Who Is Beau Hossler?

In just his second US Open, seventeen year old Beau Hossler finds himself in a better position to win on Sunday than Tiger Woods and dozens of other top players.

So who is Beau Hossler?

His record in the National Championships is short: He missed the cut at Congressional in 2011, with his best round a 76. But in that, he’s already making his place in history. He’s the first high school student since Mason Rudolph in 1950-51 to qualify for consecutive U.S. Opens.

A win places him with Bobby Jones, Charles (Chick) Evans, Francis Ouimet, Jerome Travers and John Goodman as the only amateurs to win the tournament. No amateur has won since Goodman in 1933.

Golfweek has Beau Hossler as the number three ranked junior golfer.

This past April, Hossler won the Boys Division of the Heather Farr Classic in Scottsdale to take his fourth AJGA title. He finished that tournament with a 7-under-par 64 final round and a tournament-record total of 15-under 198.

Hossler won two consecutive AJGA golf events in the summer of 2011: the Trader Joes’ Junior Championship, where he shot all three rounds in the 60s, and the Stockton Sports Commission Junior Open. In 2009, he qualified for the US Amateur at the age of 14. In 2010, he won three Southern California PGA Toyota PGA Tour Cup tournaments. He also was that circuit’s Player of the Year with a 72.32 average.

Hossler currently attends Santa Margarita Catholic High School, were he will be a Senior this upcoming year. He carries a 4.0 average.  After his parents divorced when he was three, mother Amy married Matt Balsz, who has served as Beau’s every-day stepdad. Beau Sr, Amy and Matt have been identified in the gallery following them around.