Five Minnesotans join talented field

As a wide-eyed freshman-to-be at Wayzata High School in 2006, Kyle Beversdorf was first introduced to United States Golf Association tournaments when Hazeltine National was the site of the U.S. Amateur tournament in Chaska.

"I thought, 'This is the real deal.' It's always been a goal of mine to get there," Beversdorf said.

Now he has.

Beversdorf and four other Minnesotans -- Don Constable, Tony Krogen, Ryan Peterson and David Smith -- will be competing this week in the section round at the U.S. Amateur near Milwaukee. They are guaranteed 36 holes of play -- 18 at Erin Hills and 18 at Blue Mound Golf & Country Club -- before the field of 312 is cut to the low 64 scores for match play at Erin Hills beginning Wednesday.

The winner after Sunday's final day of competition gets an exemption from local and sectional qualifying for the next U.S. Open, an exemption from qualifying for the next 10 U.S. Amateurs, an exemption from qualifying for the next British Open and a likely invitation to the next Masters.

"This is definitely the biggest accomplishment of my career," said Marshall's Krogen, who qualified for the U.S. Am last month at Burl Oaks in Minnetrista.

It was Krogen's first attempt at even getting into the field. Beversdorf, too, is there for the first time while Constable, Peterson and Smith all have previous experiences.

• Defending champ Peter Uihlein.

• Patrick Cantlay, who had a back-nine 30 in the second round of this year's U.S. Open and shot a course-record 60 at the Travelers Championship in June.

• University of Georgia teammates Harris English and Russell Henley, who both already have won events on the Nationwide Tour.

• John Peterson, who bogeyed the 18th hole to open the door for English's victory.

"No one's really seen this before," said Constable, who finished out his University of Minnesota career this spring and won the Minnesota State Amateur tournament this summer. "Even though we're amateurs, we're coming next."

The USGA has set Erin Hills at 7,760 yards for the tournament, surpassing last year's 7,742 yards at Chambers Bay as the longest ever for a U.S. Amateur.

Hazeltine played at a then-record 7,473 yards in 2006.

"You tell people that it's at Erin Hills and they say, 'Have fun with that,'" Smith said. "And you just have to let it go in one ear and out the other. We're all playing the same course out there. It's a big stage, but it's just golf."

Smith advanced to the match-play portion of this year's U.S. Amateur Public Links at Bandon Dunes but was defeated in the first round. Still, he sees his experiences in that along with two other USGA events as an advantage this week.

Constable, who missed the cut at last year's U.S. Amateur by six shots, agrees.

Peterson is playing in his third consecutive U.S. Amateur and has no plans to take it easy.