Sewickley Academy grad Li advances to U.S. Open Sectional

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, May 14, 2023 | 7:36 PM

Sewickley Academy graduate Jason Li became the fourth player from the Pittsburgh area to qualify for the United States Golf Association Sectional qualifiers in late May and early June.

Li qualified at a local qualifier May 2 at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, N.J., by shooting a 69.

Li is a Carnegie Mellon graduate.

He joins Latrobe native Will Wears, former Sewickley Academy teammate John F. Aber and Fox Chapel grad Amani D’Ambrosio.

The United States Golf Association’s 123rd U.S. Open has numerous qualifiers going on.

The Pittsburgh qualifier will be Monday at The Club at Nevillewood. There are four spots available from the Nevillewood qualifier.

Some of the local players entered in the qualifier include Erik Bertrand, Nick Turowski, Gregor Meyer, Mike Van Sickle, Sean Knapp, Tom Nettles, Brady Pevarnik, Devin Gee, Austin Lemieux, Justin Moose, Rick Stimmel and Louis Olsakovsky.

The Local Qualifying began April 17 and May 16. The U.S. Open will be played June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club.

Wears is the grandson of the late Arnold Palmer. Aber is a junior at Wittenberg, and D’Ambrosio is a junior at Barry.

U.S. Women’s Open qualifier

The USGA U.S. Women’s Open qualifier was held May 9 at Shannopin Country Club.

The two golfers who qualified for the 78th U.S. Women’s Open on July 6-9 at Pebble Beach, Calif., were Angela Zhang and Amelia Garvey, both shooting a 1-over 143.

Mia Hammond and Sarah Kemp will be alternates after they also shot 143.

Zhang, 14, snagged the berth by sinking a birdie putt on the second playoff hole.

Garvey is a former Southern Cal player. She birdied the first playoff hole.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Latrobe, Sewickley Academy