Pittsfield pro co-medalist in U.S. Open local qualifier

Stockbridge, Mass.

Western Massachusetts provided a beautiful setting for golf Monday, but Capital Region players would have had similar conditions had they stayed home.

For the first time in 40 years, the U.S. Open did not schedule a local qualifier in the Albany area. So several area players made the hour-or-so trip to Stockbridge Golf Club, but none advanced to next month's sectional competition.

So local course knowledge was not an advantage, but none of the area players used it as a crutch.

"That had nothing to do it," Schuyler Meadows amateur Dan Russo said after shooting a 3-over-par 74. "I wish I could use that as an excuse, but I can't. The course was there in front of you.