Dalhousie prepares for AJGA with pair of tournaments

~ The local course will host the state amateur qualifier this week.

With its showcase American Junior Golf Association tournament two weeks away, Dalhousie Golf Club will tune up with a couple of smaller, but notable events in the coming days.

On Monday, the club will host a 2007 Missouri Amateur Championship qualifier, featuring a 36-man field. The women will take the stage the following day, as about 80 participants will gather for the SEMO Women's Golf Association Tournament.

The latter event will mark the first time Dalhousie has hosted the 54-year-old tournament, which brings together 10 clubs from the Southeast Missouri region. The tournament uses a stroke-play format, with an individual trophy and traveling team trophies awarded.

Besides Dalhousie, the Bootheel Golf Club (Sikeston), Cape Girardeau Country Club, Charleston Country Club, Hidden Trails Country Club (Dexter), Kimbeland Country Club (Jackson), New Madrid Country Club, Westwood Hills (Poplar Bluff) and Sikeston Country Club will be represented.

Last year, Kimbeland posted the low gross team score, while host Cape Girardeau Country Club won the low net (handicap) title.

Harriette Myers of New Madrid Country Club has won the individual stroke play title the last two years and will return to defend her title once again.

Dalhousie members Ann Dombrowski and Alice Temm are co-chairing this year's tournament, and Dombrowski said the tournament is popular among the clubs in the region.

"They like this because it gives them an opportunity to play for their club as a team," Dombrowski said. "It's one of the few times where we get together and it's totally stroke play, one of the few time you're truly on your own."

Dombrowski said Tuesday's event is one of only two stroke-play tournaments during the year for women in Southeast Missouri, the other hosted by Kennett Country Club.

Dalhousie, which won both traveling team trophies in 2004, is hoping for a home-course advantage this time around.

"It's the first time for a lot of these people to see a true championship course," Dombrowski said of the layout, ranked No. 1 in Missouri in the latest Golf Digest poll.

The tournament is open to any member of a club belonging to the SEMO Women's Golf Association. It is pre-flighted in five divisions according to handicap. Those without a handicap are automatically assigned to the championship division.

Those in the field expected to challenge Myers for the title are Robyn Young, Vickie Long, Jo Billings and Diane Fowler, who has won seven Lassies Classic titles at Cape Girardeau Country Club with Myers.

While Myers and Fowler are both members of the same club, they will not be in the team competition, as New Madrid Country Club does not have the necessary four members competing to qualify for the traveling trophies.

"Kimbeland is always a very strong team to beat," Dombrowksi said. "But it's really up in the air between Kimbeland, Poplar Bluff and Cape."

Missouri Amateur qualifier

Dalhousie, which will host the 2012 Missouri Amateur Championship, is one of six qualifying sites for the 2007 Missouri Amateur, which will be played June 19 to 24 in Jefferson City, Mo.

Jack Connell, Dalhousie's director of golf, said the local qualifier may determine as many as six to eight spots in the Missouri Amateur. He said the number of spots usually corresponds to the size of the field.

"We have a lot of good players and low handicappers, so it's a possibility they may give us more spots because they know it's one of the harder sites," Connell said.

Dalhousie also hosted the qualifier in 2003 and 2005, alternating with Westwood Hills Country Club of Poplar Bluff over the past few years.

Players from throughout the region will be vying for the spots, with several coming from as far away as St. Louis. Qualifying begins at 8 a.m.