Former Braves ace John Smoltz shot a 3-over 74 in local qualifying for the U.S. Open at The River Club in Suwanee, barely missing out on a playoff to possibly advance to the next step of qualifying.
He is tied for 11th on par-71, 7,089-yard course. The golfers with the top eight scores will advance to sectional qualifying, which will be held June 6 at Smoltz's home course of Hawks Ridge in Ball Ground. There are also two alternates. The U.S. Open will be held at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. June 16-19.
Georgia Tech's Anders Albertson tied for second with a 69, one stroke behind former Georgia State golfer Tobias Rosendahl. Tech teammate Oliver Schniederjans (71), Georgia's Brian Carter (71) and Mercer's Mookie DeMoss (72) also advanced.
Smoltz could have been a lock to advance, if not for a gust of wind on his 17th hole, the par-4 No. 8. Sitting at even par, he smashed an iron down the right side of the fairway and was in good position to attack the pin on the green's right side. With winds swirling, he elected to hit an 8-iron from around 140 yards to the middle of the green. He pushed it slightly and the wind blew the ball straight up, depositing it into the pond that fronts the green. He finished with a double bogey, his only one on the day. Cruelly, another gust of wind pushed what looked like a perfect drive into a bunker on the left on his last hole. He bogeyed the hole,which cost him a chance at a playoff for one of the alternate spots.
Smoltz said he applied two lessons he learned from his disappointing performance in last month's Nationwide Tour event, in which he missed the cut by 27 strokes: he got his clubs reshafted to reduce the ball's trajectory, which he said was costing him yards and accuracy, and he has worked on improving how he "releases" the club, which is the term golfers use when describing how the arms move through impact.
He hit eight of 13 fairways and hit 13 greens in regulation.
