Washington golf club members travel to see head pro punch ticket to PGA Championship
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BANDON, Ore. – Austin Hurt drained a long birdie putt on the 18th green at Bandon Dunes, and a loud cheer followed. He had the most boisterous group of fans on the golf course all week at the 2026 PGA Professional Championship.
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Many of those fans were members of Wing Point Golf and Country Club in Bainbridge Island, Washington, where Hurt is the head pro. They made the trek about 450 miles south from the Seattle-area town to see their instructor compete in the national championship.
"They were here most of the week. A lot of them came down [Tuesday]," Hurt said. "A lot of my members, my wife. It was just a great, great time."
And they have reason to celebrate Wednesday night, as Hurt is headed to the PGA Championship for the second time in his career and the first since 2022. He finished the week in a tie for fourth at 1 under par, well inside the top-20 threshold to qualify for next month's major tournament in Pennsylvania.
Hurt fired an 8-under 64 in the first round on the Bandon Dunes course to take a commanding four-shot lead after the opening day. An even-par 71 on the Pacific Dunes course the next day helped him maintain that lead and put him in prime position to win the event, but things started to go a bit sideways from there. Battling a brutal wind along the Oregon coast, Hurt shot 77 in the third round and saw his cushion disappear, entering the final round tied for the lead.
"At the beginning of the week, after that first round, I knew there was a long way to go and I kind of just told myself, I've had opportunities to qualify for the PGA Championship and fallen out of that rhythm, so I tried to really stay within one shot at a time, and that's really the only way you're gonna survive out here," Hurt said. "If you start getting ahead or start thinking behind, especially coming down the stretch . . . if you fall off the horse a bit, it can turn bad real quick."
Hurt – who entered the event with some familiarity having played Bandon Dunes before – battled back Wednesday, carding a 74 in even worse conditions than the day before.
"It's actually the first time I've ever played a competitive event here," Hurt said. "It's very interesting under championship conditions. I had buddies texting me saying, 'I shot even at [Pacific Dunes],' and I'm like, yeah, good job. From the green tees."
Now he's headed to Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia in two weeks, where he'll compete among the best players in the world. And perhaps this time, he can make the weekend. In his lone PGA Championship appearance at Southern Hills in 2022, Hurt missed the cut by 15 shots. But for now, he just wants to recover from a grueling four days at one of the windiest places in all of golf.
"It feels great. It'll sink in here in a little bit, but I need to relax," Hurt said. "That's about as many punch shots as I can stave off for the foreseeable future."
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Washington golf pro Austin Hurt qualifies for PGA Championship