US Open Qualifier at Stonebridge
Yesterday I missed getting through the US Open local qualifier at Stonebridge GC by two shots. I carded a one under par 71 in extremely windy conditions. I hit it relatively well coming off my lesson on Monday and definitely putted well. However, I missed 8 putts from 8 to 15 feet that were all stroked very well.
So, I had another top 10 finish in 6th place.
I’m at a loss for why the USGA only assigned 4 qualifying spots at our site while other sites with similar numbers of entrants got 6. I know they use some kind of methodology to determine strength of field and assign additional spots based on this. However, giving a site with the same number of players 50\% more spots just doesn’t seem appropriate. The strength of field also seems to contradict the “open” nature of the tournament. I think everybody that is not exempt from qualifying should have the same opportunity…meaning there should be no adjustment for strength of field.
I’m heading up to Treyburn CC in Durham for a practice round on Sunday afternoon. The practice round is two days before the start of the event on Tuesday. This is a prime example of a club that is too big for its britches and is acting like they’re doing the TarHeel Tour a favor by letting us play a tournament there. The club has an outing the day before our event. I can understand this. However, they won’t even let us come out and walk the course the day before. They’ve gone as far as stating that we can’t be on the property. For the local guys, this isn’t a big deal. But, if you’re coming from out of town (like 5 hours for me), then you incur an extra day’s travel expense and need to find somewhere else to play and practice on the day before the event. We seem to get one or two courses like this each year. They just seem to have an attitude like we’re lucky to be playing their course.