95th Maryland Open Championship Preview
The Maryland State Golf Association will conduct the 95th Maryland Open Championship from Monday, July 11 to Wednesday, July 13 at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre de Grace. The format is 54 holes of stroke play, with all players playing 36 holes and a cut to the low 40 scorers and ties for the final round. The professional purse is approximately $45,000. The perpetual silver trophy will be engraved with the champion’s name, and the low amateur’s name will also be engraved onto the Harry Pitt Trophy.
“Bulle Rock” was the name of the first thoroughbred horse brought to the United States, and the pedigree of this Pete Dye design, which opened in 1998, lives up to the high expectations that its name suggests. It was the site of the 81st Maryland Open Championship in 2002, when Chip Sullivan captured his first of four Maryland Open victories. Bulle Rock also hosted the LPGA Championship from 2005 to 2009, and in 2011-2012 Golf Digest ranked it no 59 on its list of “America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses.”
Three-time Maryland Open winner and defending champion Denny McCarthy, Rockville, will not attempt to defend his 2015 victory, as he works toward earning his PGA tour card on the Web.com Tour this year. In eleven starts this year, McCarthy has made the cut in nine events and finished with a score at even par or better in eight of those appearances.
Despite McCarthy’s absence, there are a number of past champions and runners-up in this year’s field, like three-time Maryland Open winner Wayne DeFrancesco (2005, 1995, 1994). 2009 Maryland Open champion Matthew Bassler, CC of Maryland, qualified for this year’s championship with a 3-over 75 at Hobbit’s Glen GC, while 2011 champion David Hutsell, Timonium, and 2012 champion Sean Bosdosh, Boyds, were exempt from qualifying. Other notable players include four-time runner-up Dirk Schultz of Hagerstown, 2008 runners-up Jim Estes and Eric Egloff, 2012 Maryland Amateur champion, Josh Eure, and 2015 amateur champion Ben Warnquist.
Forty-four of the 135 competitors were exempt from qualifying, while 91 players from the four qualifying sites filled the remaining spots. On May 2 at Eisenhower GC, Steven Delmar, a professional from Gaithersburg and the University of Maryland men’s assistant coach, was the medalist with a bogey-free, 3-under 68. At the qualifier hosted by Hobbit’s Glen GC on May 9, Nick Sorkin, Lakewood CC, fired 3-under 69, which was enough to earn him medalist honors in the amateur and open qualifier. 2016 Maryland Amateur Champion Tyler Herriott, MSGA eClub, qualified with a 2-under 70 at Andrews AFB on May 19. Andrew Bonn, an assistant professional at Trump National DC, also fired 70 to tie with Herriott for the low round of the open qualifier at Andrews. Finally at Hog Neck Golf Course on May 23, Matt Fry, a professional from Bel Air, posted the low round of the qualifier with a 3-under 69 in very wet conditions on the eastern shore.
The course will play at 7055 yards to a par of 72, with four par-5s and four par-3s. The par-4 9th and 18th holes will present a challenge to the field, measuring 420 and 460 yards respectively. The players will also face stern tests at the lengthy, 5th hole, which measures nearly 460 yards with a severely-uphill approach to a narrow green; and the 13th hole, a dogleg-right measuring 440 yards with four bunkers and Dye’s signature railroad ties guarding the green.