Congratulations to James Nicholas of Scarsdale, above, who qualified for the 125th U.S. Open Championship at Oakmont Country Club. The 2015 graduate of Scarsdale High School, finally broke through after several attempts, and will play in his first US Open this week.
Nicholas was the 2017 Metropolitan Golf Association Player of the Year “My game has been trending year over year. I have had this circled on my calendar since I was 15 years old,” said Nicholas afterward.
Nicholas added, “The MGA means so much to me. It’s the reason I am where I am. It prepared me in a way that I wouldn’t have been otherwise. To come back here and qualify for the U.S. Open at an MGA site, at Canoe Brook, is a dream come true.”
“I’m a lot better than I was when I was here two years ago, and three years ago,” said Nicholas. “I’ve gotten better as a pro every single year. Last year on the DP [World Tour], I learned a ton, especially how to hit it straighter.”
Before migrating to full-time golf, Nicholas had his eyes set on playing for the U.S. Olympic ice hockey team. His skills were good enough to play elite junior-level hockey. But he also played football and plenty of golf during the summer months. His dream was to be a two-sport athlete in college like his father, Stephen, who played football and baseball at Harvard before becoming a renown orthopedic surgeon like his father before him, James.
Both served as the team physicians for a number of New York-based professional sports teams, including the Jets, and each performed surgeries on Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, among others. Before that, Nicholas lettered in three sports in high school – golf, football and hockey.
A three-time, first-team All-State forward, Nicholas also was a member of the New Jersey Avalanche, a nationally ranked hockey travel team. He won the New York State High School Golf Championship in 2015.
Golf eventually went from a summer pastime to a full-time activity. Nicholas was named the 2019 Ivy League Player of the Year and since turning professional, he has slowly progressed up the professional tour hierarchy. He posted one top-10 finish in 22 starts overseas – a tie for fifth in the Italian Open – before gaining his Korn Ferry Tour card for the 2025 season.
His sister Erica won six NCAA Division III titles at Middlebury College in Vermont (four in field hockey and two in lacrosse) and another sister, Michaela, was a field hockey star at Franklin & Marshall. Younger brother, Brian, is a rising sophomore at Brown where he’s on the school’s Division I hockey team. And another brother, Stephen, played golf and football at Franklin & Marshall. Even his mom, Eileen, could Hang 10 in the swells off Long Beach Island back in the day.
“I told myself when I get to Yale if I don’t love what I’m doing, I can always get on the hockey team. I was being recruited by the coach. But I would have had to focus only on hockey. No golf. Playing two was always my dream since my dad played two. He played football and baseball at Harvard.”
Good luck this week at the US Open, and hopefully we will see him on the PGA tour one day.
Look for more golf stories at Yonkerstimes.com over the summer.
Editor’s Note: James shot a 1 under at the first round of the U.S. Open and made the cut and will play the weekend.
