Austen Truslow
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One-Handed Chipper Austen Truslow Qualifies for U.S. Open
By kyle koster | jun 6, 2023.
Yesterday saw one long day of golf as U.S. Open qualifiers took place all over the country . The honor of playing in a major is plainly obvious, but now there's also the opportunity to build upon the Cinderella story started by Michael Block when he effectively stole the PGA Championship spotlight . Twenty-seven-year-old Austen Truslow, competing at Pine Tree Golf Club in Boynton Beach, Fla, inched closer to that dream by toasting his challengers to earn a spot in Los Angeles next weekend.
He'll be easy to identify because the broadcast usually does that for us. And he chips one-handed. Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner documented the unusual swing and strategy yesterday, which opens up an incredible can of worms in the replies. By the sixth or seventh comment, a know-it-all will assure you that, actually, chipping one-handed is better than two-handed and the 99.999 percent of people who use both limbs are doing it wrong.
Austen Truslow is lapping the field here at the US Open qualifier in SoFla — and he also chips one-handed?! Will be a blast to watch him navigate LACC. pic.twitter.com/sAzgnEvaF7 — Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) June 5, 2023
Truslow has participated in a few PGA Tour events previously and spent all of 2020 on the Korn Ferry tour.
Asked after his round about why the technique, Truslow said he originally started using the method as a drill to improve his chipping, but gradually he gained so much confidence in it, it became part of his game.
“I figured I needed to fix something or else I couldn’t play at the top level,” he said. “I slowly implemented it in play, then implemented in tournaments and it stuck.
“I’m hitting more shots with two hands these days, but I still have a lot of confidence with the one hand.”
As a reminder, the winner of last year's U.S. Open, Matt Fitzpatrick, usually chips cross-handed. So we're trending in the direction of an Outback Steakhouse here where there are no rules, only what works. Hell, maybe next year a no-handed chipper can make the field.
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Austen Truslow stressed atop KFT leaderboard? ‘I kind of like it’
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Austen Truslow co-leads by two shots midway through the Korn Ferry Tour’s TPC San Antonio Challenge at the Canyons.
Truslow carded six birdies as part of a 5-under 67 Friday. At 11 under, he and Paul Barjon top a leaderboard that also includes three players tied for second at 9 under – Lee Hodges, Brett Coletta and Roberto Diaz.
“This is the first time I’ve been in contention on the Korn Ferry Tour,” said Truslow, who lives in Orlando, Florida. “It’s pretty exciting.”
Truslow was once a highly ranked recruit but left Virginia after just one semester, deciding to return home and enroll at Rollins College, though he didn’t play golf there. He turned pro in 2015 and had difficulty finding status, grinding in mini-tour events, Monday qualifiers and Q-Schools.
“Didn’t get through every Q-School I played for four or five years,” said Truslow, who finally earned conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour at Q-School last winter.
Truslow didn’t compete in a world-ranked event until last year, when he spent most of his time bouncing among tours in Asia and Europe with a few PGA Tour starts sprinkled in. His third-place finish on the Asian Development Tour in April 2019 and a T-10 showing at last year’s Puerto Rico Open remain his only career top-10s as a pro.
“I felt like my game was good when I graduated high school and that I could play with the pros,” Truslow said. “But I wasn’t ready. I thought I was ready, but in these last six years I’ve learned so much about myself and about the game.”
Truslow began this season on the Korn Ferry Tour with a T-34 finish in Panama before missing four straight cuts. He is No. 172 in points, though a win Sunday would bump him to 15th.
“I’ve won a bunch of mini-tour events, even this year, so it’s not like I haven’t been in contention to win a tournament, but this is different,” Truslow said. “I definitely have more pressure on me than I normally do. But I think that I’d be in the wrong profession if I didn’t welcome this stress. I stress myself out a lot, and I think I kind of like it. I don’t know, it just keeps me alive. I’ll enjoy this weekend.”
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