USGA Announces 2013 U.S. Senior Open Qualifying Sites

The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced sectional qualifying sites for the 2013 U.S. Senior Open Championship, to be held at Omaha (Neb.) Country Club, July 11-14.

Conducted over 18 holes, sectional qualifying will be held at 34 sites across the United States from June 17 to June 27. Player registration is available now and continues through June 5 at 5 p.m. ET (www.usga.org/champs/apply).

“The U.S. Senior Open’s sectional qualifying process, like all USGA championships, is both distinctive and democratic in that any amateur who meets the Handicap Index® requirement can enter,” said USGA Vice President and Championship Committee Chairman Thomas J. O’Toole Jr. “Support from the state and regional golf associations allows us to conduct qualifying and senior golf’s most prestigious championship.”

Corral de Tierra Country Club, in Salinas, Calif., will host U.S. Senior Open sectional qualifying for the fifth time since 2000.

The club is one of six courses that have been sectional qualifying sites at least four times this century.

Hillwood Country Club, in Nashville, Tenn., produced the only player to win the U.S. Senior Open as a sectional qualifier. In 2002, Don Pooley survived a 3-for-2 playoff to qualify for the Senior Open, held at Caves Valley Golf Club, in Owings Mills, Md. At Caves Valley, Pooley shot a third-round 63 before going on to defeat Tom Watson in a five-hole playoff the next day to win the championship.
For the fourth consecutive year, Dunedin (Fla.) Country Club will host Senior Open sectional qualifying. Damon Green, a PGA Tour caddie who has worked with 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, advanced to the U.S. Senior Open from this site in 2011. He tied for 13th at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. 

Crystalaire Country Club, in Llano, Calif., Honolulu Country Club and Green Valley (Calif.) Country Club are also Senior Open sectional sites for the fourth time since 2000.

Three courses that have hosted USGA championships are serving as sites for U.S. Senior Open sectional qualifying. The Broadmoor Golf Club (West Course), in Colorado Springs, Colo., held the 1967 U.S. Amateur, won by Bob Dickson. Flint (Mich.) Golf Club hosted the 1968 U.S. Girls’ Junior, won by Margaret “Peggy” Harmon Brady. The Kittansett Club, in Marion, Mass., was the site of the 1953 Walker Cup Match. The USA team, which included future U.S. Open champions Gene Littler and Ken Venturi, defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 9-3.

California has the most sectional sites with five, including one in San Diego on the first day of qualifying. Three sectional qualifiers are scheduled in Florida, while Texas and Illinois will each host two qualifiers. ArborLinks, one hour south of Omaha in Nebraska City, is a Senior Open qualifying site for the first time. The course has twice hosted U.S. Open local qualifying, in 2009 and 2012.

The U.S. Senior Open will be held for the first time at Omaha Country Club. To be eligible, a player must have a USGA Handicap Index® not exceeding 3.4, or be a professional, and be 50 years of age at the start of championship play.