Jeff Gallagher goes home, hopes to win at U.S. Senior Open

Reflection Bay at Lake Las Vegas golf instructor Jeff Gallagher is a native of Indiana — and he’s going back to Indiana.

When he finished as low medalist at the U.S. Senior Open Sectional Qualifier played June 11 at OGA Golf Course in Woodburn, Oregon, he earned a fourth-straight trip to the nation’s senior golf championship that begins Thursday at the Warren Golf Course at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

The layout is located a long touchdown pass from where the college football legend of Knute Rockne was born.

“Just like the memorable song lyrics, it’s great to be ‘Back Home in Indiana Again,’” Gallagher said. “Since the tournament is at Notre Dame, it brings back many childhood memories of the days going to watch the Irish play football on Saturdays.

“The player registration this week was held in the Notre Dame locker room and we got to tour the field and locker facility. It was probably one of the best experiences I’ve had in my golf career. It was so much fun.”

Gallagher tees off at 9:20 a.m. with Jarmo Sandelin and Brad Lardon. The senior open is his first PGA Tour Champions event in 2019.

Las Vegas native Tommy Armour III, who plays out of the Summit and grew up playing the Las Vegas Country Club where he still enjoys teeing it up, is off at 8:08 a.m. with Bob Estes and Scott Dunlap. Armour III is 62nd in the Charles Schwab Cup standings with $124,938 in 12 tournaments.

Duffy Waldorf, who officially lists Las Vegas as his residence, tied for 31st in 2018 and tees off at 1:49 p.m. with Tom Byrum and Glen Day.

Also, Matt Cielen, the Warren course superintendent, served on the Shadow Creek maintenance staff in 1998.

Match play qualifiers

At TPC Las Vegas last Wednesday, Tyson Lund, Scott Taylor, Wes Taylor, Dylan Fritz, William White and Gary Carpendale qualified for the Nevada State Match Play Championship, which is July 28-31 at the Summit. The total field is 32 players.

Weekly Deals

Here are a couple bonus summer deals following up last week’s notebook.

— Desert Pines resident rates start as low as $25 with an Arcis Prime membership and standard resident rates start at $35 weekday, including meal and beverage.

— Rates at Legacy start at $19 after 2 p.m. and peak at $50 for primetime rounds. The course also offers first-responder rates on Monday and teacher appreciation on Tuesdays.

Shriners Open needs you

If you’ve ever wanted to work behind the scenes of a PGA Tour event, visit ShrinersHospitalsOpen.com and sign up to volunteer at the tournament Sept. 30-Oct. 6 at TPC Summerlin.

Volunteers receive a meal and beverage each shift, tournament badge, week-long tournament access badge, and an Sunday post-round party attended by the champion.

Stars on, off course

Dana Finkelstein, a former UNLV women’s golf four-time All-American, missed the cut at the LPGA Tour’s KPMG PGA Championship despite a solid opening round. She got the stomach flu prior to the second round and struggled. It was her first major appearance.

The golf notebook appears Wednesdays. Freelance writer Brian Hurlburt is a two-time author who has covered golf in Las Vegas for more than two decades. He can be reached at bhurlburt5@gmail.com or @LVGolfInsider.