Southern Arizona golf stars among those who battled for Phoenix Open spot

Getting a spot on ongoing Waste Management Phoenix Open was brutally difficult. There were three spots available to all comers and it was as if “all comers” truly meant “all.” In a pre-qualifying tournament last week, 240 total players, including Tucson’s Jonathan Khan, Preston Otte, Jacob Rogers and Nogales’ Alberto Sanchez qualified to be part of a 124-man Monday qualifying field. Only three would get berths in the Phoenix Open. That field of 124 included U.S. Open champ Lee Janzen, Masters champ Mike Weir, UA All-Americans Jason Gore and Ted Purdy and Phoenix golf legend Billy Mayfair. Khan, a former Salpointe Catholic and UA golfer, was superb, sixth overall with a 67, but he missed being part of the $6.7 million tournament by two strokes. Tough business.