ELMSFORD, N.Y. (May 27, 2011) – The Metropolitan Golf Association returns to Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J., on Monday, June 6, for 36-hole U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying, the final test before the 111th U.S. Open Championship at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. The field of 83 golfers, made up of 64 professionals and 19 amateurs, will be contending for five coveted spots as they hope to join the world’s best players just outside the nation’s capital in June. The qualifier will take place on the outstanding North and South Courses at Canoe Brook.

Headlining the field are current PGA Tour professionals Daniel Chopra of Windermere, Fla., Jim Herman of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Parker McLachlin of Paradise Valley, Ariz. Chopra and McLachlin are former PGA Tour winners and Chopra also recorded a win this year at the Nationwide Tour’s Fresh Express Classic. Herman, a former assistant professional at Trump National-Bedminster in New Jersey, advanced from the Canoe Brook sectional in 2010, as did Dan McCarthy of Syracuse, N.Y., and Jon Curran of Orlando, Fla., who are all in the field once again this year, while McLachlin finished as the first alternate. Nationwide Tour players in the field include Mathias Gronberg of West Palm Beach, Fla., Geoffrey Sisk of Marshfield, Mass., Andrew Svoboda of Orlando, Fla., and Chris Nallen of Tucson, Ariz. Svoboda, a former Met Amateur and Met Open champion, grew up in Westchester County, N.Y., while Nallen is a New Jersey native.

The field boasts a total of three PGA Tour winners and eight past champions of MGA events. Leading the local front-runners is Jim McGovern, a former PGA Tour, Met Open and Met Amateur winner and current head professional at White Beeches Golf and Country Club in Haworth, N.J. McGovern, of Oradell, N.J., will rely on the same veteran tactics that helped him emerge as the sole medalist at a rainy local qualifier at Ballyowen Golf Club on May 17. McGovern last qualified out of an MGA-run U.S. Open sectional in 2002.

For 2010 Met Amateur champion Evan Beirne of Hollis, N.Y., who turned professional in May, a trip to Congressional would be a great way to kick off his professional career. Other notable players with accolades on the national and local levels include 2010 Met Open champion Bob Rittberger of Garden City, N.Y.; Greg Bisconti of South Salem, N.Y., who was the low club pro at the 2009 PGA Championship and winner of the 2007 Met PGA championship; 2005 Met Open champion John Stoltz of Roscoe, N.Y.; four-time NJPGA Section champion Frank Esposito of Florham Park, N.J.; back-to-back MGA/MetLife Public Links winner Paul Dickinson of Montauk, N.Y.; and 2003 Ike champion Brad Tilley of Jupiter, Fla.

On the amateur side, one of the youngest players in all of sectional qualifying history is 15-year-old Jim Liu of Smithtown, N.Y. The Long Islander broke Tiger Woods’ record as the youngest winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2010, and is hoping to play in his first U.S. Open. Other amateurs looking to make their Open debuts are Kevin McSorley of Old Bridge, N.J., who currently leads the MGA Jerry Courville Sr. Player of the Year race, 1992 Ike champion Michael Muehr of Potomac Falls, Va.; and 2009 New York State Amateur champion Yaroslav Merkulov of Penfield, N.Y.

Sectional qualifying will take place at 10 other sites across the country on June 6 to decide the final U.S. Open spots. Other players with Met Area ties competing elsewhere include 2005 Carter Cup champion Morgan Hoffmann, who will tee it up at the Dallas qualifier, and 2006 Carter Cup winner Chris DeForest, who is entered in the St. Charles, Illinois sectional. Connecticut native and PGA Tour winner J.J. Henry is entered in the Columbus, Ohio, qualifier, as is five-time MGA major champion Johnson Wagner, who won his second PGA Tour event this season, and 2008 PGA Tour winner and former Met Junior champion Marc Turnesa.

This year marks the second consecutive year that Canoe Brook has hosted the MGA-run U.S. Open sectional qualifier. Live scoring and updates will be available on www.mgagolf.org as well as the MGA Facebook and MGA Twitter pages. For complete information and details on the U.S. Open, June 13-19 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, visit www.usopen.com.