Rose and Kokesh Headed to U.S. Senior Amateur

View full size image

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. – Both Jerry Rose and David Kokesh carded rounds of 1-over par 72 Monday at White Bear Yacht Club, and as a result, both earned a spot in the 2016 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship for the first time.

A field of 54 players competed for three qualifying spots to this year’s national championship, which will be played September 17-22 at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, Mo.

“I didn’t drive the ball that great today but I managed my way around the golf course pretty well,” Rose said Monday. “I felt pretty good about it but I just didn’t think it was going to get in. The greens were pretty soft and held well so I thought there were going to be some scores under par." 

Rose played in three U.S. Junior Amateur Championships but practically gave up competitive golf for nearly 30 years upon graduating from college and raising a family. Gradually returning to compete in state championships in both Minnesota and Florida over the last five years, Rose has shown he’s ready to compete at the national level once again.

“I was first alternate in [U.S. Senior Open qualifying] three years ago; I missed it by a shot in Chicago. Two years ago in the U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying I played pretty good but made a triple-bogey on 16 and ended up missing by two shots.

“It feels great,” Rose said after qualifying Monday, “I’m excited and thrilled to have the opportunity. USGA events are fantastic and I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I’ll get my game going.”

Rose, Alexandria, Minn., started quickly Monday by sinking a 15-footer for birdie on the opening hole but gave back a stroke on the ensuing hole with a bogey.

Rolling in his birdie chance from 40 feet at the par-4 fifth, Rose moved back to 1-under for the day, but his approach at the seventh landed short and rolled off the front of the green, leading to bogey. Reaching the par-5 ninth in two, Rose two-putted for birdie to turn at 1-under.

He fell back to even after hooking his tee shot at the 13th, scrambling for bogey and would three-putt from the front edge of the final hole for bogey to shoot 1-over par 72, earning co-medalist honors with Kokesh.

“I thought I would need to shoot around even par today,” he said. “I felt good about the front nine and I was even going into the last hole and three-putted from the front of the green and thought that might get me into a playoff.

“The game’s been okay but I wasn’t very familiar with this golf course so my expectations weren’t very high. I played pretty well—I hit a couple screwy shots, but I played pretty good golf.”

Kokesh, Bloomington, Minn., began his round by rolling in his birdie from six feet at the par-3 third before falling back to even with bogey at the fifth. Another bogey at the par-5 ninth put Kokesh at 1-over heading to the final nine holes.

He would rebound nicely by sticking his approach four feet below the hole and converted birdie to get back to even before taking a bogey at the 11th.

Leaving himself on the wrong side of the cup on the 15th green, Kokesh would three-putt for bogey to drop to 2-over, but finished on a high note by burying his birdie putt from 30 feet at the par-5 16th.

“It’s always a goal to play in a national event,” Kokesh said Monday. “It’s a great way to get more experience for tournament play. We’ve got a couple of big tournaments here and knowing you can play well here, you hope it can keep going. I hadn’t been playing that great the last couple weeks, but at something like this, my mindset changes and you focus a little bit more.

“I hit the ball well today. My putting was good; I made some birdies at crucial times. I kept it in play—with these greens and some of the slopes, a couple of my bogeys I putted on the wrong side,” Kokesh said. “I turned at 1-over and I knew if I could stay right there that I had a good chance. I knew from a practice round that there are some birdie holes out there and got a couple of them on the back side.”

Kokesh qualified for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in 1994 when it was held at Hazeltine National Golf Club, and again eight years later at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn., missing the cut at both events.

“I didn’t make the cut in the last two tournaments I was at. Hopefully I can play well and make a cut—that would be something.”

Joining Rose and Kokesh at this year’s championship will be Larry Montplaisir, of Mesa, Ariz., who fired a 2-over par 73 Monday and prevailed in a two-hole playoff with Jim Lehman to earn the final qualifying spot.

Lehman and Leif Carlson finished as first and second alternates, respectively.