It’s been a great few weeks to be a golf fan in St. Louis. Just a week ago, golf fans were preparing to watch the weekend action at the 74th Sr. PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club. On Monday, St. Louis welcomes 42 aspiring U.S. Open participants and many very familiar names.
While anybody in this field of 42 is capable of getting hot and capturing one of the two available qualifying spots, let’s break down the feature groups.
In the very first tee time of the day is a young player many in St. Louis might not be all that familiar with. Carr Vernon of Poplar Bluff, MO was a standout high school player and has already captured a Men’s Amateur Championship in the Ozark Amateur.
Two of St. Louis more accomplished players in Justin Bardgett and Shawn Jasper are paired with Andrew Dahl of Salinas, CA at 7:11am. Bardgett is a past Missouri Amateur Champion. Jasper is a former Metropolitan Open Champion.
At 7:22am is the group of Skip Berkmeyer, Zach Barlow and Taylor Koser. Barlow will be riding a high as his former college team, Illinois, qualified for the final four of the NCAA Championship. Berkmeyer has experienced a lot of success at Old Warson CC, having own the Metropolitan Match Play Championship four times. Berkmeyer has been St. Louis’ top amateur for the past decade.
Don Berry of Rogers, MN was in St. Louis for the Sr. PGA Championship and not as a fan. Berry was in the field at Bellerive CC. Berry will tee off at 7:55am.
Merion Golf Club will offer the top players in the world a very unique challenge. The golf course will be the shortest in length of recent U.S. Open’s which makes this championship intriguing for several “over 50” players. Which brings us to the 8:17am pairing of Jay Haas, Jay Don Blake and St. Louis native, Justin Bryant. Both Haas and Blake played at Bellerive in the Sr. PGA Championship with Haas very much in contention on Sunday playing in the final pairing with Kenny Perry. Bryant is a past winner of the Metropolitan Match Play Championship at Old Warson Country Club.
At 8:39am is a very interesting pairing of Joe Migdal, an amateur from Ballwin, MO alongside Tyler Shelton of Fairway, KS. Shelton has been a top player on the West side of the state for a long time. Migdal competed for the Central Missouri State Mules and has been one of the St. Louis’ area’s top players for several years.
Mike Small, the Men’s Golf Coach at the University of Illinois, is busy in Atlanta this week. The Fighting Illini advanced to the final four which will be played on Saturday. Should his team advance to the finals on Sunday, Small will be pushing it to make it to Old Warson CC in time for his Monday 8:50am tee time to join Kyle Weldon and multiple major champion, Mark O’Meara. Weldon just completed his Sophomore season at Kansas State University and O’Meara is coming off a solid performance at the 74th Sr. PGA Championship.
The final tee time of the morning is at 9:23 and features a past St. Louis District Golf Association Champion in Alex Cusumano. Cusumano is paired with Brad Hopfinger of Lake Forest, IL and Judd Cornell of Omaha, NE.
Golf Channel will be providing expanded coverage of Golf’s Longest Day. Live scoring will also be provided throughout the day and can be followed on the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association website.
