A hot-blooded Californian made it from coast to coast without bogey-free qualifiers in Tuesday’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open qualifier at The Links at Hiawatha Landing.
Tim Bogue of Windsor, Sonoma County, made eight birdies in a round of 64 at Apalachin Golf Course, finishing three ahead of next best in a field of competitors who claimed one of the last four places in the $2.1 million tournament proper wanted to get hold of.
Bogue – who has worked as a longshoreman since 1999, loading and unloading cargo in Oakland – told pgatour.com that he slept in a van Monday night after making the long hike from California to Syracuse and then driving the final 90 minutes be Binhamton.
“Thank god the guy[at the rental desk]gave me a van,” Bogue told the website. “As dockers, we sleep a lot in our cars, so I get a lot of practice.”
When Bogue isn’t offloading cargo, he’s a golf coach in California who also frequents the Skins games near where he lives. Bogue has made the final stage of the PGA Tour Champions Q-School three times but has yet to fully immerse himself in the circuit. His best Q-School result was T56 in 2019.
Ricardo Gonzalez (67) and Andrew Johnson and Michael Muehr (69), who emerged from a seven-way playoff, also secured starts in Friday’s opening round at En-Joie Golf Course.
Bogue was 1-under on six holes before birdieing on six of his next seven. He landed a birdie on the par-5 18 and will make his second PGA Tour Champions start in as many weeks.
In last week’s Boeing Classic qualifier, he finished birdie-eagle for one of four 6-under-66s. He shot 76-75-75 (T68) at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge outside of Seattle, his first senior tour start since the 2018 US Senior Open (75-76 missed cut).
Gonzalez of Argentina was level on the seventh tee and 4-under exiting the 12th green. He bogeyed 14th but made an eagle-3 on the last.
His three appearances on the Senior Tour this season include a T20 in the Senior PGA Championship in late May. He shared seventh place at the 2021 Senior British Open.
The story goes on
Johnson (Maitland, Fla.) played evenly up front and made three birdies from 12 on. Muehr (Bethesda, Maryland) scraped into the playoffs despite playing his last six holes in 1-overs.
Twice has the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open champion emerged from Open qualifiers: Doug Barron in 2019 and Willie Wood in 2012.
Story originally appeared on GolfWeek