Brad Nurski entered last week’s local qualifying for the U.S. Open primarily to get familiar with the course at The Golf Club at Creekmore in Raymore, Mo. He wanted some experience on the site of the first qualifying stage for the Missouri Amateur later this summer.

Turns out he doesn’t need that experience.

“When I got back, the Missouri Golf Association called me and told me that because I won that tournament I wouldn’t have to qualify for the Missouri Amateur,” said Nurski, whose 69 was three strokes better than Gallatin, Mo., native Brice Garnett. “I guess I killed two birds with one stone.”

Now, Nurski and fellow Missouri Western graduate Garnett, a professional on the Adams Pro Golf Tour Series, have landed themselves in the field of 17 for Monday’s U.S. Open sectional qualifying stage in Augusta, Mo.

The Augusta site is one of 15 across the United States — and internationally — from which the remaining 86 spots in the field will be awarded.

This was the first time Nurski has advanced past the local qualifying — he says he missed by one or two stroke on his other attempts — and will give him his first opportunity to play Boone Valley Golf Club, which has previously hosted Champions and LPGA events.

“I’ve been working on my putting and chipping mainly,” Nurski said of his preparations for Monday’s round on a course he expects to play tight.

“I’m just trying to keep in in the fairway.”

Nurski, who played fall and spring golf seasons at Missouri Western from 1997-2001, has retained his amateur status, while Garnett, a 2005 Griffon graduate, chose the professional route. After one year on the now defunct Tight Lies Tour, Garnett is currently 13th on the points list in his second season on the Adams circuit, missing just one cut in five outings. Garnett has finished as high as ninth this season in the Coca-Cola Wal-Mart Open on April 24-27 in Alexandria, La.

And while Nurski was racking up a victory in the local qualifying, Garnett got a measure of revenge by placing second and advancing for the first time to the sectional stage.

Garnett was in a group of seven vying in a playoff for the final qualifying spot.

“The ball hit my bag, and that’s a two-stroke penalty,” Garnett said of his first local qualifier last year. “After waiting around all day for the playoff, to have that happen, it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.”

For Monday’s round, Garnett has been concentrating on chipping and putting, the part of his game he believes has kept him from the top prize on the Adams Tour events this season.

“As of late, I’ve been hitting the ball better this year than I did last year,” Garnett said. “Just so far this year it has been my inability to score the ball.”

For a Division II player who was snubbed by the University of Missouri despite his interest in that golf program, Garnett believes he and Nurski made a statement by advancing through the local qualifying.

“There were KU players, Missouri players, and it kind of showed guys that the Division II levels have the ability,” Garnett said. “And maybe we even got more out of our experience in Division II.”

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached at rickd@npgco.com