Westchester’s James Nicholas chasing home-state U.S. Open moment

James Nicholas has been here before, so he’s doing his best not to get overly excited. 

The 29-year-old, who grew up in Scarsdale, qualified for his first U.S. Open a year ago at Oakmont, where he shot a 1-under-par 69 in the opening round, which had him tied for sixth. 

Nicholas followed that with a 78 in the second round, which was enough to make the cut and play the weekend, finishing tied for 61st at 19 over par. 

This time around, Nicholas, who plays his golf on the Korn Ferry Tour, expects more from himself in what he hopes are the next three rounds. 

He opened with a 1-over-par 71 on Thursday at Shinnecock and is tied for 29th entering Friday’s second round, trailing leader Wyndham Clark who is 6-under through 16 holes as his opening round was suspended due to darkness. 

“Last year after Round 1, I was T-6 in the U.S. Open, then Round 2, I struggled, because I put all that pressure onto myself, and you have expectation,’’ he said. “I talked to my mental coach, Joe Perron, about fear of failure. It’s something that I struggle with. I want to do so well. Once I put myself in position, you get scared, you have this fear of failure.’’ 

Nicholas is leaning into his 2025 Oakmont experience to make his Shinnecock experience better. 

“I got my first taste of a U.S. Open last year at Oakmont, and that was a lot different than this year for many reasons, one being this is my home state,’’ Nicholas said Thursday. “You dream about playing in your home state, your home U.S. Open.’’ 

Accentuating this experience of playing near home with family and friends in the gallery, Nicholas struck the first tee shot of the 126th U.S. Open at 6:45 a.m. amid the morning fog, something he called “an honor.’’ 

“You dream of hitting the first tee shot under some pressure,’’ he said. “I didn’t hit the best one, but I ended up making a par and just to kind of continue the day with a lot of grit was pretty cool.’’ 

Nicholas actually seized the early lead with birdies on Nos. 3 and 6 that got him to 2 under par with the outright lead. A double bogey on the par-3 seventh hole erased the birdies, but he hung in the rest of the round. 

Nicholas, once an accomplished youth hockey player whose close friend is Bruins star Charlie McAvoy (a Long Island native), went to Yale to play football and opted to concentrate on golf. 

He’s become an accomplished photographer who’s very active on social media, chronicling his worldwide travels and has his own YouTube channel. 

He said he put Meta glasses on when he woke up at 3:55 a.m. Thursday to chronicle his day. 

“I’m trying to film some behind the scenes of what it’s like to play in the U.S. Open,’’ he said. 

Nicholas’ father is Dr. Stephen Nicholas, who was the longtime Jets orthopedist. Stephen’s father, James, served in that role before him and was responsible for fixing Joe Namath’s knees. 

Positive attitude and life perspective are Nicholas’ superpowers as a player, and he’s trying to lean into that more often. 

“Yeah, I’m a golfer, I’m playing in the U.S. Open this week, but that’s not my identity,’’ he said. “I think I struggled with that as a kid. I played a lot of sports. I was a hockey player, a football player. I played lacrosse, basketball, you name it. I defined myself as an athlete. That was sort of the only thing I did. I didn’t hang out with friends. I studied, and I played sports. 

“As I get older, you sort of have this perspective change. We’re playing a silly game.’’ 

But … 

“This is my dream,’’ he said, “and this is what I aspire to be.’’