USGA Flyover Country

[Buck Wolter]

There are 10 US Sectional Qualifying locations -- 7 east of the Mississippi.

Did they really need 2 in Ohio? I in N.California and 1 in Oregon? 1 in GA and 1 in Florida? What do they have against the Mid/Mountain West? It's over 700 miles from Minneapolis to the nearest site. I'd like to see the advanced metrics for qualification versus travel distance to the qualifier.

http://www.usopen.com/en_US/news/qualifying/sectional.html

[Matthew Rose]

I think there are two in Ohio because there's a much higher concentration of touring pros who qualify there due to the proximity of those events to Columbus and the Memorial event.

[Buck Wolter]

I think there are two in Ohio because there's a much higher concentration of touring pros who qualify there due to the proximity of those events to Columbus and the Memorial event.

There are 16 spots and 120 players in Columbus, 63 players and 3 spots in Springfield --biggest name in Springfield looks to be Billy Mayfair.

[Buck Wolter]

I did learn the Curtis Cup is this week at St Louis CC and the USGA has some great photos of the course posted-- about 15 miles west of the Mississippi.

Here's the uphill Biarritz (Double Plateau) #2 with #3 (Eden) in the background.

http://www.usga.org/ChampEventPhotoGallery.aspx?id=21474862016&aid=21474866628#21474866592

[BHoover]

Completely agree, Buck. One qualifier in Ohio is enough. I wasn't able to play my home course yesterday because the qualifier participants were playing practice rounds. Find another course that I don't play, USGA!

[Ronald Montesano]

Frak, you guys are MORONS with a capital alphabet. Wherever the pros are, they add a qualifier. When the D.C. event matched up with sectional qualifying, it received two qualifiers. One event would stiff those three guys at Springfield, as they would not qualify when matched with the tour pros.

[Tim_Cronin]

The Chicago area was without a sectional for the second year in succession after hosting one annually since qualifying was instituted in the 1920s.