Other Sectional Storylines

While our focus was on our friend Kent, great drama was unfolding at all ten of the USGA Sectional qualifying sites.  We'll let that Shackelford guy provide his tour guide services:

Springfield Country Club (Ohio) - Will Grimmer, all of 17 years old, was among three players to qualify for the U.S. Open.  You know my M.O. by now, so there's got to be a hook to this story, no?

Will Grimmer did not think any golf experience could top the 59 he shot last year during the

Will Grimmer is congratulated by a USGA official.

North & South Junior Amateur in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C. But the 17-year-old amateur from Cincinnati thought wrong. 

Grimmer carded rounds of 70 and 65 for a 5-under-par 135 to finish second in U.S. Open sectional qualifying at Springfield Country Club, earning one of three spots in the U.S. Open June 12-15 at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2.

It needs to be noted that he shot his 59 on No. 1, but he was also only 16!  Here's a nice video interview with the young man after he shot the 59, which will have you rooting for him in a couple of weeks.

Columbus, OH - As with most endeavors, picking one's qualifying site is it's own art form.  The opportunity is that there were 16 Open slots up for grabs at Brookside and Scioto, more than at any other site.  But that's areflection of the Tour being at Jack's event last weekend, and the field includes familiar names such as Singh, Love, Leonard, Weir, Casey, Immelman and so on...

In fact, I had a brief discussion with Nathan Smith on the bus back to the first tee about why, as a Pittsburgh native, he chose the Westchester site.  He told me that he views the qualifying as an opportunity to travel to different areas and play a wider range of clubs, but he also acknowledged that the field in Columbus was a factor.

Rex Hoggard filed this dispatch from Columbus:

Erik Compton

Democracy in action. 

That’s the lesson the U.S. Open teaches us each year and Monday’s sectional qualifier in Columbus for the national championship was as democratic as golf gets. 

With no special exemptions, no backdoors, no safety nets, a two-time heart transplant recipient, an aging veteran and an up-and-coming Korean highlighted the list of Pinehurst-bound participants.

Those references are to Erik Compton, Justin Leonard and Seung Yul Noh, respectively.  Compton's story continues to amaze, and lest you think he's past his problems there's this:

For the likes of Erik Compton Monday’s 36-hole marathon, which lapsed into a 38-hole day, is more than a test of golf. Following two heart transplant surgeries the physical toll is profound. 

“Long days for me you can feel it in my chest,” said Compton, who endured a five-for-three playoff to decide the last of 16 spots into the U.S. Open. “You can see me all day like that (holding his shaking hand out).” 

Because of Compton’s suppressed immune system he has struggled lately with allergies, weakness and last week at the Memorial Tournament he started losing his hearing in his left ear. 

So when he started his day 3 over through two holes things didn't look promising, but he rallied to shoot a 69 at Scioto Country Club, by far the more difficult of the two qualifying venues, and finished with a 71 to join the playoff at 2 under.

Two heart transplants will no doubt come with a healthy dosage of perspective, but one still is amazed by the perseverance.   Others with Pinehurst tee times from this stacked qualifier include Bo Van Pelt, Robert Allenby, Rod Pampling, Mark Wilson, Paul Casey, Luke Guthrie, Aaron Baddeley and Ken Duke.

One last story before leaving Columbus.  As I get older I seem to feel the cruelty of sports more deeply, so you'll understand why this Jeff Rude piece caught my attention:

Sometimes the leader isn't the story. Sometimes in U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying a qualifier

Danny Lee

isn't even the story. So it went Monday here with the sad tale of Danny Lee. 

The 23-year-old Korean was cruising along, tied for the lead in the Columbus sectional, looking like he would be among 16 golfers advancing to the June 12-15 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. The storyline was compelling because Lee won the 2008 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2. 

But then about everything that could go wrong did. Playing the more difficult Scioto Country Club course in the afternoon, the PGA Tour player double bogeyed No. 12, bogeyed 13-14 and double bogeyed 16. The bad run dropped him to a 75 after a morning 68 at Brookside Golf and Country Club. The 1-over-par total put him three strokes out of a five-for-three playoff.

Stick around and I've got one that's even more heartbreaking...

Roswell, GA -  This is the comic interlude portion of our programming, because one of two qualifiers from this site is an amateur with the amusing name of Smylie Kaufman, and a Shackelford reader happened to know that his caddy is named Luckie.  Good stuff, though this site also had it's cruelty:

One of the most surprising performances of the day was that of Oliver Schniederjans, of Powder Springs, Ga., the No. 4-ranked amateur in the world. The rising senior at Georgia Tech, who last week lost a playoff for medalist honors at the NCAA championships, carded rounds of 83 and 76 and finished 24th out of 31 competitors. Schniederjans, a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award and Jack Nicklaus Award, had a quadruple bogey in each round and incurred a penalty for playing the wrong ball. 

“I had great expectations to do well,” Schniederjans said. “I just didn’t have the grind in me today. I was mentally worn out and didn’t grind like I could. I was two over through four and I didn’t feel it. It was uphill all day.”

It's a lot of high pressure golf in a short time frame for the collegiate players, though they are still youngsters. But two quads and playing the wrong ball, I'm sure that hasn't happened to him since...ever.  As I said above, sports are cruel.

Vero Beach, FL - Our cruelest story of the day comes from Will Gray:

For about 15 minutes, it looked as if Landon Michelson might be heading to Pinehurst. 

The 22-year-old amateur picked an opportune time to string together 36 holes of stellar golf amid windy conditions Monday during the U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Quail Valley Golf Club. He’d broken par both rounds, and at worst looked to be facing a 2-for-1 playoff for a spot in his first U.S. Open. 

With the stroke of a pencil, though, it all ended in a disqualification. 

Michelson shot a 1-under 71 in both rounds, but in the midst of his euphoria signed for a 70 after his second round. A three-putt bogey on the 11th hole went unnoticed by his playing partner and was mistakenly recorded as a par.

“I’m pretty devastated,” Michelson said. “Just so frustrating.”

Shades of Roberto de Vincenzo... I don't even know the young man, but I need a drink after reading that.