Local Golfers Take their Shots at
the US & Senior Opens

      We've all done it; stood over a putt on the practice green and imagined: Father's Day Sunday afternoon. The eighteenth green. If I make this twelve-footer I win the US Open. This year, a handful of Coachella Valley residents laid the dream aside and chased headlong after the reality. Here are three of their stories:

     

Grant Clough, Director of Golf Indian Wells CC   Photo by GM Pinkston

Grant Clough, the 31-year-old Director of Golf for The Golf Resort at Indian Wells, shot opening rounds of 78-73 in this year's US Open, played at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. He missed the cut by four strokes.

      "The 73 on Friday was in the top 25 percent of the field," says Clough. "If I could have done that twice I'd have played the weekend."

      Playing your way into the US Open without an exemption is an arduous task. Grant, however, is an old hand at the qualifying game. Born and raised in Great Britain, he has run the qualification gauntlet of the British Open seven times. Once coming within two strokes of making it in and another time missing by only one.

      After four years on the International Mini-tours and five years as a Club Professional with American Golf Co.--three years in England and the last two at Indian Wells--he decided to test his luck with the US Open. He made it in on his very first try.

      "I played well through qualification," says Clough. "Surprising, because the first round of qualifying was only the second round of competitive golf I'd played all year. I played particularly well the last two rounds at Lake Merced which made my first round 78 at Olympic all the more disappointing. Still, it was a tremendously satisfying experience and has again whetted my appetite for competitive golf. I'm certainly going to give it another try next year and I've even given some thought to going after my PGA card."

Mike Shea, PGA Pro, Sun City CC    Photo by GM Pinkston

      Mike Shea is 51, a PGA Pro, and teaches golf at Sun City. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Inland Desert Chapter of the Southern California PGA and is both Tournament and Publicity Chairman for the chapter.

      Mike was eliminated from Senior US Open qualifying in a play-off in the very last round but got into the show at Riviera as first alternate when another player had to withdraw. He missed the cut by several strokes and did not play on the weekend.

      "I never even got in a practice round," says Shea. "They came and got me off the practice tee on Thursday morning where I was hitting a few balls to warm-up--just in case. I'm not afraid to admit that Riviera just played too long for me--over 7,000 yards--and I've never been a long hitter. I played very well around the greens but just used up too many strokes getting it there."

      Shea arrived at Riviera via a very different route than the one Grant Clough took to The Olympic Club. Mike came up through the caddie ranks. He played his junior and young-adult golf in the shadow of an older brother who went on to become a PGA Club Professional at only 21.

      "My early experience with golf convinced me I just wasn't good enough to be a playing professional," says Shea. "So I got myself a degree in education and became a school teacher."

      Teaching school--baby-sitting and zoo-keeping, Mike calls it--tuned out to be far less satisfying than he had hoped. At a loss for what to do with himself after leaving teaching, Shea bounced around the country in various caddie and golf instruction positions. While caddying at Riviera, Mike had the good fortune to meet Jerry West of the LA Lakers; one of the world's great motivators and a renowned speaker on the subject.

      "Jerry is the one who convinced me that what was right for Mike Shea was to combine my experience in education with my knowledge of golf and get my PGA teaching certification. He was right, I love teaching golf."