A path to one of golf’s four major events of the year is going through Guelph.
Cutten Fields will serve as a local qualifying site for the 125th U.S. Open, the United States Golf Association (USGA) has announced.
The local event will run Monday, May 12.
It’s anticipated about 70 male golfers will hit the course. It serves as a step toward a final qualifier on June 2 in Toronto.
Information on how many top finishers advance to the final qualifier were not available ahead of publishing.
“It was offered to us,” said Steve Bryant, the course’s director of golf.
“We got together, we had a meeting with Golf Canada and we talked about potential events that we could host, and that was one that was offered to us as an option.”
To be eligible to play in a qualifier, the USGA said an amateur must have a handicap index not exceeding 0.4.
It’ll be the first major event since Cutten did some work on its course.
“We were intrigued by the idea of getting some of the best male players out here to see how the course measured up,” Bryant said.
“We always felt that the course was good for a ladies event or a senior event, just because of the length … but now that we’ve added length to some of the holes, and we’re over 7,000 yards now, we kind of wanted to see how it would hold up to one of the better men’s players.”
Another selling point for Bryant was that this is a one-day event, which helps with member play.
The club’s last major event was the 2017 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship.
The US Open takes place June 12-15 at Oakmont Golf Course in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
