As David May watched the U.S. Open on television this weekend, he pictured himself walking Oakmont's illustrious fairways.

A week ago, the Clemson junior was one step away from making that vision a reality.

May, an Auburn native, participated in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier last Monday in Rockville, Md. A few weeks before, he was the medalist at a local qualifier in Blythewood, S.C. after leading all golfers with a 67.

May didn't play as well as he'd have liked, shooting a two-round total of 150 - 10 strokes behind the qualifying score.

“I didn't play like I wanted to,” May said. “But it was a good experience.”

May was paired with John Kimble, who's ranked sixth on the Nationwide Tour money list. Playing alongside an experienced professional had its own benefits.

“He didn't play that great either, but it was cool,” he said. “It was interesting to compare our games and see what the differences were ... I actually felt like the guys I played with from the Nationwide Tour - I definitely didn't see a lot of differences.”

May has been getting plenty of big-time experience playing for the Clemson University golf team. He is a two-year starter with a 74.26 average his freshman year and a 74.15 his sophomore campaign. His stroke average was third on the team last year.

“My swing's been good; I've been working hard at it,” he said. “It was up-and-down for a while but it's starting to get better. I've been playing in a lot of tournaments and have a lot more scheduled this summer.”

May currently is playing in a tournament in Rhode Island and just took part in the Monroe Invitational in Rochester. He'll be heading back down south in three weeks to play some more tournaments and hopefully earn a spot on the Walker Cup team - the Ryder Cup equivalent for amateurs.

But the U.S. Open will have to wait, at least for another year.

“These guys have a lot of experience, that's the main thing,” May said. “There's a lot of good players out there.”

Two of those good players include PGA Tour veterans Fred Funk and Joey Sindelar, the two qualifiers from the Rockville site. While Sindelar went on to miss the cut at the Open, Funk was in contention for the first two rounds before finishing tied for 30th at 17 over.

“It took 4-under to make it that day,” May said. “It was very do-able ... I just didn't play good. I felt like the scores were there, it just wasn't my day.”

But missing out at the qualifier didn't stop May from watching every round of the U.S. Open. He even had a vested interest in one of the players.

“I had to watch it. It was fun watching Tiger (Woods) battle it out,” May said. “I was pulling for (Aaron) Baddeley. We work with the same swing coach, Mike Bennett. I've met him a few times, and he's a good guy.”

While playing golf professionally remains a goal for May, missing this treacherous Open wasn't all that big of a deal. Especially with the length of that rough.

“I tell you what, that looked hard,” he said. “I've never seen it before. Obviously you've got to hit the ball in the fairway and I do that pretty well. But it's so hard, I don't know what would have happened if I played there. But I wouldn't care, it'd be really cool.”