Michael Balcar, Jake McBride and Rasmus Lind tied for medalist honors in Tuesday’s playing of the 2019 U.S. Open Local Qualifier at Beechmont Country Club.
On a golf course full of damp, tangled, gnarly, thick, deep rough (yes, the rough was five adjectives evil), those three players shot a 2-under par score of 69 to earn their way straight through to Sectional Qualifying.
With seven Sectional qualifying spots on the line for the day, that left five players sitting at 1-under par 70 to try to earn one of the four remaining passes via a playoff.
Perhaps the most exciting entrance into the playoff was made by Green High School star Maxwell Moldovan. Playing in the final group off the front nine in the afternoon wave, Moldovan stood in the middle of the 18th fairway knowing he needed to make birdie to get inside the number. And all of the players and fans on property knew it, too, so they gathered around the green to watch. Moldovan did not disappoint: he nearly holed his second shot on the fly, spinning the ball back to eight feet. Then when it was his turn to putt, Moldovan made it center-cut, sending a fist-pump toward his father John — who was doing a fist-pump of his own.
Austin Graham, Western PA high-schooler Skyler Fox and Nate Thomson were also part of the in-with-70 party, as was the host PGA professional, Beechmont’s Jaysen Hansen. Hansen played the steadiest round possible that still had a chance to qualify: in the morning wave, he made 17 pars and one birdie.
After some scoreboard calculations, all five players at 70 headed to the first tee at Beechmont for the playoff.
Unfortunately, that playoff lost its drama early.
Host pro Hansen hit his tee shot into a terrible lie in the right rough, forcing him to hack out a low shot toward the green that ran over the back and finished long-left. The other players, sitting in the fairway or just in the first cut, all saw Hansen’s result and played smartly and conservatively to the green, knowing that long-left at the first hole at Beechmont is a super-tough up-and-in.
Hansen was only able to gouge the greenside chip to 15 feet, leaving him a side-winder for par which he missed on the low side (above). After a series of lags, tap-ins and a downhill birdie putt by Thomson, Hansen was on the outside looking in as first alternate.
PHOTO GALLERY: 2019 U.S. OPEN LOCAL QUALIFIER >
FINAL RESULTS:
United States Golf Association
2019 U.S. Open Championship Local Qualifying – Cleveland
conducted by the Northern Ohio Golf Association
Beechmont Country Club, Cleveland
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
QUALIFYING PLAYERS TO SECTIONALS:
T1 Michael Balcar 69 -2
T1 Jacob McBride 69 -2
T1 Rasmus Lind 69 -2
T4 Austin Graham 70 -1
T4 Nate Thomson 70 -1
T4 Skyler Fox 70 -1
T4 Maxwell Moldovan 70 -1
ALTERNATES:
1st Alternate Jaysen Hansen 70 -1
2nd Alternate Jonerik Alford 71 E
DID NOT QUALIFY:
Cory Kumpf 71
Chase Wilson 71
Jim Troy 71
Kevin Stone 72
John Powers 72
Jonathan Mills 73
Rob Moss 73
Buster Thomas 73
Chase Johnson 73
Josh Gilkison 73
Kenneth Hess 73
Jacob Scott 73
Daniel Wetterich 73
Logan Lagodich 74
Ryan Gutowski 74
Zach Mandry 74
Brian Unk 74
Ryan Troyer 74
Max Palmer 74
Matthew McAdoo 74
Drew Deimel 74
Cade Breitenstine 74
Joseph Cilone 74
Nathan Tarter 74
Laken Hinton 74
Jackson Chandler 74
Colin Laszlo 74
Luke Wells 75
Adam Stinogle 75
Christian Tomak 75
Connor Yakubov 75
Grant Engle 75
Cooper Collins 75
Ken Keller 75
Bryan Kordupel 75
Joey Krecic 75
Nick Naumovski 75
Bradley Thornton 75
Caleb Ramirez 76
Cameron McCloskey 76
Benjamin Jones 76
Max Watson 76
Lucas Murray 76
Robert Kimmel 76
Steve Stone 76
Jay Schiffbauer 77
Bryce Gorrell 77
Topher Reed 77
Harrison Vonderau 77
Tyler Sabo 77
Jordan Paolini 78
Dennis Holub 78
Jason Goodendorf 79
Blake Sattler 79
Randy Dietz 79
Rick Gripp 79
Patrick Kelly 79
Tyler McHugh 79
Brian Bir 79
Patrick Rollins 79
Joshua Zarlenga 79
Jeff Mills 79
Solomon Petrie 79
Carl Rolla 79
Michael Riley 79
Justin Long 79
Jack Garswood 79
Ben Smith 80
Mark Williams 80
Scott Pollack 80
Trevor Cohen 80
PJ Malik 80
Darren Phipps 80
David Laib 81
Justin Wick 81
Corey Bristowe 81
Daniel Belden 81
Nicholas Paxos 81
Jeremy Olsen 82
Peter Skirpstas 82
Chris Okeson 82
Gunnar McCollins 82
Aaron Apticar 82
Nicholas Gustin 82
Jack Mancinotti 82
Logan Cooke 82
Nicholas Polichena 83
Braden Smith 83
Roni Shin 83
Christopher Capriolo 83
David Archer II 85
Ryan Penwell 85
Drew Covitt 85
Demitrius De Almeida 86
Brandon Broyles 86
Joseph Leenheer 86
Kevin Devere 88
Michael Dessecker 88
Jonathon Knapp 89
Ryan Hostetler 90
Dylan Erks 91
John Peck WD
John Schnur WD
Jesse Wilkin WD
Nicholas Infanti WD
Darrin Vaughan WD
Dwayne Randall DNS
