Dalhousie provides path to U.S. Amateur

~ The local golf course is hosting a two-day qualifier for the U.S. Amateur

Eighty-six golfers will gather at Dalhousie Golf Club today, and each will have Wisconsin on his mind.

The northern thoughts may be due partly to predicted temperatures in the upper 90s.

But the overriding mindset will be to secure one of the three qualifying spots for the U.S. Amateur Championship later this month at Erin Hills, a 6-year-old public golf course situated 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee, Wis.

To do so, competitors from eight states and Canada will have to navigate Dalhousie, which is playing host to its second USGA qualifying event.

The field will be trimmed after today, with the low 26 players and those tied or within eight strokes of the lead advancing to Wednesday's final round.

The field of players with +2.4 handicaps and lower includes 51 competitors from Missouri and three that live locally. Lee Wilson of Perryville, Mo., will be in the first group that tees off at 7 a.m.; Brevin Giebler of Cape Girardeau will go off in the following 7:10 group; and Brent Holmes of Cape Girardeau will tee off in the day's final group at 11:40.

Other notables in the field include three players from Poplar Bluff, Mo. -- Ben Brumitt, Carr Vernon and Robert Godwin, the 1999 Missouri Stroke Play champion. Also present will be T.J. Vogel of Hollywood, Fla. Vogel, whose father Joe Vogel is a native of Perryville, won the elite AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions event at Dalhousie in 2009.

"You've got a lot of college players," Dalhousie director of golf Jack Connell said. "And you have a little bit of the older players who can play."

The tournament also will determine two alternates for the U.S. Amateur, which will take place Aug. 22 to 28.

Dalhousie, which served as a qualifying site for the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2008, is one of 97 qualifying sites nationally for this year's U.S. Amateur.

"It sets us up for bringing some big-time stuff to Cape Girardeau, I hope," Connell said.

Sites qualify one to five players to the national tournament, depending on the number of players in the field.

A field of 312 golfers ultimately will assemble in Wisconsin and face a grueling format that includes both stroke and match play. The last man standing will receive the Havemeyer Trophy as the U.S. Amateur champion.

Perks for the champion include invitations to the British Open and Masters in 2012.