Bremerton, Wash. (Monday, June 6, 2011) – Amateur and University of Washington golfer, Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho lead a field of forty-eight players to qualify for the 2011 United States Open Championship. The U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying was held at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash. and consisted of 36 professionals and 12 amateurs.
Williams, a first team all-Pac-10 player, carded rounds of 2-under par 70 and 4-under par 68 to be the low qualifier with a total 6-under par 138 on the 7,091 yard layout. Joining Williams are Canadian Tour players Wes Heffernan of Calgary, Alberta (139), Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, BC (139), and John Ellis of San Jose, Calif. (140).
This will be the first U.S. Open experience for Williams, the junior-to-be at the University of Washington. Heffernan played in the 2001 U.S. Open Championship held at Southern Hills and Ellis played at Torrey Pines in 2008. This will also be Hadwin’s first time qualifying for the U.S. Open.
The United States Golf Association accepted 8,300 entries for the 2011 U.S. Open Championship at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., being held on June 16-19, including entries from all of the 65 golfers who are currently fully exempt into the field.
Sectional qualifying is played over 36 holes, and was conducted at two international sites (May 23 in Japan and May 30 in England) and 11 sites in the United States on June 6. A total of 195 applicants chose an international site (54 at Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, and 141 at Surrey, England). This marks the seventh consecutive year that the USGA has offered two international sectional qualifiers.
The number of fully exempt golfers will increase with the inclusion of the top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking, the top 10 money leaders on the 2011 PGA Tour and the top five money leaders on the 2011 European PGA Tour, all as of May 23. The winner of The Players Championship (May 12-15) also receives an exemption, as does any multiple winner of official PGA Tour co-sponsored events between June 20, 2010, and June 12, 2011. For 2011, the top 50 players from the World Golf Ranking as of June 13, 2011, will also receive exemptions.
To be eligible, a player must have a USGA Handicap Index® no higher than 1.4, or be a professional. More information about the U.S. Open before, during and after the championship can be found at www.USOPEN.com
The Washington State Golf Association (WSGA) is the local representative of the United States Golf Association and conducts this Qualifier for the United States Open Championship.