Usually, to shoot 13-over par over four days in a golf tournament isn’t overly spectacular.

However, when it’s an event hosted by the Unite States Golf Association and you beat the likes of two-time major winner Fuzzy Zoeller and tie three-time U.S. Open winner Hale Irwin, it’s got to be a good experience.

For Billy Rosinia, PGA General Manager at Flagg Creek Golf Course in Countryside, it was just that. Rosinia qualified for the U.S. Senior Open — held July 31 to Aug. 3 at The Broadmoor East in Colorado Springs and took every advantage of it, shooting a four-day total of 293 to tie for 40th place.

“It was great,” Rosinia said. “It was a dream come true. I went in with the mindset of doing the best I could and was pleased with how I played — with the exception of the final round.”
He wasn’t sure if he would be participating as an alternate, but got the call a week prior to the event starting.

“I never really tried to put pressure on myself,” Rosinia said. “I never put a number in my mind or anything like that. I just wanted to get through each round.”

Rosinia opened with a one-over par 71 on July 31, then posted back-to-back 73s in the second and third rounds. Though he struggled on the final day, posting a 76, he wasn’t alone as just 10 players posted below-par scores.

Eduardo Romero won the tournament at 6-under par, with Fred Funk taking second at 2-under. Mark McNulty was the only other player under par, finishing at 1-under, with Greg Norman finishing even par.

Jeff Sluman, a Hinsdale resident and winner of the 1988 PGA Championship, also made the cut and finished at 6-over.

Rosinia found himself in a tie for 21st after the first day thanks to three birdies. On Friday and Saturday, though, he recorded 11 bogeys and a double bogey against just seven birdies.
Sunday was his toughest day, though, even though he opened his round with a birdie on the par-4 first hole. He then bogeyed five of the next nine holes and then double-bogeyed the par-4 11th hole.

“I was disappointed with my last round,” Rosinia said. “I made a mistake in that I wore a visor instead of a bucket hat and after a couple of holes, I started to lose it a little bit because it was so hot. I put the bucket hat on and wound up parring the last seven holes and they’re some of the toughest holes on the course.”

Rosinia has qualified and played in the former Western Open on two occasions (1992 and 2006), but had never played in a Champions Tour event nor a major until now. He said he enjoyed his week at The Broadmoor and hopes to be able to compete again.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but hopefully it won’t just happen once,” Rosinia said. “I would like to play more but it takes a lot to do that.

“I was able to practice with Ben Crenshaw, Bobby Wadkins and Loren Roberts and played the final two rounds with Joey Sindelar and John Harris. I was able to rub shoulders with some legends of the game from my genre.”

While there were several big name players who finished ahead of Rosinia — like Norman, Tom Kite, Roberts and Tom Watson — Rosinia can take solace in the fact he tied a player of Irwin’s credentials while beating the likes of Zoeller.

He also made the cut, which is something that two-time U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange, two-time Masters champion Crenshaw, Dave Stockton and Peter Jacobsen failed to do.

Rosinia said just to be mentioned with players like that is an accomplishment. He said he was impressed with the setup at the course, as well.

“The venue was really great and the USGA (United States Golf Association) did a great job setting up the course,” Rosinia said. “It was really done up tastefully.”