Central grad Jaspers qualifies for U.S. Senior Open
A 1988 Central grad, Jaspers is among a handful of amateur players who will be part of the 156-player field at the tournament June 26-29 at the East Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
PELLA-He was an all-America performer and two-sport standout at Central College long ago, but Joe Jaspers’ men’s golf career ascended to new heights Wednesday when he secured a spot in the 45th U.S. Senior Open.
A 1988 Central grad, Jaspers is among a handful of amateur players who will be part of the 156-player field at the tournament June 26-29 at the East Course at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Jaspers, who lives in Huntersville, North Carolina, birdied the 18th hole Wednesday to card a 1-under-par 71 at a final-stage qualifier at the River Course at River Landing in Wallace, North Carolina. He tied for fifth to lock in one of the seven qualifying berths from the event. It was one of 12 final-stage qualifiers staged nationwide. Jaspers had advanced to Wednesday’s event by claiming one of 13 spots in a 67-player local qualifier on the same course May 9 when he shot an even-par 72, placing ninth. It was one of 32 local qualifying tournaments.
To be eligible to enter the initial qualifiers as an amateur, players must have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 2.4 and be at least 50 years of age by the start of championship play. Jaspers was among 2,585 entrants.
In Colorado, Jaspers will join an illustrious U.S. Senior Open field that includes two-time champion Bernhard Langer and former champions Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie, Steve Stricker and David Toms. Other competitors include former U.S. Open champions Ernie Else, Retief Goosen and Lee Janzen along with Masters winners Fred Couples, Vijay Singh and Mike Wier, and British Open champs Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke and Justin Leonard.
Jaspers is not the first former Central golfer to reach the national stage. Among the most prominent is John Bermel, a 1984 Central grad who was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Honor in 2013. Bermel also played in the U.S. Senior Open in 2012 and the PGA Championship in 1994 and 1996. He’s played in 10 PGA Tour events.
Jaspers didn’t know exactly where he stood as Wednesday’s round unfolded but feared that a bogey on No. 17 might leave him out of the running for a Senior Open berth.
“I knew that was crucial because I figured you had to be in the red numbers (under par) to have a chance,” he said. “I thought there might be a few more low scores based on the first qualifier there but there were some wind conditions and the pin placements made it a little tougher the second time.”
Consequently, he played No. 18 with an aggressive mindset.
“When I hit the tee shot in the middle of the fairway, I’m like, OK, take dead aim (at the pin) and hope for the best,” Jaspers said.
He was left with a 135-yard shot to the flag into the wind, so hit a 9-iron.
“Luckily, it turned out about 10 feet away and I finally got a putt to go,” he said.
He was within the cut line for a qualifying spot but several players were still out on the course.
“The hardest part is the waiting,” Jaspers said. “I knew I was on the bubble.”
Jaspers had narrowly missed a U.S. Senior Open berth previously and, in 2010, missed qualifying for one of professional golf’s four majors, the U.S. Open, by a shot, serving as an alternate. But he was on the right side of the line this time.
“I didn’t play great, but I played well,” Jaspers said. “It’s one of those things where I felt like I was hitting good putts, I just wasn’t getting any to go until the 18th. I was hitting the ball well, I was hitting a lot of greens, but I was burning the edges on putts.”
The Broadmoor course is among the lengthiest the seniors encounter, a par-70 set up at 7,264 yards. While Jaspers hasn’t played there, he did recently play at RainDance National in northern Colorado, one of the longest courses in North America at 8,400 yards. The thin air at the mountain altitudes there makes the challenge a bit less daunting, Jaspers said, even at age 59.
“It makes you feel young again,” he said with a laugh. “Your 7-irons go an extra 15 yards.”
But the USGA is known for some rather diabolical course set-ups and that’s more concerning.
“I got a text from (1986 Central grad and University of Kansas men’s golf coach) Jamie Bermel and it sounds like the greens have a little slope to them,” Jaspers said. “My expectation is the greens will be firm and fast and the rough will be penalizing. I don’t think they make the fairways as narrow as they do in the regular U.S. Open but the rough will be long. There’s going to be a premium on hitting your tee shot in the fairway. And the USGA has a knack for finding pin placements in tough to reach spots. You really have to position your ball in the right place. Sometimes you’d rather be off the green hitting a short chip shot than 20 feet above the hole.”
The low 60 scorers and ties after two rounds in the tournament advance to play the final 36 holes on the weekend. While making the cut could be an elusive goal, the perks would be welcome, giving Jaspers automatic berths in some future USGA senior events. But he’s trying to think less about that than relishing in the experience.
“I’m going to approach it that way but I’m sure there will be some nerves when I get there,” Jaspers said. “I could be amped up a little bit and golf is not like other sports where being amped up is a plus. So there definitely will be some nerves at first but once you get going, no.”
Inducted into Central’s Athletics Hall of Honor in 2006, Jaspers earned eight varsity letters competing in golf and men’s basketball for the Dutch. In golf, he was a four-time NCAA Division III Championships participant and two-time all-America honoree, finishing seventh in the 1987 national tournament when the Dutch placed sixth in the team standings. He was also a four-time all-conference honoree, finishing second twice before winning in 1988, shattering the league scoring record set the previous year by his former Central and Waverly-Shell Rock High School teammate, 1987 grad Bill Spurbeck. Jaspers was a three-year starter for the men’s basketball squad, receiving the team’s Mentink Award for leadership and inspiration three times.
A Waverly, Iowa native, Jaspers competes regularly in tournaments throughout North and South Carolina. In 2023, he won the National Senior Hall of Fame tournament in High Point, North Carolina. He reached the round of 16 at the 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur and won the 2015 North Carolina Mid-Am.
While many players in the U.S. Senior Open field spend their professional careers on the golf course, Jaspers will have to take vacation from his work as a certified financial planner. He serves as vice president for wealth management with Carolinas Telco Capital Advisors.
“I probably play once or twice a week,” he said. “Hitting balls (on the practice range) has been hit and miss due to work. But, yeah, I’m going to need to ramp that up for the next month.”
