Fort Vancouver grad Tibbits qualifies for U.S. Open

Vancouver native Spencer Tibbits shot a 7-under-par 137 over 36 holes Monday at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla to qualify for the 119th U.S. Open Championship that begins next week at the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Tibbits fired rounds of 67 and 70 at the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier, including a birdie on the par-5 16th hole that put him into a tie for second with fellow amateur Matthew Naumec, a senior at Boston College.

Tibbits parred the final two holes to close out a day that included 11 birdies with seven coming on his opening-round 67.

Eric Dietrich of Cheshire, Conn., won the qualifier by four shots (67-66).

The U.S. Open is June 13-16 in Pebble Beach, Calif. — the site of seven men’s major championships — and will be Tibbits’ first major. He’s two years removed from winning his third Washington Class 3A golf state title in a four-year prep golf career for Fort Vancouver High School and just completed his sophomore year on Oregon State’s men’s golf team. This spring, his 71.85 season average tied for sixth-best in Oregon State program history.

He was one of 18 amateurs competing Monday in the 55-golfer field vying for three U.S. Open spots from the sectional qualifier. Wine Valley is one of 12 golf courses throughout the United States, England and Japan holding U.S. Sectional Qualifiers.

Last month, Tibbits won a U.S. Open local qualifier at Bremerton’s Gold Mountain Golf Club, shooting a 7-under 65 to qualify for sectionals.

Also in the field Monday, Alistair Docherty, a Union High graduate who played golf at Chico State, tied for fourth (68-70) and is the first alternate from this sectional.

Docherty rebounded from a 17th-hole bogey that dropped him into seventh place with a birdie on 18 to climb back to fourth, just one shot below what turned out to be the qualifying line.

In April, Docherty won the Golden State Tour Reno Open to earn a spot in the PGA Tour Barracuda Championship next month, also in Reno. A 2012 graduate of Union, Docherty qualified for the state tournament all four years, and placed fifth as a senior.