BROOKLINE, Mass. – Luke Gannon didn’t pick up a golf club until he was 13. He was barely drafted, averaged nearly 77 in his first two years of college golf, and worked as a janitor at his church to keep his dream alive. Without a frank conversation with his wife, Ellyn, he might not even have made it to the final qualifiers for this year’s US Open. On Thursday, Gannon will play at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
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The US Open is for dreamers like Luke Gannon. This is what makes this championship unique. There is nothing like it in sports. An accountant, club pro, or mini-round grinder can produce three good rounds (18 in Local Qualifiers and 36 in the Finals) and blast their way into one of the game’s four biggest events.
Gannon grew up in Wichita, Kansas with a passion for baseball. No one in his family played golf. One summer day when he was 13, he and his brother were bored, so they went to play at Wichita State University. Gannon quickly fell in love with the game. Playing nine holes after school became routine, and by his freshman year of high school he was often hitting the 80s. not his doorstep, even after averaging 71 as a senior.
Enter Adam Tannehill, a member of The United Methodist Church, where Luke’s father, Jeff, was the pastor. Because he didn’t play golf and knew Tannehill was a former mini-tour player, Jeff asked his parishioner to take his son for a game. Tannehill remembers Luke arriving on the course with a set of clubs from Wal-Mart. However, it wasn’t long before Tannehill saw big improvements, and when Luke was a junior he offered to help him with the recruiting process, sending emails and videos to coaches across the country. . A Division I school responded.
Southern Illinois golf coach Justin Fetcho recalls the first time he saw Gannon. The high school game he was attending would be over, but after witnessing a few shots, Fetcho had seen enough. “I was convinced of the young man he was,” Fetcho says, “and I figured he might come in with a little chip on his shoulder.”
Maybe it was because nothing had come easily. Hard work and helping out at church were instilled in the Gannon children from day one. Luke was 13 when he started as a church janitor, working 20 hours a week. “Stripping wax from floors is really hard,” he says of the job he held for 10 years. “I wouldn’t recommend doing that.” The work ethic that his parents instilled in him never left him, even during his university years. When he returned home for a break, he resumed cleaning floors and organizing funerals, among other things. He was saving every penny in hopes of pursuing his dream of playing on the PGA Tour. Even after turning pro, he would work for two weeks and then take two weeks off to play events.
The struggles were real when Gannon arrived in Carbondale. He failed to earn a spot on the five-man travel team for the first two events, but what happened next confirmed to Fetcho that he made the right call in recruiting Gannon. While the Salukis were on the road, Gannon went to work, just like all those years at church. He made his way into the travel team. Although he averaged nearly 77 as a freshman, he helped change the attitude of the team. Southern Illinois turned into a scrappy, hard-working team. The Salukis won the Missouri Valley Conference title, the first in program history.
Gannon has improved every year in southern Illinois; as a senior, he cut six shots off his average scoring in his first season. Fetcho calls Gannon a “walking by example” guy. He was almost always the first player in the gym or the shooting range – and one of the last to leave. He never won an individual event, but believed he had shown enough potential to explore a career in professional golf. Again he relied on Tannehill, this time to navigate the mini-touring scene.
It was an inauspicious start. In 2019, Gannon traveled to St. Louis for his first pro event, a Monday qualifier. He was in the final group of the day, paired with PGA Tour veteran Andrew Loupe. It was a windy day, and on the 1st hole, Gannon had “the worst nosebleed of my life”. Blood ran down the shirt he bought for his professional debut, then down his pants and all over the green. Having no chance of qualifying, Loupe retired on the 9th hole. Gannon played alone until he joined the group in front of him. He introduced himself explaining why he was covered in blood. He signed for a 75, missed qualifying by a mile, and was covered in blood. And work beckoned. He was to return to church the next day. Welcome to pro golf, kid.
Life isn’t necessarily glamorous for the spouse of a mini-tower grinder, either. Ellyn Gannon knows this all too well. She works as a nanny to pay the rent for the couple’s small apartment in Mahomet, Ill. things that happen daily. If he and I need to discuss issues, it’s because it’s important.
Luke was considering skipping final qualifying for the US Open. Money is always a consideration for a mini-tower crusher, and hotel rooms in San Francisco, the site of its final qualifier, can be expensive. Gannon had just missed the cut in the first round of the Canadian Tour by five strokes and was struggling with his game. “If I had been able to get a refund on my flight [to San Francisco], I probably would have retired,” he says. But when he phoned home, Ellyn decided it was time for one of those heart-to-heart conversations.
“I told him we weren’t spending time apart so he was halfway,” she recalled. “It was either go all the way or stop playing. I knew he could get through. I believe in him so much.”
Luke flew to San Francisco.
The Olympic Club has hosted the US Open five times and last year the US Women’s Open was held there for the first time. Although the setup for qualifying was not difficult at the US Open, it was by no means easy. Gannon came in the last nine of the 36-hole qualifier five shots on what would be the qualifying number. He was long to pass, especially after missing a six-footer for a birdie on the 10th hole. After a quick score check on his phone, Gannon knew he had to do something special on his final eight holes. Then he composed his corner game.
He hit a 10-foot corner on the par-5 11th and birdied it. On the next, he hit a six-foot corner and converted again. Pars on the 13th and 14th slowed the momentum, and when Gannon checked the scores again on the 15th tee, he figured he needed at least three more birdies. He made a 25-foot putt that fell dead on the 15th, then hit a corner to nearly hit the beach on the 16th for another birdie.
The 17th hole of the Ocean Course at Olympic is a well-bunkered, slightly uphill par-3 with a tricky green. Playing over 200 yards into the wind, it would hardly be described as a birdie hole. Luke hit a 5 iron from 12 feet. The putt lands perfectly.
A gritty par on the demanding finishing hole led to a torturous hour-long wait to see if his 36-hole total of 6-under par (68-68) would be good enough. Back in Illinois, Ellyn was pacing. She had gotten used to living her day when Luke was playing, but with access to the live score and knowing that Luke was on the hunt, she couldn’t sit still. Ellyn was out for a walk when her phone rang. She was standing on a beautifully lit bridge and the song she was listening to in the driveway was playing through her headphones. It was the stuff of Hollywood movies. Luke Gannon was heading to the US Open. In fact, he needed those three late birdies. One less would have dropped him in a 3-on-1 playoff for last place.
According to Ellyn, there was a good reason Luke was reluctant to go to San Francisco: he was nearly broke. He had received a sponsor exemption for the Korn Ferry Tour event in Wichita, which is played the same week as the US Open. A guaranteed departure. The ability to deposit money into the bank account. “He was putting all his eggs in that basket,” Ellyn said of Open qualifying. “If he didn’t do well, it could have been the end of his playing days.”
Instead, it’s off to Brookline, Mass., for Game 122 of the US Open. Luke will be a grinder, just like he did back then at The United Methodist Church. Ellyn will pace, this time off the ropes. No doubt about it, the Gannons are all in the game.
