ZIMBABWE’S leading golfer Brendon de Jonge will miss next week’s US Open after withdrawing from the major championship’s sectional qualifying tournament played at Brookside Golf & Country Club and Lakes Golf & Country Club in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday.
BY Sports Reporter
The 115th edition of US Open will be played at Chambers Bay Golf Course in Washington from June 18 – 21.
De Jonge, who is now ranked 95th on the official World Golf Rankings, needed to be in the top 60 before Monday’s cut-off date to qualify automatically for the prestigious tournament.
After failing to meet that qualifying standard, the Harare-born golfer had a final chance to snatch one of the remaining slots via the 36-hole US Open sectional qualifying tournament in Ohio.
However, De Jonge, who had missed the secondary cut at the Memorial Tournament in Muirfield Village last Friday, was one of the 19 players to withdraw from the Monday tournament.
According to reports from the US, a lot of PGA Tour players didn’t find the prospect of a 36-hole qualifier to get in the US Open field so appealing due to the heavy rain that had been forecast for the Columbus, Ohio, area on Monday.
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If De Jonge had qualified, it would have been his second successive appearance at the US Open.
Last year, the former St John’s College student managed to finish as the highest-placed African golfer after a tie for 28th position on seven-over-par 287.
While Zimbabwe will not be represented at the US Open this year, there will be a strong South African presence during the four-day event.
A total of eight South African players form part of the star-studded field led by 2012 Open champion Ernie Els, 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Brendan Grace, George Coetzee, Louis Oosthuizen, Thomas Aiken, Garth Mulroy and Tjaart van der Walt.
Meanwhile, local amateur golfers are to resume their rivalry when they take part in the Manicaland Amateur Golf Championship at Hillside Golf Club in Mutare this weekend.
The tournament, which carries Zimbabwe Golf Association Order of Merits points, will be a 72-hole strokeplay contest with the players completing 36 holes on Saturday before concluding their campaign with a further 36 holes on Sunday.
Chapman Golf Club’s Stuart Krog leads the ZGA standings with 255 points ahead of Tonderai Masunga of Royal Harare Golf Club, who is second on 249 points.
