Former Little Patriot's Big Dream Dies

Not a great couple days for Boston sports.

Celtics got clobbered in Game 2 of The NBA Finals. Bruins fired their head coach. And on Monday a former New England Patriot failed in his bid to become a two-sport star.

Danny Woodhead, whose golf odyssey drew the attention of his former team and even coach Bill Belichick, will not be returning to New England as he shot 10-over par and failed to qualify for next week's U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

One more step to reach the @usopengolf.

Let’s go, @danny__woodhead! pic.twitter.com/HeQft4h5l1
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) June 6, 2022

The former do-it-all Patriot was one of 77 golfers vying for eight spots in a 36-hole final qualifier at Springfield (Ohio) Country Club. To make the U.S. Open field, Woodhead needed to shoot 4-under or better.

A birdie on No. 4 put Woodhead at 1-under in the first round, but after that he slid the wrong way down the leaderboard. A bogey followed on No. 5, and he double-bogeyed the ninth hole to make the turn at 2-over. Three bogeys and another double-bogey dropped him to 7-over after 18 holes. He played better in his second round, carding a 3-over that nonetheless left him 14 shots behind the qualifiers.

Although Monday's event wasn't televised, Woodhead will be profiled as part of Golf Channel's From Many, One: Inside the 2022 U.S. Open Championship docuseries. The first episode airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.

Del Mar Country Club’s Rick Johnson, who has been Woodhead’s golf instructor, said following the two-round qualifying event that the former Patriot got sped up a bit with his tempo but will learn from the experience.

“The equivalent of this is when he was cut by the Jets,” Johnson said. “This will be another learning opportunity and zero percent a negative deterrent. This will light a bigger fire under him.”

Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback also got as far as sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open in 2010 but failed to make the tournament.

At least former Patriot Tom Brady and partner Aaron Rodgers won The Match 2022?