In an effort to open up participation to an even greater number of amateur players, the Cleveland Metroparks pros who run the Cleveland Amateur Golf Championship have decided to split up the four qualifying tournaments into two weekends of opportunity.
For the past several seasons, the 36-hole Cleveland Am qualifiers (which also double as the course championship for each location) were played on the same weekend in all four locations, two weeks before the main event.
Starting this year, the qualifying events will be split up over two weekends: July 23-24 at Sleepy Hollow and Big Met; and July 30-31 at Manakiki and Shawnee.
Sleepy Hollow pro John Fiander explained, “Splitting the weekends for the course championships helps players who may have a conflict on one weekend be able to try to qualify for the Greater Cleveland Amateur on another weekend. We may even see a few players who don’t qualify on the first weekend at Big Met or Sleepy Hollow try again the following weekend at Shawnee Hills or Manakiki. We are considering a lower enty fee for trying to qualify a second time.”
The conflicting event issue was brought to the attention of Northeast Ohio Golf in each of the last two years, as both the Stark and Portage County Ams ran up against the qualifying dates.
“This split weekend approach came a suggestion from some of the players, and we thought it was a good idea,” Fiander said.
The 2011 Cleveland Amateur will be played over 54 holes at Sleepy Hollow Golf Course in Brecksville, August 12 – 14.
