A very cool inaugural event

It’s easy to overlook a national championship when the calendar features a flash-flood of them. But for a moment, put aside the Open Championship and both the upcoming Senior Open Championship and Amundi Evian Championship – which will be run concurrently July 21-24 – and absorb the fact that the first-ever U.S. Adaptive Open is on deck.

It will be held July 18-20 at the famed Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina and cheers to the United States Golf Association for recognizing this segment of the sport’s client base. Ninety-six competitors – 12 in each of eight categories – will tee it up on Pinehurst’s No. 6 course.

One Massachusetts golfer is in the field – Annie Hayes, 59, of Lee, who was paralyzed from the waist down while riding a mountain bike in her backyard 15 years ago. She had only picked up golf two years before the accident, but less than a year after her accident she was back playing with the help of a SoloRider cart. Hayes will be competing in the seated players category.

What will help shine a light on this competition will be the presence of a handful of athletes who’ve been competitors on a national stage. World Golf Hall of Fame member Dennis Walters, for instance.

Now 73, Walters still pours tons of energy into his traveling trick-shot show that helps keep him connected to the game he loves and a game that would have been his livelihood if not for a golf cart accident that left him paralyzed when he was 24.

Another notable pro golfer, 63-year-old Connecticut native Ken Green, will be in the field. A five-time winner on the PGA Tour between 1985-89, Green was involved in a horrible RV accident in 2009; he lost his leg, but his girlfriend, his brother, and his dog were killed in the crash.

Green did return to play the PGA Tour Champions for a few seasons but presently is also suffering from a nerve disorder, complex regional pain syndrome.

Also in the field is Jake Olson, a 25-year-old from Huntington Beach, Calif., who made history as the first blind athlete to play in an NCAA football game. Olson served as a long-snapper for the Trojans. A 2018 graduate of USC, Olson won the 2019 U.S. Blind Golf Association national championship.

Senior Ams: Kittansett awaits

When the stage is considered one of the world’s grandest seaside layouts, there’s no surprise that a record number of entrants is accepted. And when that course is The Kittansett Club in Marion, Mass., you can expect that the local qualifiers will be jam-packed with New England’s finest competitors. The U.S. Senior Amateur is scheduled for Aug. 27-Sept. 1 at Kittansett and the local qualifiers are fast-approaching: July 18 at Captains GC in Brewster on Cape Cod, and at the Black Hall Club in Lyme, Old Conn.; July 25 at Charles River CC in Newton; and July 26 at Manchester CC in Vermont. United States Golf Association officials were in Marion for a media day last week and confirmed that a record 2,865 entries were accepted.

State Ams command the spotlight

Taking a quick look at where the State Amateurs stand:

* Massachusetts: It took an 11-for-10 playoff to close out Tuesday’s long second round, but the 32-player field for the first round of match play is set for Wednesday morning. The top seed went to Arthur Zelmati, who plays out of George Wright GC in Hyde Park. He shot 67-71 for 2-under 138. Will Frodigh (141) of Dedham Country Polo was second and Matthew Naumec (142) of GreatHorse in Hamden was third. Among those who survived the massive playoff and got into match play was Matt Parziale, Vanderbilt-bound John Broderick, former Duke standout Jake Shuman, and Aidan Emmerich.

* New Hampshire: Rob Henley (65-76) and Ryan Kohler earned co-medalist honors at the Abenaqui Club in Rye, N.H., as 64 qualified for match play. Three players finished at 143: Craig Steckowych, Bryce Zimmerman, and Joseph Bowker. The Round of 64 will be held today.

* Vermont: Jared Nelson of Rutland CC raised the trophy, thanks to a final-round 65 that enabled him to leapfrog third-round leader Kohler of Brattleboro. Nelson finished at 15-under 269, with Bryson Richards next at 273, and Kohler third at 275. The championship was held at Brattleboro.