Qualifying at Lake Valley GC

Two years before the U.S. Senior Open returns to Colorado — specifically, The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs — qualifying for the 2016 championship will take place Wednesday (July 6) at Lake Valley Golf Club in Niwot.

The top two finishers out of Wednesday’s field of 67 will advance to the 2016 Senior Open, set for Aug. 11-14 at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio.

Two competitors who came through a Colorado qualifier last year to play in the 2015 U.S. Senior Open will be back for this week’s qualifying tournament: professional Doug Rohrbaugh of Carbondale and amateur David Delich of Colorado Springs. (They’re pictured, with Delich at left.)

Rohrbaugh, who was conditionally exempt on the PGA Tour Champions last year, made it into a playoff in last year’s qualifying when he holed a 98-yard shot for par on his final hole of regulation. Then he beat Delich in a playoff, apparently for the last national berth. But later Delich, the 2015 CGA Senior Player of the Year, also advanced, in his case off the alternate list.

Others scheduled to compete at Lake Valley are four-time U.S. Senior Open qualifier Ron Vlosich of Lakewood; two-time Colorado Open champion Jim Blair; amateur Kent Moore, like Vlosich a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer; and Dale Smigelsky, winner of the 2015 Colorado Senior PGA Professional Championship.

For Wednesday’s tee times, CLICK HERE.