Golf: Douglas grad attempts to qualify for the U.S. Open

It began as a simple afterthought -- something relating closer to a dream than an actual goal.

But 2005 Douglas High graduate Casey Duryee's life has resembled something much more like a dream these last couple of years anyway.

Duryee's attempt to qualify for the U.S Open Championship, one of professional golf's four major championships, began Monday at Genoa Lakes.

While Duryee was among thousands across the country vying for a spot in the 156-player field, he was perhaps the only one with such a unique link to this year's tournament.

"It was so ironic, I knew I had to take a shot," Duryee said. "I mean, how many people grew up playing at one of the qualifying sites and work at the host site of the tournament? It has to be about a 100-to-1 shot."

Indeed, this year's U.S. Open will be hosted by the Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif., where Duryee has been serving as an assistant professional for the two years.

"Back in January, after the Buick Open (which Torrey Pines hosts every year), all eyes kind of pointed toward the open," Duryee said. "I wasn't even thinking of trying to qualify for it. I mean, it's a major. I hadn't even tried for a regular tour stop yet."

And then his chance literally got dropped in his lap.

"We get all kinds of golf magazines at the shop down there," Duryee said. "One day this one showcasing Nevada golf courses comes in. I started looking through it and showing my friends Genoa Lakes and Carson Valley, all these places where I played when I was growing up, and I saw that Genoa Lakes was hosting a U.S. Open qualifier.

"To have the sectional qualifier and the tournament be on two courses I was so familiar with, I knew I had to take a shot."

After graduating from Douglas, Duryee decided to move on to the San Diego Golf Academy and take his chances there.

"I was in to wrestling and baseball and stuff when I was littler, but I fell in love with golf in high school," Duryee said. "I started playing for Douglas and just moved on from there."

"(2004 grad) Eddie Shope told me about these academies they have, and I called my uncle (incidentally, Joe DeBock, the head pro at Torrey Pines) down in San Diego and he thought it was a great idea."

Duryee passed his tryout into the academy and got a job on the side working the carts at Torrey Pines to help pay his way through school.

"I got into the academy and it was a big wake-up call," Duryee said. "Just moving to Southern California and seeing the level of competition down there was something else. A lot of guys had already been through college or had already been through a career. I was dead set that I wanted to do this though. I had to grow up real quick."

He blazed through the school in 16 months, however, and passed his PGA playing ability test in August of 2006.

"It was crazy," Duryee said. "I was the youngest PGA pro in America at the time. It was weird going from high school to being a PGA pro the next."

In December of 2006, he got hired on full time at Torrey Pines and started drawing interest from TaylorMade, an Adidas-owned golf club company.

"They told me they were looking for a guy to do some demos, and I could've used the extra money, so I started working for them on my days off," Duryee said. "They put me on full scholarship and within a month I was in charge of doing all the demos for San Diego County."

With the demos, Duryee basically makes stops at courses around the country, bring about 200 clubs from TaylorMade's newer product lines and shows them off.

"I just set up my stuff, do fittings and sell golf clubs," he said. "It's great."

Of course, working six to seven days a week on golf courses has significantly helped his game as well.

"I generally get off about 1 p.m. and I just go out and golf the course," he said. "It's a great deal.

"In Southern California, you look at golf and it's almost like high school football is up here. The whole town gets into it and the people down there are very familiar with it. It is a very talent-rich area. You have a lot of aspiring tour pros coming out and playing, so it has definitely bumped my game up."

Coming back home for the qualifier gave Duryee an added level of comfort.

"I knew I had a chance," he said. "I played Genoa so many times growing up. I grew up on the course, I was on the first junior club team there with guys like Glenn Coleman and Trent Henessey-York. I can't thank the guys at Genoa Lakes enough.

"Guys like Lou Eiguren and Jonas Ellison were so helpful while I was there. Lou gave me a lot of lessons while I was living there and he helped me out a lot."

Just as an added bonus, Duryee asked his high school coach, Brent Eddy, to caddy for him at the qualifier.

"I was glad he agreed to do it," Duryee said. "He was the first person on my list to call."

If Duryee should qualify among the top six or seven in the 75-player field at Genoa Lakes, he'd move on to the regional qualfier at Daly City later this month. The top finisher there moves on to the U.S. Open which runs June 9 through 15.

"It's a long shot," Duryee said. "I have a chance, but with my luck I'd run into one of the older tour pros trying to stay in the game. Either way, these last few years have really been a fun ride.

"I'm just living a dream."