Monday, May 10, 1999
LOCAL GOLF NOTES
Record 7,889 entries for U.S. Open
BY JACK MURRAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The United States Golf Association received a record 7,889 entries for the 1999 U.S. Open June 17-20 at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club famous No. 2 Course.
That's an increase of 772 from 1998.
There were 8,293 applications received by the April 28 deadline.
But 404 were rejected because entrants had played poorly in past qualifying or had a USGA handicap higher than 1.4.
Ten past champions, including defender Lee Janzen and Jack Nicklaus, who has a special exemption, are among the 64 players already fully exempt from qualifying.
First-stage qualifying at more than 90 sites nationwide begins Wednesday. The 18-hole local qualifier at Maketewah Country Club is May 24.
Last year's local qualifiers were Kyle Voska (Brown's Run), Paul Hobart (Kenwood), Zach Fink (Glenview), Brett Wetterich (Hidden Valley), Jim Volpenhein (Traditions), Nick Lykins (Kings Island), Tim Sorrows (Glenview). None made it past the sectionals.
• Chris Dempsey of Cincinnati and Kyle Ward of West Chester will represent the Ohio Boys Division at the American Junior Golf Association All-Star Classic at Maumee Bay May 29-31 in Oregon, Ohio. The tournament for 13- and 14-year-olds — featuring 72 boys and 27 girls — is the first of six David Leadbetter Junior All-Star Series events in 1999.
The three-day all-star events will consist of one day of education, conducted by instructors from the Leadbetter Golf Academy, and will include session on the rules of golf, etiquette, instruction and equipment, as well as social activity.
AJGA alums include David Duval, Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard, Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson, Emilee Klein, Michelle McGann and Kelly Robbins.
• Twenty visually impaired golfers will be paired with sighted volunteers to act as guides and spotters for the fifth annual Cincinnati Association of the Blind outing Tuesday at Kenwood Country Club. Kenwood pro Paul Hobart will conduct a clinic.
• Golfer Micheal Ries (Covington Catholic) won the Rev. Paul L. O'Connor Award as the senior male student-athlete who best exemplifies the ideal of Xavier University based on academic performance and excellence in the athletic arena. The team captain helped XU win its first Atlantic 10 Conference championship as a junior last year and finish second in the A-10 this year.
• Sophomore Patty Kuehner (Princeton) and her Franklin (Ind.) College teammates have been selected as Division III Great Lakes District team representative to the NCAA Division II-III Women's Championships Wednesday through Saturday in Orlando. The 64-player field consists of 10 teams and 14 individuals. Last May, the Grizzlies finished eighth among 10 team and, in 1997, were fifth among eight teams.
MORRIS BATTLING BACK: LPGA veteran Marianne Morris of Middletown rallied to finish tied for 32nd at the Myrtle Beach Clas sic a week ago in her second tournament since her brother's death.
Mike Morris, her mentor, business partner and best friend, was gunned down Feb. 21 in a robbery at the suburban Atlanta golf shop they owned together.
Marianne, 34, considered quitting, unsure if the game still had meaning. She withdrew in the second round of the first event back three weeks ago and missed the cut this past weekend.
“It's going to take time,” her mother, Barbara, said. “This is her job. She loves it. But it's hard right now.”
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