U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying Scores (Columbus, Ohio)

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Former Southeastern Louisiana University golfer Hugo Leon will compete against the best in the world as he qualified earlier this week for the U.S. Open that will be played June 17-20 at Pebble Beach, California.

Leon, a four-year letterwinner for the Lions from 2003-07, finished in a tie for fourth-place on Sunday at the U.S. Open sectional qualifying in Columbus, Ohio and was one of 15 players to qualify. Since leaving Southeastern, Leon has competed on the Canadian PGA Tour along with the Nationwide Tour. He qualified for the 2009 World Cup for his native Chile, finishing 12th overall

Leon finished ahead of veteran PGA golfers Rocco Mediate, Justin Rose, Jeff Sluman, Brad Faxon and Jeff Maggert, shot a 5-under-par 67 at Brookside Golf and Country Club before carding a 4-under 68 at The Lakes Golf and Country Club.

“This is great news for Hugo,” Southeastern head golf coach Tim Baldwin said. “Horacio (Hugo's brother) called me yesterday telling me that Hugo had a great start in the first round and he was going to be in position to qualify. Not only did he qualify, he finished ahead of some great professionals.

“Hugo has been working very hard on his game and it's starting to pay off. He wants this more than anyone I know. It's going to be fun to watch him compete.”

Leon joined the Canadian Tour last year and played in 14 events and making the cut 10 times. His best finish was a second-place effort at the Saskatchewan Open and added a third-place performance at the 2009 Desjardins Montreal Open.

Leon was a three-time All-Southland Conference performer and recorded a 74.39 stroke average in his career and ranks seventh in school history in career rounds played (114). The 2006 Cleveland Golf All-American Scholar captured team medalist honors as a sophomore with a 74.6 scoring average and was named to the SLC All-Academic squad in 2007.