On the morning of May 8, 2025, Eric Beringer woke up at 6 a.m. with one mission: survive Jericho National. With an 8:40 a.m. tee time, the weather cool and nerves high, he stepped onto the tee box knowing he had to go low if he wanted a shot at making it into the 125th U.S. Open at Oakmont.
He shot a 3-under 69, good enough to stay near the top of the leaderboard—but the waiting game had just begun. The last group wouldn’t tee off until 1:30 p.m., and Beringer spent the day in limbo. Would it hold up?
By 6:30 p.m., the final scores were in—and he was tied. A playoff would decide who moved on.
One Shot to Advance to Final Qualifying
As the playoff began, tension filled the air. Eric stepped up to hit, but something was off: his opponent’s caddy was standing directly behind him during his preshot routine, a surprising break from typical etiquette, where caddies are expected to stay “belt to belt” to avoid entering a player’s line of sight. Beringer didn’t hesitate. He spoke up immediately. Composure intact, he struck his tee shot, but it pushed right, landing in a fairway bunker. Meanwhile, Calen Sanderson, the local favorite, ripped his drive down the middle.
As they began walking toward their balls, Eric’s caddy Devin broke the tension with a wild observation: “He was sipping chardonnay during the round.” It was a local qualifier, and Eric was now ready for war.
What Eric didn’t know at the time was that Calen was playing on his home course. The crowd, more than 60 Jericho National members, was on Sanderson’s side. He and his caddy were already picturing a win.
Beringer had 275 yards uphill to the green. Pulling a 3-iron, he crushed it and left himself 60 yards in. Sanderson’s 3-wood came up just short, settling in the rough beside the green.
As Eric approached his wedge shot, the wind suddenly kicked up. Going high wasn’t an option. He clipped a low pitch into the bank, and it ran 30 feet past the hole. Sanderson responded with a shot to 8 feet, a makeable birdie.
The pressure was all on Eric. It was a double breaker—a make-it-or-go-home putt. He played it straight. The ball rolled, held its line through the first curve, caught the second break… and dropped.
While Eric prepped for the next hole, the pressure flipped. Sanderson stepped up to his birdie putt and missed. In front of his home crowd, he gave the playoff away. After nearly 12 hours at the course, Eric Beringer was moving on to final qualifying.
“This Is Extra Personal”
For Beringer, this was more than just a playoff win—it was a step toward redemption.
“The U.S. Open has always been important to me,” he said. “This is roughly my 12th time going to final qualifying with a few close calls. But since our wedding last year, it’s become extra important. It even always falls on our anniversary.”
In 2023, the U.S. Open was held at LACC, and sectionals were held at Pine Tree Golf Club—his home course in Florida. He missed the local qualifying that year because he was getting married. The day before sectionals, he shot 14-under across 27 holes in casual play. The next day, just 2-under would have advanced.
“Missing my best chance to get there added a layer of importance. But it also reminds me of the best night of my life. Since being wed, I’ve now advanced through both of my attempts at local qualifying.”
The Long Road, the Global Grind
Eric Beringer’s journey hasn’t been conventional—it’s been relentlessly global. He’s spent 13 years on PGA Tour-sanctioned international tours, including stints in China, Canada, and Latin America. His resume is filled with flights, flags, and fairways few people ever see.
“If you’re going to be a professional golfer, you have to love every aspect of it,” he says. “It means weeks to months on the road away from your family, being in foreign countries where you don’t speak the language, and battling week in and week out to beat other players who are truly great.”
“Fifteen years into this and I’m more obsessed with golf than I’ve ever been. I love the grind of getting better every day. You lose more than you win in this game. But the wins are what make all the time spent worth it.”
The Tech Behind the Mindset
One thing that sets Beringer apart isn’t just how far he hits it, it’s how far he thinks. He’s been experimenting with AI-based tools to improve everything from practice routines to mindset tracking.
“In professional golf, you’re always looking for an edge. Practice can get stale,” he says. “Sometimes you become unbalanced when one part of your game is struggling and you forget to nurture the parts that are thriving.”
“Using technology and AI has created a much more balanced approach. I feel it’s given me a more militant routine—at the click of a button.”
It’s part innovation, part mental reset. And in a game where small edges define major outcomes, it might just be the separator.
Who Is Eric Beringer?
Eric Beringer isn’t a household name yet, but within the professional golf grind, he’s someone many players know well. A Philadelphia native, Beringer has spent the last 15 years chasing the game around the world, carving out a career through perseverance, passion, and quiet consistency.
He’s competed on all three of the PGA Tour’s international circuits: PGA Tour China, PGA Tour Canada, and PGA Tour Latinoamérica. These tours are known as proving grounds for rising talent, but they’re also known for their brutal travel schedules, limited prize money, and highly competitive fields. It’s not glamorous, but Beringer has thrived in that chaos.
Off the course, Beringer has one of the most unique backgrounds in the game. A former high-level tennis player and professional poker player, he’s funded large parts of his golf journey through success in both sports. That crossover, from mental warfare at the poker table to clutch birdie putts in a playoff, is part of what defines him.
Now based in Narberth, Pennsylvania, and still deeply connected to the competitive golf scene, Eric isn’t just chasing a tour card. He’s chasing a dream that has been shaped by every missed cut, every country visited, and every putt made with his back against the wall.
What Does It Take to Make the U.S. Open?
The U.S. Open is unlike most championships in professional golf—it truly lives up to its name. Each year, the door is left open to anyone with the game and the nerve to walk through it. But that doesn’t make the road easy.
To even attempt to qualify, you have to meet one of two standards: be a professional or be an amateur with an official handicap index of 0.4 or lower. That’s a razor-thin margin, reserved only for the most elite amateurs in the world. From there, the process unfolds in two parts: Local Qualifying and Final Qualifying, known across golf as “Golf’s Longest Day.”
Stage 1: Local Qualifying
Local qualifying is the first major hurdle. In 2024, more than 9,500 players entered, spread across 109 one-day qualifiers from late April through mid-May. These events are just 18 holes, but there’s no margin for error. With fields that often include mini-tour pros, top college players, and grizzled veterans, you need to go low—and clean—to have a chance.
Each site sends forward only a small percentage of the field, typically around 5 to 6 percent. That often means only three to eight players advance, depending on the size and strength of the field. In 2024, for example, one local qualifier had 83 players competing for 4 spots. At a smaller site in Alaska, only 1 of 14 advanced.
Eric Beringer was one of those few. At Jericho National Golf Club, he carded a gritty 3-under 69 and then won a sudden-death playoff, earning his place in the next stage.
Stage 2: Final Qualifying – “Golf’s Longest Day”
Those who survive Local Qualifying move on to Final Qualifying. This is where the pressure ramps up. Final Qualifying is held at just 13 select locations worldwide, including 10 in the United States and 1 each in England, Japan, and Canada. Players compete over 36 holes in a single day, usually in early June. It’s a mental and physical marathon that has earned the nickname “Golf’s Longest Day.”
And the competition? It gets even steeper.
This field isn’t just made up of players who survived Local. It includes exempt entrants—players who don’t have to go through Local Qualifying at all. These are often PGA Tour pros, Korn Ferry Tour standouts, elite amateurs, and others who meet strict exemption criteria. In 2024, 407 players were exempt from Final Qualifying, joining 530 who advanced from Local.
From that group of 937 players, only 73 earned a spot in the U.S. Open—about 7.8%. The number of players who advance from each site varies based on both field size and strength, with more spots awarded at stronger or deeper locations.
Paths of the Pros
While most of the game’s stars are already exempt, thanks to past wins, major finishes, or rankings, some notable names still go through this gauntlet. In recent years, players like Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell, Lucas Glover, and Henrik Norlander have all attempted to qualify the hard way.
Starting in 2025, the USGA also introduced a new exemption pathway for top-performing LIV Golf players, granting the top individual in LIV’s standings (who isn’t otherwise exempt) an automatic spot in the U.S. Open.
A Dream That’s Still Open for Eric Beringer
With only 70 to 90 spots available through this two-stage process, qualifying for the U.S. Open is one of the most difficult feats in sports. Yet every year, a handful of players fight their way through both rounds and make the dream real.
For Eric Beringer, who has chased this moment for over a decade, this year’s run is about more than just another qualifier. It’s a return. A redemption. A chance to write his name into the same field as the best in the world, not through invitation, but by earning it the hard way.
And now, he’s just 36 holes away.
