BUICK NOTES
Jim McGovern, of Oradell, N.J., led a group of 20 golfers into the U.S. Open after yesterday’s completion of play at sectional qualifying, which had been suspended by heavy rain on Tuesday night.
McGovern, a former winner on the PGA Tour and currently playing in the BUY.COM Tour, shot a 3-under 141 to finish third in the competition, which began with 118 entries.
Others who qualified at Canoe Brook in Summit, N.J., included Mike Burke Jr., the head pro at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell who was the low medalist at 5-under 139, Aussie Craig Parry, who shot 4-under 140, Rocco Mediate (144) and Craig Stadler (146).
Aside from McGovern and Burke, there was a strong local contingent gaining spots at Pebble Beach, including Knickerbocker Country Club (N.J.) pro Ed Whitman, Deepdale (Long Island) pro Darrell Kestner and Sleepy Hollow (Westchester) pro Bill Van Orman.
For Whitman, it’ll be his second Open. He qualified for the ’93 Open at Baltusrol.
Whitman, Kestner and Van Orman all advanced to the Open by surviving a three-hole playoff.
“I survived … literally,” Whitman said yesterday. “Us club pros, we can play a little bit.”
Whitman admitted there was a little added incentive to qualify for the Open at Pebble Beach.
“It’s a great experience for a club pro,” Whitman said. “I’m going to be one of the worst golfers in the field, if not the worst. But I’m going to have a great time. I can handle being the worst. I sometimes respond, but this is a little different field. This is the real thing.”
Whitman marveled at what Burke shot, saying, “He’s playing so well, it wouldn’t surprise me if he does well in the [Open]. He’s the class of our area.”
The other qualifiers at Canoe Brook included Jim Carter, Colin Amarel, Jerry Kelly, Lee Porter, Kevin Johnson, Jason Buha, Joe Daley, Paul Gow, Rick Hartmann, Brian Henninger, Frank Lickliter II and Warren Schutte.
Marquee groups in today’s opening round of the Buick Classic include Greg Norman, Jose Maria Olazabal and Gabriel Hjertstedt at 7:30 a.m., Jesper Parnevik, Tom Lehman and Steve Pate at 12:50 p.m., Phil Mickelson, Henninger and defending champion Duffy Waldorf at 7:40 a.m., David Duval, Jim Carter and Billy Andrade at 12:30 p.m. and Sergio Garcia, Robin Freeman and Matt Gogel at 12:20 p.m.
