Posted online: August 4, 2006 12:03 AM
Print publication date: August 4, 2006

QC Open numbers drop on pro side, but solid from amateur standpoint

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By Tom Johnston, tjohnston@qconline.com

It appears as if the nearly month-long layoff has local amateur golfers clamoring to get back into action on the National City Bank Amateur Tour. Seventy-five players have signed up to play this weekend's Quad City Open.

The same can't be said for the professionals.

In an event started last year for rising pros and those on the other end of the driver seeking more competition, entries have seriously fallen off for this year's three-round tourney at Glynns Creek Golf Course. Only 30 pros will be in the field -- a dropoff of 50 percent. Only 18 will make the 36-hole cut and play a final round on Sunday for a paycheck.

John Valliere, head pro at Glynns Creek and tournament organizer, thinks there is a simple reason for the drastic fall in pro participation.

"Part of it is the Hooters Tour being back in full swing," he said. "I got no guys from the Hooters Tour like we had last year."

The Hooters Tour had a mid-summer break (July 4-24) and many of those players participated in the first two of the three-stop Iowa swing that started with the Cedar Rapids Open and the Waterloo Open (which had a $30,000 first-place payout). Neither of the winners from those events will be here his weekend.

Valliere thought the date and scheduling also had a lot to do with the drop in QCO participation. Not wanting to play the same week as the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic, there was a week gap between the other two Iowa stops and the QC Open.

Last year, the QC Open started the Iowa swing.

Because of the pro entries being way down, the purse is also cut in half. Pros will be playing for their share of $16,000, nearly half of last year's $30,000 kitty. Half of that total came from Thursday's eight-team pro-am.

Defending champ Wil Collins is not back in the field. However, third-place finisher Steve Thomas and local long-ball hitter Sean McCarty are teeing it up.

Valliere says a number of those 30 have played in all three Iowa events. Those guys will also vie for a share of a $3,000 bonus pool that will be divvied up among the top 10 based on points accumulated from all three Iowa events.

Tim Flaherty in the open division and Davey Waugh in the senior flight will be defending their amateur titles in the NCBAm Tour event held in conjunction with the pro event. For Sunday's final round, the amateur field will get pared to the low 30 and ties in the open division and top eight and ties for the seniors. Those players completing 36 holes but not making the cut will still receive points in the season-long points race for spots in the Tour Championship finale and the Hasley Cup teams.

Valliere is hoping this year's pro drop-off, which includes no senior pro division, is rectified next year -- not only by a different date, but also with a new look to the Iowa pro swing.

"The people who bought Bos Landen (in Pella, Iowa), are interested in adding a fourth event," he said. "We're trying to figure out something this fall. ... It will make for a true Grand Slam of Iowa to have four of them here."

If that happens, Valliere said he might try to schedule the QCO the weekend before the John Deere Classic, July 9-15, 2007.

"I hate to do it the week before the John Deere Classic, but it just might be a natural," said Valliere.

He figures he might get some of the pros in town early if they try to Monday qualify for the JDC four-spotter at Pinnacle Country Club.