Indiana dentist Matt Vogt, who caddied for five seasons at Oakmont in his younger years, has justly made headlines as the ultimate feel-good story for this week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont.

But he isn’t the only underdog to consider supporting at America’s national championship.

The U.S. Open is golf’s ultimate meritocratic test, with a hearty portion of the field having earned their spot at Oakmont via 36-hole Final Qualifying on "Golf’s longest day" – and some (like Vogt) advanced through 18-hole Local Qualifying off the top. These qualifiers will go toe-to-toe with the game’s heavyweights like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, chasing the U.S. Open title across four rounds at Oakmont, the historic Pittsburgh venue, which should offer its typical staunch test for the 156-player field.

It's rare, but sometimes a lesser-known qualifier can factor on the U.S. Open leaderboard’s front page deep into the weekend. There’s perhaps no better example than Jason Gore in 2005, who advanced through both Local and Final Qualifying as the 818th-ranked player in the world (and at just No. 58 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List at the time) to earn a spot in Sunday’s final pairing alongside Retief Goosen. Gore struggled to a final-round 84 but captured the golf world’s collective heart throughout the week at Pinehurst No. 2.

“Gore is John Daly without the cigarettes and Coke jones, a nobody who has become a golf somebody in three short days,” wrote ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski before the final round in 2005.

Who will be this week’s Gore? Here are five Cinderellas for this week’s U.S. Open, some of whom could factor early on the leaderboard – and perhaps throughout the week at Oakmont.

Brady Calkins

Calkins, 30, hails from the Pacific Northwest and has been described as a Dakotas Golf Tour legend. It’s for good reason; he was named the circuit’s Player of the Year in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and owns seven Dakotas Golf Tour titles overall. This week, he aims to channel that form on golf’s biggest stage.

Calkins, who advanced through Final Qualifying in Walla Walla, Washington, honed his game at Riverside Golf Club, a public track in Chehalis, Washington. He was a high school baseball pitcher and played one season of college golf at Spokane Community College before turning pro at age 19 and embarking on a mini-tour journey. Calkins held Korn Ferry Tour membership in 2023 but made just four cuts in 16 starts; he hasn’t played in an event recognized by the Official World Golf Ranking since 2023 (he had a win and two second-place finishes on the 2024 Dakotas Tour). His lone previous PGA TOUR start came at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club, where he missed the cut.

Calkins’ non-golf jobs have included hydroseeding and construction; the construction job entailed fixing an area under a bridge in his hometown of Chehalis, and he took his clubs to work each day so he could sneak off to a nearby field at lunch and hit golf balls in his work boots. He has caddied for Michael Phelps, and he has spent time living in his car. Calkins has seen a bit of everything – an all-American tale worthy of the U.S. Open.

Grant Haefner

Haefner, 27, played college golf at Division II Wayne State and has never competed in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event. What better place to debut than at the U.S. Open?

Haefner advanced through Final Qualifying in Springfield, Ohio, draining a curling 70-footer from the back fringe on his final hole that solidified his spot – and then leaping into the air before high-fiving his caddie with palpable glee. Haefner, who competes regularly on the Minor League Golf Tour in South Florida, previously advanced through Local Qualifying in Michigan.

Haefner has earned four Minor League Golf Tour titles, most recently in February, after playing four years at Wayne State and then a fifth year at Jacksonville University in Florida. Haefner, who often sports a bucket hat (as he did in Final Qualifying), previously competed at Oakmont in the 2021 U.S. Amateur. He returns this week.

“You make these dreams when you’re younger, or you think you can do it, and when you pull it off and it’s become a reality, it’s hard to comprehend or put into words,” Haefner told WWJ Newsradio 950 in Detroit.

Justin Hicks

Hicks, 50, is the oldest player in this week’s U.S. Open who advanced through Final Qualifying. If the name rings a bell, perhaps you’re thinking back to the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, where Hicks shared the opening-round lead in his first PGA TOUR start since 2004. Hicks never won on TOUR in 117 starts (although he won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour), and he’s no longer a full-time touring pro.

After retiring from professional golf, Hicks became an instructor at Stonebridge Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida, and he qualified for this year’s PGA Championship with a T9 finish in the PGA Professional Championship. Hicks qualified for Oakmont via Final Qualifying in West Palm Beach, Florida, finishing ahead of notable pros like Sam Ryder, Nicolai Højgaard, Neal Shipley and former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.

Hicks’ day job is robust: He oversees clinics and multi-day golf schools while also offering daily private lessons, and his certifications range from the HackMotion swing analyzer to Sportsbox AI motion capture. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan alum has managed to sharpen his game enough to qualify for his national championship.

It will be a stout challenge at Oakmont, but at the very least, Hicks will have ample stories to share with the Stonebridge membership when he returns to work next week. And if he’s contending into the weekend, there won’t be a much better viewing location than the Stonebridge clubhouse.

Mason Howell

Howell is just 17 years old, and he stands No. 470 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (he’s eighth on the Rolex AJGA Rankings). He recently attended his high school’s junior prom. Surely he’d have other pursuits this summer, perhaps in junior golf or being a kid, rather than attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open?

Think again. Howell carded rounds of 63-63 at Final Qualifying in Atlanta to qualify for his first major championship as the youngest player in the field. A few weeks after helping his high school (Brookwood High in Thomasville, Georgia) win its fourth state title in five years, he’s set to mix it up against the Schefflers and McIlroys of the world at Oakmont.

Howell received his first set of clubs at age 5, and he quit playing tennis and baseball at age 12 to focus on golf, reported ESPN. His love for the game extends beyond his first clubs – at age 4, he dressed up as Bobby Jones for Halloween. Jones is a four-time U.S. Open winner and also finished runner-up four times, famously competing as an amateur – as will Howell this week.

“This experience is unlike something I've ever done before,” Howell told ESPN. “So it's absolutely crazy."

Scottie Scheffler

(Just kidding!)

Matt Vogt

We’ve already written about Vogt this week, but this file would be remiss without inclusion of the 34-year-old Indiana dentist who emerged as Final Qualifying’s true Cinderella tale from the Walla Walla, Washington site. Vogt spent five seasons caddying at Oakmont – often playing the course on Monday evenings, an appreciative caddie perk – and he briefly played collegiate golf at Butler but never seriously considered professional golf as a career.

Vogt earned his undergraduate degree in biology and then attended the Indiana University School of Dentistry. He opened his own practice in 2018 (The Dentists at Gateway Crossing outside Indianapolis) and now does clinical work two to three days per week (splitting time with fellow dentist Dr. Maria Summers) while also consulting fellow dentists on starting their own practices. He’s ranked outside the top 2,000 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking and would’ve been nowhere near the short list of most likely amateurs to qualify for the U.S. Open.

But he did it – and he’s set for Thursday’s opening tee shot at 6:45 a.m. Why not?

“One of my goals in doing all this this week, besides obviously doing the best I can in the golf tournament, is just to inspire some people,” Vogt said, “to let them know that it's never too late to try to pursue something in your life that you think is really cool and it's something you want to do that other people think might be foolish or might be a waste of your time or maybe don't believe in you.”

That’s why.