shinnecock this summer.

“I’m going to have to have to practice a little more because I want to be ready for it,” Garrison said. “For some reason, I’ve been playing some really good golf lately, maybe becaus it’s not a primary concern in my life anymore, and I’m out there just having fun, which probably has something to do with it. I’m technically still a professional because I probably won’t get my amateur status back. So who knows what’s in store for me in the future. Just going to keep riding the wave and see what happens.”

Golfers impressed with TCC renovations

A series of recent renovations played a key role in the USGA’s debut at The Country Club.

Garrison said the feedback from fellow golfers backed that up.

“The stars aligned with it coming to The Country Club, and it was really cool, because I had a lot of friends that are still playing on Korn Ferry, PGA Americas, all that stuff — I probably had 15 or so friends come up after seeing it for the first time, and they were raving about the greens, the bunkers, everything. From a maintenance standpoint, it was fantastic. They were just a little unsure of where to hit tee shots, which a lot of these guys will show up to qualifiers, and just play it blind, but you certainly can’t do that at The Country Club. You’ve got to see it before you play it in competition.”

Garrison credited Greens Superintendent Corey Seals and his staff, who made TCC able to host the event.

“I mean, they’ve done a fantastic job treating the golf course with the crazy weather we’ve had the last few months and keeping the greens in absolutely perfect shape. Even though we’ve been in kind of a drought lately, I thought the course played extremely fair tee to green. It was great to hear from some of my friends, who a few years ago, played in tournaments like the Four-Ball up here, and their biggest complaint was the bunkers, and that was the first thing that the club addressed. Just as a simple renovation like that has completely changed the landscape of the course, because not only aesthetically, but how it plays and opportunities, or lack thereof, around the greens in the bunker certainly changes how you plot your way around that place.

“But now I think the club is certainly deserving of bigger events and USGA stuff coming through, because they’ve certainly put in the work, and they’ve made the proper adjustments and upgrades to the course that make it worthy of hosting bigger tournaments. It’s a great nod to The Country Club, and I was thrilled that I was able to represent the hometown and end up winning the thing.”