Green Valley Rich In Talent

It seems only natural that Green Valley Country Club will play host to U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying on Monday.

With the price of gas still around $4 per gallon, you don't want to have sizable chunks of the field hitting the road for long distances.

Actually, the percentage of locals in the field has much more to do with Green Valley's penchant for producing winners than with any home-course favoritism at the Northern California Golf Association.

In fact, more than 10 percent of the memberships at Green Valley belong to players with handicaps or 5 or less, a stat so impressive it recently drew the attention of Golf Digest magazine.

"Good players want to go where it's competitive. There's always competition here, and that's how guys get better," said Mark Sherman, Green Valley's head professional. "It's a good old-fashioned golf course. It's always in good shape, and it's not long but it's definitely not easy. It can be a challenge."

The challenge for the top golfers may be standing out at a place like Green Valley.

Suisun's Jeff Wilson has received the most notoriety among local sticks, and already will play in next month's U.S. Mid-Amateur, the championship for players ages 25 and older.

Wilson received a free pass through Monday's qualifying event when he reached the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in June. By qualifying for the PGA Tour's second major, he also earned a spot in the U.S. Amateur in two weeks at Pinehurst in North Carolina.

Another player with local ties easily could join Wilson on Monday. Green Valley players Tom Kirby and John Justus, both from Fairfield, are among a long list of pre-tournament favorites.

Other Fairfield players with Green Valley ties include Jeramy McAlister, Joe Zanassi and Jack Anthony. Suisun City's David Keith also is in the event, and Green Valley members Dan Bieber (Alamo) and Eddie Davis (San Mateo) spend most of their time elsewhere but still come to Solano County for golf.

That's eight of the 68 players in the field that can call Green Valley "home." And with three spots to the U.S. championship available, the odds are fair that Wilson will have some local company at Milwaukee Country Club in September.

"It means a lot to our club, not only to be able to host an event like this, but to have so many guys in it," Sherman said. "Not a whole lot of clubs can say that they have so many good players, and they're going to have an advantage here.

"A lot of guys can come in and bomb the ball, but you have to be able to know where to hit it on the greens to have easier putts. The NCGA will set up the course, but we're definitely going to give them some recommendations on the pin placements."

Sherman believes it will take a score of 69 or 70 to finish in the top three, and he has a number of golfers capable of shooting that low.

Even more Green Valley members can flirt with par on a regular basis, even if they're not U.S. Amateur material. Of the 456 members of the country club, 50 have indices or 5.0 or less.

Another 90 golfers have handicaps between 5.0 and 9.9, giving Green Valley 140 single-digit golfers, 31 percent of the total pool at the club. It's not exactly a no-hackers-allowed place, but you definitely want to bring your "A" game.