I walked the fairways of Lake Merced Golf & Country Club yesterday evening and witnessed Alex Coe, Paul Nagle, Michael Derminio, and Taylor Wood make it past the sectional qualifier and into the United States Open Championship. They'll be going to New York, with wings on.

Notable golfers in the field included Spencer Levin, the 13th place finisher at the 2004 US Open, and Sihwan Kim, the 2004 US Jr Champion at nearby Olympic Club. The windy conditions and undulating greens were challenging and caused problems for many of the competitors.  I watched Spencer miss a short putt on 18, make the turn, pound his head with his fist, and then obliterate a drive on the first hole. He was smaller than I expected, and the volume was up on Spencer's personality and competitiveness. He was impressive to watch.

The antithesis of Spencer, and equally impressive to watch, was Sihwan Kim. He is one of the tallest and strongest Asian players I've seen in competition, especially next to his miniature caddie with pull-cart in tow. He appeared very calm, measured, and calculated.

Unfortunately, two of the big names did not make it past Daly City. However, the sum of these golfers' ages is less than 40, and they will have many more opportunities to qualify and play.

Other notable qualifiers around the world include Ian Poulter, J.B. Holmes, Camillo Villegas, and Jeff Sluman.
 
Jay Haas, Jason Gore, Tom Kite, Michelle Wie, Carlos Franco, Notah Begay, Brad Faxon, Joe Ogilvie Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley, Jesper Parnevik, Trevor Immelman, and Peter Lonard were some of the golfers that failed to qualify.

More details can be found on The Golf Channel website.