Utah foursome gets shot at U.S. Senior Open title

Jimmy Blair and Roy Christensen, two of Utah's top senior golfers, will both be making return appearances at this year's U.S. Senior Open, which begins today at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Kohler, Wis.

They'll be joined by a couple of other Utahns, who are regulars on the Champions Tour circuit, Farmington's Bruce Summerhays and Provo's Mike Reid.

For Blair and Christensen, it's a chance to perhaps catch lightning in a bottle and win the premier event for golfers 50 and older. If that happened, their names would be in headlines all over America and their access to the Champions Tour would be greatly enhanced.

The 52-year-old Blair will be making his third straight U.S. Open appearance in three chances since he turned 50.

As a 50-year-old in 2005, Blair made the cut and finished in a tie for 30th place at Kettering, Ohio. Last year at Hutchinson, Kansas, the Ogden native missed the cut by two shots with a 149 total.

Blair, who owns the Mulligans Golf and Games north of Ogden, didn't qualify in Utah, rather he qualified at the Harvester Golf Club in Rhodes, Iowa on June 11. He shot a 73 and survived a playoff against former PGA Tour regular Chip Beck and amateur Sam Billmeyer for the third spot.

The 56-year-old Christensen claimed the spot for the Senior Open in the local qualifying last month at TalonsCove by shooting a 6-under-par 66.

The former Spanish Oaks head pro said he loved the experience of playing in last year's U.S. Open in Kansas and is excited to be returning this year.

Going to play in the U.S. Senior Open is "an experience of a lifetime," said Christensen. "It should be a lot of fun."

For Summerhays, this will be his 13th U.S. Open appearance, while Reid is going for the fourth straight year.

Summerhays has only missed the cut three times in 13 tries and has had several top 20 finishes topped by a tie for eighth in 1997 and a tie for 12th in 1996.

Reid, the former BYU star who won three times on the PGA Tour, hasn't fared too well yet, finishing in a tie for 29th last year and a tie for 25th in 2004, while missing the cut in 2005.

Reid tees off at 7:15 a.m. MDT with Tom Kite and Isao Aoki, while Summerhays goes off at 7:45 a.m. with Mike McCullough and Larry Laoretti.

Christensen tees off at 11:40 a.m. MDT with other qualifiers Scott Davis and Jeff Burda, while Blair is in a group at 12:40 a.m. with Howard Twitty and Danny Green.

On Friday, Reid and Summerhays will have afternoon tee times, while Blair and Christensen go off in the morning.

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E-mail: sor@desnews.com