PGA Qualifier Results Schedule
I just got back from New York and the PGA Qualifier. Again, I played well, but didn’t make it through.
It was a strange qualifier to say the least. To begin, when I called the shop at Pelham Country Club on my drive up Sunday, I was told that they were not allowing practice rounds. The practice round day was the previous Wednesday after 2pm. This is perhaps the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard for a Monday Qualifying site. Only the local golfers (and really only the ones who don’t play for a living) would be able to get in a practice round. It’s generally understood that Sunday afternoon is a practice round day for the qualifiers. I have no idea why this club decided to limit their practice rounds, but it was completely inappropriate. They did allow us to walk the course Sunday evening after 6pm as long as we didn’t take any clubs with us. To compound matters, Pelham didn’t allow us to use any of the practice facilities except the putting green on Sunday. Finally, they actually charged a range fee on Monday morning before the round. Again, this is unheard of for a Monday qualifying site. It seems that the club failed to realize that access to the course and practice facilities are always extended to competitors on the day prior to the event…mostly because of the travel burden we face coming to the site. I’m not sure where the breakdown in communications occurred, but Pelham Country Club and the Metropolitan PGA Section should be ashamed. OK, end of rant.
So, back to the round. The course setup was very, very firm and fast. I would estimate green speed in the 12-13 range on the stimp and very firm. In fact, the superintendent was syringing certain greens between groups (debateable whether this was appropriate). It’s an interesting, old course with several very quirky holes. I made a couple of errors, but several birdies and was one over with two to play. 3 under made it through. Overall, I hit it solid and putted OK, but found it difficult to get comfortable on several of the stranger holes because I had never hit a shot on them in practice.
A new schedule is posted on the schedule page. It’s a work in progress and is only through the end of August. I have a hole to fill at the beginning of August and need to decide whether I’m playing the John Deere PGA qualifier on July 4.