GSU golf coach seeks Senior Open slot

If you watch the U.S. Senior Open and see a contestant wearing a hat with Georgia State written on it, a shirt with the GSU logo and a bag with the same, that’s going to be Panthers’ golf coach Joe Inman.

Inman plans to be decked out in the school’s royal blue at the Senior Open, to be played at Crooked Stick Golf Course in Carmel, Ind., beginning July 30.

But first, he’s got to qualify. Inman will join 66 other golfers today at Florence (S.C.) Country Club attempting to earn one of the two or three spots for the Open.

Inman has a couple of advantages — he’s a long-time touring pro, having won once on the PGA Tour and three times on the Champions Tour. Plus, he has played the Florence course many times as a junior golfer. He could have tried to qualify at Sugarloaf in July, but nostalgia drew him to South Carolina.

“Wanted to see it again,” said Inman, who played in — but did not win — the Florence Junior Invitational when he was 15, 16 and 17. “Hadn’t seen it in forever.”

It’s not just nostalgia for the course but the memories and camaraderie of his 25-plus years on the tours that pushed Inman to try to qualify. He’s loved the 11 months he’s been at GSU and has big plans for the program.

But he just wanted to take a time-out to get those old feelings again. He wants to see Ben Crenshaw, with whom he played his first two rounds as a pro. Inman goes on naming more players he’d love to play with again, if not just see again: Bernhard Langer, Larry Mize, Tom Jenkins, James Mason, Tom McKnight. Inman’s contacts list seems as long as Marietta Street.

“I lived with them for 11 years out there,” Inman, 61, said. “Some of them I’ve known all my life, even from junior golf and some through college golf. It’s just nice to go back and see all the guys and compete.”

And, should he qualify, it won’t be entirely all fun either. While Inman has a great history at the Senior Open — he’s made the cut six out of seven times — he doesn’t hold out much hope for winning the Open. The course, made famous by the then-unknown John Daly in 1991 at the PGA Championship, is a long-hitter’s paradise at 7,516 yards from the championship tees.

However, he hopes that by reconnecting with players and by wearing the Georgia State gear, he may get tips on some promising players he might recruit to strengthen his program.

“I love the trying,” he said. “I love looking at the mountain, get up in the morning, there’s the mountain, go climb the mountain. I love that.”