Dalhousie hosts qualifying for Missouri Amateur meet today

Dalhousie Golf Club will become a stepping stone for the Missouri Amateur Golf Championship today when it hosts one of six qualifying tournaments around the state.

Twelve of the 31 golfers in today's 18-hole competition will earn spots in the field for the tournament, which will be June 24 to 29 at Hickory Hills Country Club in Springfield.

Other qualifying sites are O'Fallon, Rolla, Columbia, Springfield and Kansas City.

Today's tournament begins at 9 a.m.

Cape Girardeau will be the qualifying site for the first time in several years. Qualifying tournaments for the past few years have been at Ozark Ridge Golf Course and Westwood Hills Country Club in Poplar Bluff.

Dalhousie, a par 72 championship layout designed by Gary Nicklaus, officially opened last June.

Dalhousie head professional Jack Connell said the club notified the Missouri Golf Association of its interest to be a host and invited officials to view the course. The MGA board of directors approved the course for qualifying.

"They recognized that Dalhousie was a quality golf course and what they thought was a fair and good test for the participants," Connell said.

Connell said he hopes the tournament qualifier could be a stepping stone for becoming more involved in MGA events.

"They've talked about future dates and future tournaments here -- like the possible four-ball and some other tournaments we'd be interested in hosting and they'd be interested in having," Connell said.