Jaden Soong, 13-year-old golfer, makes final qualifying round for US Open…may become youngest golfer ever to play at major championship
- Soong, a seventh grader, is already the youngest ever to reach final qualification
- If he makes it, he would be the youngest person to ever qualify for the US Open
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Jaden Soong’s parents will have to call their son’s high school with an abnormal reason for his absence: the 13-year-old will be too busy qualifying for the US Open to attend.
Soong has the potential to become the youngest golfer ever to play at a US Open if he can finish well enough in Monday’s 36-hole final qualifying round at Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles.
The current record is held by Andy Zhang, who was 14 when he played at the 2012 US Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
The Burbank, California native is only five feet tall and weighs 115 pounds, but he can drive the ball up to 900 feet.
“I expect some people will be a little shocked and surprised,” Soong said USA today.
The 13-year-old seventh grader, Jaden Soong, will play in the final round of the US Open qualification
Soong drained a 12-foot putt into a playoff hole to reach this final stage of qualifying
The seventh division player is already the youngest player ever to advance to the final phase of qualification for the third major tournament on the calendar.
During the first qualifying round, the youngster downed a 12-foot putt in a playoff to reach this final round.
“I love golf more than anything else I can imagine,” Soong recently told the Los Angeles Times.
The Southern California native will tee off Monday at 11:55 a.m. Eastern Time with a chance to play in the major held just a half-hour drive from him at the Los Angeles Country Club.
“That would certainly be really cool and exciting,” Soong told USA Today. “I don’t really put too much of it in because I kind of want to go in there with no expectations.”
Despite his short stature, Soong has managed a top drive just 30 yards from Tiger Woods’ average distance of 310 yards.
“It’s pretty cool because golf is one of those sports where (size) really doesn’t matter,” Soong said. “I mean, it certainly matters, but not as much as baseball or football or something like that. It’s just really how strong mentally you are.”
Soong’s father, Chris, said Jaden was experiencing muscle spasms due to a growth spurt.
Soong would become the youngest player ever to qualify for the US Open
That led to an orthopedist recommending that he stop playing golf for about three months so he could work on his core muscles.
Soong saw an immediate improvement – he added about 20 meters of distance to his ride from the moment he stopped. Instead of hitting the ball to 220 yards, Jaden immediately drove it 240 yards.
Last December, Jaden started working more with a fitness coach and his riding has only gotten better.
Videos of Jaden at the age of seven crushing balls with his driver were posted to his Instagram page and led to some big deals within the golf industry.
TaylorMade started supplying Soong with clubs and Nike provided him with clothes. However, he receives no money for travel or his coaching.
“It adds up really fast,” Chris said. You’re obviously trying to dream big. But [Chris’s wife, Sandra] is much more realistic and just keeps everything on the ground. I’m more like, hey, the whole point of dreaming big is you never know, right?’
Jaden has a chance to make those dreams come true if he can qualify for the 123rd US Open, which kicks off on June 15 – with the final round on June 18.