CORAOPOLIS — The up-and-down topography of Montour Heights Country Club produced some up-and-down performances in the first WPGA Open Championship qualifying round Monday.
With a variety of challenging conditions, including temperatures that surged to 90 degrees and gusty winds that took over the afternoon, no prospective qualifying players managed to finish even or under par in the 59-player field.
Daniel Donahue and Nolan Shilling, however, emerged with the day’s two best performances, shooting matching scores of 1-over, as they and 20 others earned spots in the 123rd WPGA Open Championship.
“I played pretty well off the tee and put myself in a good position,” said Donahue, a member at Oakmont Country Club. “I tried to get myself around like 20 feet to putt and made a few.”
That included a long one on the 388-yard, drastically uphill eighth hole, which went down for birdie and followed a double bogey on the previous hole.
“I made a nice 20-footer after that double, which was huge,” said Donahue, who plays collegiately at John Carroll University. “It kept my mind in it.”
Shilling, a Youngstown State golfer who is also an Oakmont member, started his round at 8:50 a.m., avoiding some of the day’s worst wind, which started to howl after 2 p.m. His performance is a second straight strong one in WPGA qualifying events, having taken the top spot in WPGA Amateur Championship qualifying two weeks ago.
Add the wind to a course that features some of the region’s most drastic elevation changes and a large surplus of high fescue, and the conditions challenged a strong field.
“I played it blind today,” said Donahue, who had no experience with Montour Heights. “The tee shots, you can’t really see the fairway on some of the holes. You’ve got to be locked in… use the range finder, hit 3-iron, get it in play and go from there.”
Brady Newman and Nico Ward shot 2-over, while Matt Gurska and Jeffrey Jenkins were 3-over. Five players finished 4-over, including Alex Kennedy of Chartiers Country Club, the lone professional to qualify Monday.
One more qualifying round is set for the 123rd WPGA Open Championship. That will take place on June 16 at Diamond Run Golf Club. The West Penn Open is a three-day championship that will be held July 13-15 at Willowbrook Country Club in Apollo.
“I played in the Open last year, but didn’t play well,” said Donahue. “I’m looking forward to this year.”
For any media inquiries, please contact WPGA Director of Communications Josh Rowntree.
