Stadler, McGovern Lead U.S. Open Hopefuls at Canoe Brook
Tour pros, Walker Cupper join Met Area standouts Giuliani, Wilson
ELMSFORD, N.Y. (June 2, 2010) – The Metropolitan Golf Association returns to Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J., on Monday, June 7 for 36-hole U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying, the final step before the 110th U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach. The field of 41 professionals and 21 amateurs includes two former PGA Tour winners, two others who have won on the Nationwide Tour, a 2009 Walker Cup star, and 11 past champions of MGA events, all of whom will compete for four coveted spots in the U.S. Open. Both rounds of the sectional qualifier will take place on the outstanding North Course at Canoe Brook, which has recently undergone a renovation that added teeth to the 7,163-yard layout.
Headlining the field is a quartet of players whose names are known throughout the professional tours. Current PGA Tour player Kevin Stadler, son of 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler, will travel to Canoe Brook following this week’s Memorial Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, while two-time PGA Tour winner Len Mattiace, a native of Long Island, hopes to qualify for his sixth U.S. Open. Tour professionals with local ties include 10-time U.S. Open contestant Jim McGovern, a former Met Amateur and Met Open champion who won the 1993 Shell Houston Open, and former Trump National-Bedminster assistant professional Jim Herman, who won earlier this year on the Nationwide Tour.
For a number of young professionals in the field, qualifying for the U.S. Open would be a huge stepping stone to a future career on the PGA Tour. These pros, all of whom are currently playing on U.S. mini-tours, include 2009 Met Open champion Andrew Giuliani of New York, N.Y., two-time Met Junior champion Martin Catalioto, and Long Island residents Adam Fuchs and Jimmy Hazen.
The field also includes no fewer than a dozen top Met Area club professionals, some of whom have qualified for major championships in past years. Century Country Club (Purchase, N.Y.) assistant pro Frank Bensel won the 2007 Met Open at Meadow Brook and played in that year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, while Greg Bisconti of Saint Andrew’s (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.) was the low club professional at the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine. Other top club professionals include two-time Met Open champion Rick Hartmann of Atlantic Golf Club (Bridgehampton, N.Y.), Heath Wassem of Fenway Golf Club (Scarsdale, N.Y.), Craig Thomas of Metropolis Country Club (White Plains, N.Y.), Mark McCormick of Suburban Golf Club (Middletown, N.J.), Mike Meehan of Nassau Country Club (Glen Cove, N.Y.) and Carl Alexander of the Golf Club of Purchase.
The amateur side of the field is every bit as impressive as the professional contingent, and is dominated by youth. Peter Uihlein, a sophomore at Oklahoma State University, was a member of the victorious 2009 U.S. Walker Cup team. Reigning MGA Player of the Year and Met Amateur champion Cameron Wilson of Rowayton, Conn., hopes to play in his first U.S. Open just 90 miles from Stanford University, where he will be a freshman this fall. Last year’s Ike-MGA Stroke Play champion, Mike Ballo Jr. of Stamford, Conn., recently graduated from St. John’s University and has a history of making a string of birdies in the clutch. Michael Furci of Sayville, N.Y., who was named to the All-Big East team as a sophomore at DePaul University, is also in the field after qualifying locally in Hawthorn Woods, Ill.
Sectional qualifying will take place at 12 other sites across the country on June 7 to decide the final U.S. Open spots. Other players with Met Area ties competing elsewhere include 2005 Carter Cup champion Morgan Hoffmann of Wyckoff, N.J., Connecticut native and PGA Tour player J.J. Henry, and five-time MGA major champion Johnson Wagner, all of whom will tee it up in the qualifier in Memphis, Tennessee. Former MGA/MetLife Boys champion Sunny Kim will play at the qualifier in Columbus, Ohio.
This year marks a return to Canoe Brook, which will host U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying for the next three years. The last time the MGA held a Sectional Qualifier at Canoe Brook was in 2006, when more than 4,000 spectators and media were on hand to see if Michelle Wie could qualify for the 106th U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club. This year’s qualifier promises to be a smaller affair but no less exciting, as a full day of golf over a demanding course will reveal the four players who will fulfill their dream of playing in the 110th U.S. Open Championship, to be held June 17-20 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. For complete information and details on the U.S. Open, visit www.usga.org.
