Despite a scoring issue resulting in a one-day disqualification of one of its golfers, the three-player squad representing Colorado finds itself in the middle of the pack after Wednesday’s opening round of the USGA Men’s State Team Championship at the Country Club of Birmingham (Ala.).
At 8-over-par 150, the Coloradans are tied for 26th place in the 52-team field for the biennial event. Both Jon Lindstrom of Broomfield, winner on Sunday of his third CGA Mid-Amateur title, and four-time Mid-Am champion Keith Humerickhouse of Eagle posted 4-over-par 75s on Wednesday, leaving them tied for 59th place individually.
The third member of the Colorado squad, 2015 CGA Match Play champion Nick Nosewicz of Aurora, was disqualified for round 1 for signing for a score lower than he took. The player keeping Nosewicz’s scorecard marked him down for a bogey on a hole in which he made a double bogey. Nosewicz didn’t catch the error in the scoring area, but noticed it later and reported the problem to USGA officials, resulting in the DQ.
Though Nosewicz’s actual score of 74 didn’t count toward Colorado’s Wednesday total, his score can be used for both or either of the final two rounds of the 54-hole event. On each day, the top two scores from each state’s three representatives count toward its team total.
As it was, counting two 75s left Colorado 10 strokes behind team co-leaders Missouri, Connecticut, Ohio and Texas.
Humerickhouse, who went to the round of 16 at the 2013 U.S. Mid-Am at the Country Club of Birmingham, made a birdie, three bogeys and a double bogey in his first round ever at the USGA Men’s State team.
Lindstrom, representing Colorado in the event for the fifth consecutive time and for the sixth time overall, carded two birdies and six bogeys for the day.
The teams representing Colorado and the CGA have finished in the top half of the field in four of the last five USGA Men’s State Team Championships, including 22nd the last time the Men’s State Team was conducted, in 2014.
Each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, field teams consisting of three in-state residents, none of which can be an active college golfer.
26. Colorado 150
59. Keith Humerickhouse of Eagle 75
59. Jon Lindstrom of Broomfild 75
Nick Nosewicz of Aurora DQ
For complete scoring from the USGA Men’s State Team, CLICK HERE.
(The Colorado contingent is pictured, from left: non-playing captain Alex Crall from the CGA, Humerickhouse, Nosewicz and Lindstrom, along with a junior golfer from the Country Club of Birmingham.)
