Monday Qualifier

After work today I drove out to Hazeltine Country Club, the site of the last 2 PGA Championships and the 1991 U.S Open. Today I was going there to watch my good friend Brent Snyder try to qualify for the US Open this June. Brent was 1 of 150 pros trying to qualify for the most elite field in professional golf, this year held at Pebble Beach in Monterey, CA. It was a great day to walk around a tough golf course, the weather was perfect. The course was setup so difficult for these pros to try to qualify. Brent had an off day today (honestly the first I have seen him have). His drives were perfect all day, 280-320 yards in every fairway. His irons were not sharp today as he missed a lot of greens. Once on the greens they were very tricky so he missed a lot of putts. It was a disappointing day for Brent, but I was still proud of him. It is such a tough game and to compete against the best players is even harder. One of the guys in his group had flown in from California to try to qualify so these players were coming from all areas.
The closest Brent has come to qualifying was 3 years ago when he lost in a playoff to qualify. Qualifying is a brutal test, you have play 3 great rounds of golf beating out every pro in the world that is not exempt already to play in the tournament. It was a good experience for me to see competitive golf that close. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Gotta get some rest...