Local Talent Heads for US Senior Open

Nelson Long

Next week's U.S. Senior Open will have some local talent in the field at Omaha Country Club in Omaha, NE. Nelson Long, head pro at Century CC in Purchase, NY, landed a slot by shooting a 70 in the Sectional Qualifier at Garden City Country Club on June 27.

Also shooting 70s to qualify were Mark Mielke, head pro at the Mill River Club in Oyster Bay, NY, and Bruce Zabriski, who played on the PGA and European PGA Tours before a long career in the Met area, where he was Met PGA Player of the year five times and served as assistant pro at both Winged Foot and Westchester Country Club before decamping for Florida.

The Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy
(John Mummert/USGA)

George Zahringer, one of the Met area's leading amateurs, also qualified. It will be his eighth appearance in the event.

The USGA says 2,746 players entered to play in the 2013 edition of the championship. The field includes 12 former champions among the 78 players who are fully exempt. Past champs include Roger Chapman (2012) who withdrew from this year's tournament, Olin Browne (2011), Bernhard Langer (2010), and Fred Funk (2009).  Among the headliners in this year's field are Fred Couples, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Colin Montgomerie, and Kenny Perry.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf