Open qualifiers lack entries

Advertiser Staff

With an 11 a.m. Wednesday deadline and only 88 golfers, including Michelle Wie, signed up for the local qualifying for the 2005 U.S. Open, Mary Bea Porter-King is concerned that Hawai'i will lose a "wonderful gift."

Porter-King, a member of the USGA executive committee, secured a Hawai'i sectional qualifying for the first time last year. There are only 14 sites awarded worldwide, including England and Japan for the first time this year.

"The USGA has given Hawai'i a wonderful gift in allowing us to host a sectional qualifier," Porter-King said. "If we lose these qualifiers due to lack of entries, we will probably never get them back in Hawai'i again.

"We will go back to one local qualifier and no guarantee of having anyone from Hawai'i playing in the U.S. Open like we did last year with Parker McLachlin playing at Shinnecock."

McLachlin won Hawai'i's first sectional at the Turtle Bay Resort. In previous years, the top local qualifier had to go to a Mainland sectional.

This year's 36-hole Hawai'i sectional is June 6 at Ka'anapali North Course on Maui.

The details:

The local qualifying sites for the men are: Turtle Bay Resort Palmer Course (O'ahu), May 13; Ka'anapali North Course (Maui), May 14; Po'ipu Bay Golf Course (Kaua'i), May 19; Waikoloa Beach Course (Hawai'i), May 23. Entry forms can be downloaded at www.usga.org, clicking on the link "Apply to play in a USGA Championship." Maximum handicap is 1.4.

This year's U.S. Open is at Pinehurst, N.C., June 16 to 19.