VALLEY DIGEST : Zambri, Burns Survive at U.S. Open Qualifier

Bob Burns stumbled out of the gate. Chris Zambri took a header in the home stretch.

When a 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier at Valencia Country Club ended, Burns lit up a cigar and cracked open a beer while Zambri sneaked off to call most of his family on a nearby pay phone.

Like their paths to the Open, even their modes of celebration varied. Somehow, they both got the job done when it mattered.

Burns and Zambri weathered a field of 62 players and blustery conditions Monday to earn two of the five available Open berths next week at Shinnecock Hills, N.Y.

Burns shot a two-under 70 in the afternoon to earn medalist honors at 141, which wasn’t much of a surprise.

Burns, a former Cal State Northridge standout who has played on the PGA Tour for two seasons, is a former Valencia member.

Even so, in the morning round, he bogeyed the first hole and double-bogeyed the second. Oops.

“It looked like my worst nightmare coming true,” said Burns, 27, who qualified for his second Open. “But I’ve played long enough to know that a round isn’t made or ruined by one or two holes.”

Zambri, 24, might argue the point. He shot a smooth, 3-under 69 in the morning and was sailing along in the afternoon when weird things began to happen over the last three holes.

Zambri, a teaching pro at Westlake Village Golf Course, hit a three-iron into the water and double-bogeyed the par-three 16th.

“They say your judgment is impaired when you’re nervous,” Zambri said.

Moments before he hit his approach shot on the par-four 17th, a 300-pound branch sheared off a wind-wracked tree and thundered to the ground, some 20 feet from where he stood.

Zambri, a 1988 Westlake High graduate who played at USC, bogeyed the hole, then three-putted No. 18 for another bogey and a 76.

Badly shaken, Zambri looked like he was ready to dive in front of a northbound 18-wheeler on nearby the Golden State Freeway.

Good news was, only two players in the field shot par or better in the afternoon and Zambri, an Open qualifier for the first time, still finished third.

“I’m surprised I still made it,” Zambri said. “I thought I was done when I missed that putt on the 18th.”

Brad Bell of Sacramento and Eric Meeks of Whittier, who finished one shot behind Zambri at 146, each advanced with birdies on the first hole of a three-man, sudden-death playoff.

Jason Gore of Valencia, considered to have the best chance among the other area entrants, shot 40 on the front nine in the morning, never recovered and finished well back at 157.

Jon Fiedler of Camarillo finished at 151.