Wes Short, 52, takes winding road to first U.S. Open

By his own admission, Wes Short, Jr. didn’t know if this day would ever arrive.

For decades, he gave everything he had to golf and held on to goals — playing in the Masters or U.S. Open — that sometimes felt like distant dreams. As year after year passed, a window of opportunity that seemed so wide when he was a high school senior trying to qualify for his first U.S. Open began shrinking at an increasingly fast speed.

But just as that window appeared to shut completely, he found a way in.

Short will be competing in his first U.S. Open this week at Oakmont and, at age 52, will being doing so as the oldest competitor in the field. It’s a professional highlight for a man whose undulating career has been anything but conventional.

“People that I grew up playing with kept me motivated,” Short said. “Eventually, things work out for me. I wish I’d have done it a little bit earlier in life, but sometimes, things are meant to happen a little later.”

The 34 years that separated Short from his first attempt at qualifying for the U.S. Open as an 18 year old to where he is now have been trying, filled with shortcomings, doubts and unexpected detours.

An Austin, Texas, native, Short spent one year at the University of Texas before he and his wife had a daughter and he left school. From there, he got a job working for his father, swinging a sledge hammer in a stone quarry in the unforgiving Texas heat. He would later return to golf, working as an assistant pro at two clubs in the area and teaching at a local driving range.

There were the moments where he wondered what his life would become, but, through his own drive and with the encouragement of friends, Short was eventually able to focus on a professional career. He spent time on the Hooters Tour and Nationwide Tour before earning a PGA Tour card in 2004 at age 40.

Initially, Short found success, winning the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas in 2005 and participating in the 2006 PGA Championship, his only previous major appearance. Around that same time, however, his back began bothering him, and lingering injuries kept him out of competition for several years.

Once he returned to play and joined the Champions Tour, Short experienced a resurgence of sorts, playing regularly, consistently making cuts and sometimes finishing in the top 10 of events.

And at an age when few would expect it, as if it were kismet, one of his long-held goals came into reach — albeit not without some drama. Short escaped his local U.S. Open qualifier in a playoff and, after a Champions Tour event in Des Moines, Iowa, he competed in a sectional qualifier in Powell, Ohio, on just two-and-a-half hours of sleep and at a course he had never before seen.

Utilizing the same dogged determination that carried him through his career, he qualified.

“I don’t think I’ve recovered yet,” Short said. “My legs are still barking at me right now.”

This week will be his first time playing at Oakmont, though he got a few tips on the course from Western Pennsylvania native Rocco Mediate, his playing partner at last week’s Senior Players Championship. If that advice doesn’t help, he’ll have a group of about 15 family members there to cheer him.

Short isn’t the only senior in the event, as his friend Jeff Maggert, who is two months younger than him, also is competing. But his story stands out as one that embodies the ideal of the U.S. Open — that anybody, even a 52 year old with one major appearance to his name, has a chance to make it.

“I just think I can still play a little bit, so I keep trying to qualify,” Short said. “Fortunately, I can write this one off that I at least have played in one U.S. Open.”

Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG.