Jordan is in Pittsburgh where tomorrow she will try to earn a spot to play in the 78th US WOMANS OPEN in July in Pebble Beach. (Click for pictures and more).

On Saturday morning along with both coaches Carl Rabito and Jerry Yochum and dad the driver Jordan left Pound Ridge at 5:07 am for Pittsburgh and her attempt to make it into the US OPEN after only two full seasons of competitive golf.

This qualifier is at a spot called Shannopin about 15 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and it is hilly and complicated. Over the last two days B along with Carl and Jerry have carefully scrutinized each hole, gone back and forth with club selection, studied each green and are forming a battle plan for tomorrow’s qualifier where Jerry will be on the bag.

Often referred to as “The Longest Day in Golf,” she will play 36 straight holes without a break along with 53 other contenders to earn one of two spots in this years US OPEN. Of the US OPEN field that will be 150 in total, only about 40 professionals have exemptions and do not need to qualify. The other 360 on the LPGA tour as well as elite college players from all over the country and all over the world will need to earn their way in at various qualifiers over the next two weeks, the same as Jordan. The field she will play in tomorrow is littered with tour pros, D1 players, country club pros, and a scattering of young teenagers like B. It promises to be grueling and exciting.

Today Jordan will do some fine tuning with Carl this morning at 10:30 then she plays her final practice round at 11:30. After she has homework to do before an early dinner and early to bed. She is in great spirits, confident yet humble with a devilish sparkle in her eyes. She is hungry for the competition and excited to play.

These tournaments require a tremendous amount of planning and energy beginning with SuperMom inspecting and packing all that is necessary and ending with her unpacking, washing, and organizing so that Jordan is ready for the next one. If you have been a reader of the blog for a bit you know that there is not a small amount of gear required for these trips and SuperMom never misses a single item down to the smallest detail from hand warmers to balls, golf tees to PJ’s it is an exercise in precession.

Jordan has a huge advantage because of the people that know and love her and this tournament is no exception. When the location was set for Pittsburgh we called on Michael Wolff a native of “THE BURGH” to find us a member of Shannopin Country Club who may enjoy a couple of rounds of golf with Jordan so that she could see the course. Michael conscripted his longtime friend and colleague Rick Mihm, a 15 year plus member of the club to sort it out. Rick moved mountains for Jordan bringing his friend Kim Kreidler, a top woman player in to the mix for Jordan’s first practice round on Saturday. In addition, he drafted his son Michael, a delightful and smart college student at PIT to carry Jordan’s bag on Saturday and show her the course. In addition, he organized a second round for her on Sunday. Kim gave Jordan and the coaches some invaluable local knowledge of Shannopin. She has started following the blog and we welcome her with appreciation to Jordan’s team. Because of Rick, through Michael Jordan will be very prepared to compete tomorrow and we are humbled and grateful for everyone who has leant a hand here. We often say in this blog that this takes a village and feel extremely lucky for everyone’s support.

Last night Jordan and dad had a delightful dinner with Chuck and Tracy Warden here in Pittsburgh. Thank you both for a great dinner. We shut down the restaurant at 9:30 on a chilly Pittsburgh Sunday. Also, a big thank you to Chuck for finding Jordan an alternate in-door place to swing yesterday as severe thunderstorms threatened to close the course and he did this while playing a golf tournament of his own. Super appreciative of these efforts.

That’s all for now. Most of the scoring will not be live so the results will not be known until the last golfer turns in their scorecard. Jordan’s T time tomorrow is at 8:20 off of T box 1.

https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/4041418

Above is the link to the leaderboard.

Yesterday it rained on and off all day but that did not stop Carl & Jerry in their work…Jordan too.

Jordan and Kim

Coaches discussion on a shot

It is lonely up there.

This was the claim check from the valet on Saturday at Shannopin. If you know about B’s thing with 3’s you will get the significance.

Jordan hitting her driver off the deck on the second shot of a 560 yard par 5. The golfers among you know how hard this is.