‘Oh, it’s the tax haven!’ U.S. Open low am took unique path from Cayman Islands

OAKMONT, Pa. -- When Justin Hastings won the Latin American Amateur Championship in January, he unlocked a number of career-changing benefits, including exemptions into the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship.

On the course at Oakmont Country Club this week, some of his peers' curiosity has been piqued by his uncommon nationality. Hastings hails from the Cayman Islands, the British territory in the Caribbean where there are roughly 87,800 people and 27 golf holes.

"There's a few that have never heard of it, so that's always a funny one," Hastings said Saturday. "There are a few that have heard of it in movies and say, ‘Oh, it's the tax haven!' And then the conversation goes, ‘How did you get into golf,' and I never have a good answer for them."

Now the Cayman Islands can be known for something besides their lenient tax rate. Hastings was the only amateur out of 15 to make the cut at Oakmont Friday, making him the low amateur of the U.S. Open, a promising achievement as he presses forward in his career.

Hastings is the first player from the Cayman Islands to compete at the U.S. Open, let alone make the cut. He shot 73-73, beating the field's scoring average both days, and added a third 73 Saturday afternoon.

Hardly considered an athletic hub in the region, the Cayman Islands have produced two of the past four Latin American Amateur champs (Aaron Jarvis, 2022). Hastings credited his development to his coach back home, Tim Dwyer.

"I'm lucky enough to have a really good support system down there," Hastings said. "(Dwyer) has been amazing for me since I was 15, 16 years old. He's been running the national team for a while, and he's out here with me. So the two of us have kind of had a great time the last few years getting to where we are now."

Hastings had a decorated career at San Diego State (he said he hasn't ribbed Xander Schauffele this week for breaking Schauffele's program record for career scoring average). And the 21-year-old rated as one of the top putters in the U.S. Open field before making a string of bogeys on his back nine Saturday.

Though Hastings considers himself a good green-reader, he's leaned on Oakmont caddie Aaron Williams to help him navigate a course he's seeing for the first time this week.

"There's a tricky pin (at No. 7) today on a bunch of slope and I hit a good long iron in there behind the pin, and it's this big bender," Hastings recalled. "The read I had, it was funny, we were both talking about a piece of sand (to aim at on the green) but we were talking about two totally different pieces of sand, and his piece of sand was about 4 feet higher than mine.

"And so thankfully he ended up pointing it out and I had to kind of do like a reset and be like, ‘Woah, like, it's way out there?' Sure enough, I hit it there and I left it one inch short in the jaws, but I mean, my ball would have been 10 feet low had I hit it on my line."

He carded at least one bounce-back birdie in each of the first three rounds, revealing an even-keeled mentality. Hastings said he performs best when the lights are brightest, and a big piece to that is patience.

"It's so important not to ride the highs and lows out there because you'd just be so emotionally exhausted," he said, "so I think when I make those bogeys you just have to do a really good job of taking a deep breath on the next tee and understanding that every single player in the field is making a bunch of bogeys. And if you can come out here and play the next three holes even or even throw in a birdie in there, then you've more than made up for that bogey you've made."

Hastings plans to play on his exemption at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, then turn pro and begin his career on the PGA Tour Americas.

For now, he gets the opportunity to take one more trip around Oakmont with Williams on Sunday before he's presented with the low amateur medal alongside the overall champion.

"I haven't done a whole lot of thinking about it," Hastings said. "I think if you try to think about things other than the golf course while you're out there, it'll kick your butt pretty good. So I've been trying to stay as tunnel-visioned and as focused as I can. But yeah, I mean, that's a big goal I came in here with, so I'm pretty excited to have the opportunity to do that."

--Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media