Coachella Valley returns to five U.S. Open local qualifying sites in May
Over the last two decades, few places in the country have been as big a part of the U.S. Open as the Coachella Valley.
No, the desert has never hosted an Open and never will, but the area is one of the places where golfers have a chance to start their journey to the Open. Local qualifying tournaments for the Open are played across the country at 109 sites, but the Coachella Valley annually hosts five of those qualifiers, a huge number for a relatively small community. But those five sites prove each year why the desert has its reputation as a golf mecca.
That wasn’t quite the case last year, when the Coachella Valley hosted only four local qualifiers. But there was a good reason for the change. With the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club last June, the United States Golf Association decided it needed a local qualifier closer to the site of the Open itself. So Hillcrest Country Club hosted a qualifier, and the desert saw just four qualifiers.
More: Wild crowds, low scores and an amateur victory highlight the PGA Tour's West Coast Swing
That will change again this year, with the USGA announcing the five traditional sites of Open qualifying in the desert once again. Those sites are the Grove Course at Indian Ridge Country Club in Palm Desert on May 6, Andalusia Country Club in La Quinta on May 7, Bermuda Dunes Country Club on May 9, Classic Club in Palm Desert on May 13 and the South Course at Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert on May 14.
The U.S. Open will be played in June at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina.
Ironwood’s South Course, a spot favored by many players because the course tends to reward better players, will host a local qualifier for the 23rd year in a row. Unfortunately for the desert, there are only four local qualifiers for the U.S. Women’s Open, and none of them are in the Coachella Valley.
Each qualifier has about 80 golfers, and of those generally five golfers get a chance to advance to sectional qualifying. From there only two or three golfers advance out of most sectional events to the Open itself, although a few sectionals played around PGA Tour events can offer more berths into the Open.
Bringing the Open home
Having more local qualifiers in the desert is important because it gives desert golfers a better chance to play in a qualifier at home. Some desert golfers might not be willing or even able to get in qualifiers outside of the desert. California has 14 qualifiers, but you can imagine that players try to get into local events as close to their own homes as possible.
Local qualifiers for the U.S. Open are what makes the Open different than other majors. Recreational players – okay, they still have to have a handicap index of 1.4 or lower – or local professionals can start the process of getting into the Open with players like Rory McIlroy or defending champion Wyndham Clark. A recreational player can’t qualify for either the PGA Championship or the Masters, and even local club pros have to fight hard if they want to qualify for the PGA Championship.
The path to a U.S. Open berth is a long one, and the odds are certainly against a golfer getting through both local and sectional qualifying. But having local qualifiers in the desert is important because it gets desert golfers at least thinking about trying to start the road to the Open. Last year the Open accepted a record 10,187 applications for the Open, and it seems a certainty that record will be broken this year.
For many of those golfers, the first step to the Open will come at five desert golf courses. And maybe that step will be taken by a local golfer.
Larry Bohannan is the golf writer for The Desert Sun. You can contact him at (760) 778-4633 or at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_bohannan. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Five Palm Springs-area golf courses will host U.S. Open local qualifying
