Summoned as alternate for Fred Couples, Denver-born Matt Gogel makes statement at U.S. Senior Open

COLORADO SPRINGS Several had the benefit of history for a curriculum that s been described as wicked A multitude of had the benefit of warning for natural slopes that slope unnaturally Several had months of mental preparation for The Broadmoor Matt Gogel had Google Earth And specific yardage books On Wednesday of last week as he recalled the -year-old got a call summoning him to Colorado for the U S Senior Open He was the runner-up at Shadow Ridge Country Club at a qualifier in Arizona in late May Not good enough to crack the initial field of at the Senior Open But good enough ultimately that Gogel felt he had a pretty good shot he d be invited to replace a participant as an alternate That invite came eight days before the start of play at the Broadmoor Golf Club And it came to replace Fred Couples winner of the Masters and once the top-ranked golfer in the world You don t want to miss out on any tournament at our age Gogel recalled A U S Open it s our national championship Aside from the rather high-profile name he d be replacing this wasn t anything new to Gogel He s been living on the edge of the Champions Tour he put it And he entered the field at The Broadmoor as a pitch-dark horse with one top- finish in Champions Tour events He d never made the initial cut in two previous Senior Opens in and Through two days in though Gogel has positioned himself squarely in the middle of the pack shooting a Thursday and Friday to sit at -over par and crack his first cut at a Senior Open And as a slew of competitors have taken to discussing specific angles or degrees of elevation in trying to solve the equation that is The Broadmoor Gogel s kept it rather simple His challenge He knows his misses I kept it below the hole which you have to do Gogel declared Thursday There s really no mystery out here other than it s really hard to put the ball where you want it with altitude on severe sloped greens Currently worked out pretty well Born in Denver before growing up in Kansas he ll have a chance Saturday and Sunday to continue authoring a fascinating run Bubbling As the field slims from an initial come a wide range of top names have been left behind with a projected cut-line of -over par pushing into late play Friday Angel Cabrera a Masters winner who was reinstated to the PGA Tour in after a prison sentence for charges of domestic violence stood to be eliminated after finishing -over So did former Senior Open champions Bernhard Langher Brad Bryant Fred Funk and Olin Browne Erie native Matt Schalk stood on the outside looking in Friday as well at -over Parker s Shane Bertsch though made the cut at -over with former Kent Denver mainstay Brandt Jobe dangling at -over Defending champion in the balance Seven years after he hoisted the Senior Open trophy at The Broadmoor in David Toms totally didn t come in this week with his A match he affirmed Friday Still after a rough stretch of three straight bogeys to kick off his back nine Friday Toms put himself squarely back under the projected cutline with a beautiful shot from fairway to green on the th sealing a birdie that gave him a shot at a purse and a sigh of relief Obviously you don t get paid if you don t play on the weekend and makes you feel awful Toms announced Feels like a failure for the week basically To come back here as the defending champion on this golf program it certainly it would mean a lot to me to be able to at least play on the weekend Unlucky number The back-half Broadmoor struggles Thursday were perhaps best-documented by Padraig Harrington who shanked a couple of shots into the rough on the th But a host of competitors have had problems with specifically that th hole a par- at yards with a particularly lengthy distance from tee to fairway Related Articles Hale Irwin CU Buffs legend and three-time U S Open champ soaks in latest return to Broadmoor Longtime rivals Stewart Cink Padraig Harrington hope to go the distance at U S Senior Open Mark Hensby contends share of Day lead at U S Senior Open despite rough finish Justin Leonard former Aspen resident happy to be back in Colorado at U S Senior Open It s a beautiful place Longtime Colorado natives Matt Schalk Shane Bertsch have homecomings at U S Senior Open Harrington again bogeyed on in his second round Friday the only hole he bogeyed on the back nine So did Denmark s Thomas Bjorn one of the the majority consistent performers through two rounds So did Paul Stankowski one of several to break even through two rounds The only top-ranked golfer to solve the hole Friday was Australian Scott Hend who racked up an impressive string of three straight birdies from holes through Singh continues a rollercoaster Former Masters and PGA champion Vijay Singh made the weekend but not without drama Singh started his second round on the back nine and played it -under par When he made a birdie on No Singh improved to -under on the day and even par for the tournament It fell apart on him from there however as he made four bogeys in the final six holes and hit an approach shot into the water on No to finish at -over Singh once the world s No -ranked golfer for straight weeks struggled with the front nine both days on a module where multiple players have announced the back provided the stiffer challenge Singh played the front nine -over between the first two days seven bogeys a double bogey and one birdie while playing the back -under Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams