Short Shots

Players have ‘last chance’ to qualify
Kansas Golf Association competitors wishing to participate in the 100^th Kansas Amateur Championship this month at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson are getting every

opportunity to qualify for the event. After a series of qualifiers last month across the Sunflower State, those who did not attain entry have one more shot at the “Last Chance Qualifier” scheduled for July 7 at Alvamar Golf Club in Lawrence.
   One hundred-sixteen players qualified for the Kansas Amateur, slated for July 19-25 at Prairie Dunes, at qualifying events at Salina Country Club, Sand Creek Station, The Golf Club at Southwind, Sycamore Ridge and Eagle Bend last month. Approximately 10-12 spots should be up for grabs at Alvamar, depending on the outcome of a USGA Junior Amateur Qualifier late last month, according to KGA officials.
   Twenty-eight players were exempt for the 2010 Kansas Amateur prior to the USGA Junior Am qualifier at Mission Hills Country Club. Any KGA junior qualifying for that event would be exempt into the Kansas Amateur.
   Two rounds of stroke-play qualifying begin July 20 at Prairie Dunes to set a 64-player, match-play bracket to decide a Kansas Amateur champion. Thirty-two opening-round matches will be played July 22 with second- and third-round matches set for July 23. Quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be played July 24 with a 36-hole championship match slated for July 25.

Platz grabs Public Links spot
   Lenexa’s Jon Platz, 42, fired a six-under par 136 to win the Sectional Qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at Kansas City, Mo.’s Fred Arbanas Golf Course last month. Platz, who won the 2007 KGA Public Links Championship at Eagle Bend Golf Course in Lawrence, had consecutive rounds of three-under 68 to claim the qualifying spot.
   Nineteen-year-old Jace Long of Dixon, Mo., who shot rounds of 70 and 69 to finish three Jon Platz

strokes behind Platz, earned the first alternate position. Daily Young of Springfield, Mo., earned the second alternate position. Young had the low round of the qualifier with a five-under par 66 in the second round on the par-71, 6,718-yard Arbanas layout as just four players managed red figures after two rounds.
   Both Platz and Long have qualified for the USGA Public Links in recent years, Platz in 2007 at Swope Memorial Golf Course and Long in 2009 at Dub’s Dread Golf Club.
   The 2010 USGA Amateur Public Links Championship will be held July 12-17 at Bryan Park in Greensboro, N.C. Former winners of the event include PGA Tour players Ryan Moore, Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker.

-- some information supplied by The Kansas City Golf Association

Wolf Creek underwater after June storms
   Heavy rains in the Kansas City area last month left many courses “under water” – and some saw that taken to the extreme. One was the exclusive Wolf Creek Golf Club in Olathe. The facility experienced heavy rains on June 12 which flooded several holes and left the course closed on what should have been a busy mid-June golfing weekend.
   Holes underwater included the first, the walking path on the third hole, the fifth and several holes and much of the cart path on the back nine as water flooded from a holding pond across the 13th tee and down Nos. 12 and 15. The facility’s practice range was also under water.
   Rodney Wray is PGA professional at Wolf Creek, a private facility in Johnson County designed by Dr. Marvin Ferguson and built in 1971. Chris Finnerty is golf course superintendent at the club.

Woodward steps down from GCSAA post
   Golf Course Superintendents Association of

America

President James R. Fitzroy, CGCS, announced June 22 that Chief Executive Officer Mark Woodward, CGCS, has resigned, effective immediately, to pursue other career interests.
Woodward was appointed GCSAA chief executive in April 2008 and assumed those duties in

July of that year. He came to GCSAA, headquartered in Lawrence, after serving as operations manager for the city of San Diego, including host of the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course. He also served as GCSAA president in 2004.
   "Mark is a talented individual who has made solid contributions to GCSAA," Fitzroy said. "He has been a fine representative and a strong steward for the organization. We wish him well in his future endeavors."
   Fitzroy noted Woodward has been instrumental in guiding GCSAA through one of the nation's most severe economic downturns in years. His leadership also served to position GCSAA prominently for its research, programs and education regarding golf's relationship with the environment.
   Rhett Evans, GCSAA chief operating officer, has been named interim CEO while the organization's board of directors conducts a nationwide search to determine Woodward's successor. Prior to arriving at GCSAA in July 2009, Evans was director of the parks, recreation and commercial facilities division for the city of Mesa, Ariz., where he managed a staff of more than 700.