Westfield Resident Shoots for U.S. Open Monday

It is every golfer's dream to have a chance to participate in their sport’s national championship.

Westfield native Scott Paris gets his shot Monday.

Paris, the Director of Golf at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, will participate in a 36-hole U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying tournament at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit.

83 golfers (64 professionals and 19 amateurs) will converge onto Canoe Brook to contend for four coveted spots in the 111^th U.S. Open Men’s Golf Championship at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., which starts Thursday, June 16^th.

10 other sites around the nation will be hosting sectional qualifying events on Monday.

The 6-1, 185-pound Paris advanced to Sectional Qualifying after a 1-over 73 in Local Qualifying (18 holes) at Ballyowen Golf Club in Hamburg on May 17^th.

Paris birdied the par-5, 560-yard fifth hole to go to 1-under, but then had two straight bogeys on six and seven to go to 1-over. Paris parred the last 11 holes.

Five golfers advanced on that day and Paris was the fifth to make it.

"I played a very steady round at Ballyowen," said Paris, who is 43 and who has lived in Westfield since 1998. "It could have been lower, but it was obviously enough. I'm excited about the challenge of competing against a really strong field on Monday."

For his first 18 holes, Paris will tee off from hole one on Canoe Brook's North Course at 8:55 a.m. with playing partner, Eric Beringer from Delray Beach, Fla. Paris will then hit the South Course, along with Beringer, for an afternoon tee time, starting on hole 10, at 1:55 p.m.

"Canoe Brook is one of the state's finest clubs with two great courses. I've had the pleasure of playing both a number of times. There is variety in the architecture of the courses that will require a complete game to score well," said Paris, who started at Plainfield Country Club in 1997. "I did not play any practice rounds at Ballyowen for local qualifying, but have visited both courses at Canoe Brook recently."

This is the second time Paris has advanced to Sectional Qualifying. In 2005, also at Canoe Brook, Paris shot 77-74 and did not advance to the main event at Pinehurst Resort's famed-course No. 2 in Pinehurst, N.C.

"Obviously, there are so many strong players when you reach this point. I'll simply do my best to fully commit to each shot and see what kind of score I can post," added Paris, who will have Scott Chisholm, another PGA professional at Plainfield, on the bag to caddy.

Monday's tee-time weather will range from 67 degrees (9 a.m.) to 78 degrees (3 p.m.), with a chance of isolated thunderstorms.

To follow Paris' progress, live scoring and updates will be available on www.mgagolf.org as well as the MGA Facebook and MGA Twitter pages. For complete info and details on the U.S. Open, June 13-19 at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, visit www.usopen.com.