The U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying tournament, one of the prominent fixtures on the Colorado golf schedule for the last few decades, will no longer be held in the state.
The USGA recently informed CGA director of rules and competitions Pete Lis that two Sectional Qualifying sites are being eliminated for 2011 — the one at Columbine Country Club in Littleton and another in St. Louis.
CGA officials were told the USGA felt it had too many U.S. Open Sectional sites with small fields, and so the national organization did some consolidating. This year, the Columbine site advanced two players to the U.S. Open, while St. Louis sent one. Within the last five years, Columbine has had as few as one U.S. Open berth available.
“We’re just very disappointed,” said Ed Mate, executive director of the CGA, which runs the U.S. Open Local and Sectional Qualifying tournaments held in Colorado. “It’s a tradition. It’s a Colorado U.S. Open tradition. And it’s one of our highlights of the year. The way the members (at Columbine) embraced the tournament, and the way we did, it was something to get excited about. It’s very disappointing to have it go away.”
Columbine, site of the 1967 PGA Championship, has hosted the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying in early June for roughly three decades. Over the years, the number of qualifying spots Columbine has garnered for the U.S. Open has varied from one to three.
Columbine was one of 15 U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying sites worldwide. This year, the others were in England, Japan, Ohio (two), Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Oregon, Maryland, Missouri, Illinois, New Jersey, Georgia and Sacramento, Calif.
If the other sites remain unchanged, that means the closest Sectional site for Colorado-based golfers will be almost 1,000 miles from Denver — in Woodstock, Ill., or The Woodlands, Texas.
The loss of the Columbine site came as a surprise to CGA officials, who hadn’t heard anything of the possibility before this year’s U.S. Open, two weeks ago.
“I had no idea it was even being talked about,” Mate said.
The Columbine Sectional Qualifying has produced many notable storylines over the last three decades:
“¢At least two major championship winners have competed in the Open qualifying in Littleton: World Golf Hall of Famer and 1992 U.S. Open champ Tom Kite (this year; pictured) and 1982 Masters winner Craig Stadler.
“¢Another major champion, Coloradan David Duval, signed up for the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying at Columbine in 2007, but withdrew the week before the event.
“¢Among the other longtime PGA Tour players who have competed in the Columbine qualifier are Mike Reid, Brandt Jobe, Danny Edwards, Gary Hallberg, Brandel Chamblee and Kevin Stadler, along with current Champions Tour regular R.W. Eaks.
“¢Two of the biggest stories to come out of the Columbine event were Coloradans Derek Tolan and Tom Glissmeyer qualifying for the U.S. Open as 16-year-olds in 2002 and 2003, respectively. They were just one year older than the youngest U.S. Open participant ever, Tadd Fujikawa, a 15-year-old when he competed in 2006.
“¢Local non-tour players who have qualified for the U.S. Open historically have been hard-pressed to survive the 36-hole cut at the Open, but that certainly wasn’t the case this year for teaching professional Jason Preeo from Highlands Ranch. Preeo was in 16th place after two rounds at Pebble Beach before struggling on the weekend to finish 82nd.
