Peninsula CC in major spotlight

“We’re trying to put our best foot forward,” said Ryan O’Neil, Peninsula general manager. “We don’t do outside tournaments anymore … except for tournaments like this.”

O’Neil said he is expecting around 120 golfers who will be playing for two spots into the national championship tournament. Qualifying for either the men’s or women’s US Open is open to any golfer with a handicap index of 2.4 or better, or is a card-carrying professional. O’Neil said he expect about 30 pros to be on hand to try and qualify for the US Women’s Open.

Peninsula is one of 26 sites around the country to host qualifying tournaments, one of four in California and one of two in the Bay Area — Marin Country Club in Novato is also a qualifying site.

Qualifying is no easy task, however. In addition to the pressure of trying to make it into the field of a major golf championship, there is the fact that entrants will be playing 36 holes in one day.

“There is about a half-hour break (between the two rounds of 18 holes),” O’Neil said. “It’s a long day for them.”

O’Neil said the Donald Ross-designed course will play to about 6,800 yards for the qualifier. He said he expects the course to be suitably tough for those with aspirations to play in women’s golf’s second major of the year.

And playing a Ross-designed course can lead to players being “Rossed” because of the peculiarities of his course designs.

“Conditionwise, the rough will be a little tricky,” O’Neil said. “Our course can play smooth and nice for our members, but it also plays very tough.

“We don’t have wide fairways. We have a good amount of rough. … We have a uniqueness to our course.”

As for the actual playing conditions, O’Neil can’t imagine it being anything less than pristine. Despite all the trials and tribulations that came with the winter storms — the club lost its “logo” tree to one of the atmospheric rivers that battered the state — O’Neil said the course is immaculate right now.

“Probably today, it’s playing better than it ever has in our history,” O’Neil said of the course that opened in 1912, with Ross doing a redesign in 1923 and 1924.

O’Neil said the club threw their hat into the qualifying ring because what golf course doesn’t want the prestige of being a US Women’s Open qualifying site?

“It puts our course in a new light. [The USGA], they don’t take a schmucky course. … It means you’re a top course,” O’Neil said. “The board (of directors) is very excited to host. They see it as a feather in the cap.”

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Anyone that has followed Peninsula Athletic League girls’ tennis the last couple of years knows that Burlingame’s Mila Mulready is one of the top players on the Peninsula.

After her performance at the Maze Cup, she can claim to be one of the best players in Northern California.

The Maze Cup features boys’ and girls’ teams from Northern and Southern California that are comprised of five players each in two age-group brackets — 18-and-under and 16-and-under. Mulready, who is finishing up her junior year at Burlingame, played in the U16 tournament and was joined by Cupertino’s Gayathri Krishnan, who won the CCS girls’ singles title last fall. Also on the team were Sophia Hernandez of Los Gatos, Penelope Wong of Mountain View and St. Francis’ Jolie Han Wang, who lost to Krishnan in the CCS semifinals.

This is the 48th year of the Maze Cup, alternating between the two halves of the state. This year’s edition was April 21-23 at Alpine Hills Tennis and Swimming Club in Portola Valley.

While the team from Southern California took the title, Mulready certainly did her part in helping Nor Cal’s cause, going 2-1 in a pair of singles matches and one doubles match in U16 play.

And if nothing else, she proved her resiliency as she battled back from a set down in both her singles matches, winning both. She faced a formidable opponent in her first match taking on Alyssa Ahn, had won the national hardcourt championship last year. Mulready dropped the first set, 3-6, but he came back to tie the match with a 6-3 win in set No. 2 and closed out the win with a 6-4 decision in the third set.

She took on Rachel Lee in her second singles match, again dropping the first set, 5-7. But again Mulready rallied for the win, closing out Lee in the second and third sets, 7-5, 6-4.

Between those two singles matches, Mulready teamed with Wong for a lone doubles match, which they dropped, 3-6, 5-7.

Mulready was not the only San Mateo County connection in the Maze Cup. Menlo School sophomore Cooper Han also participated in the U16 tournament, also going 2-1, winning both his singles matches and losing in doubles.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.