Sanday in Nissan Open; Gore, Miller Edged Out

What could have been a disaster for Jeff Sanday ended up like a fairy tale.

What could have been a fairy tale for Jason Gore ended in disaster.

Sanday, who nearly was disqualified for missing his tee time in Monday’s rained-out Nissan Open qualifying tournament at Los Serranos Golf Course, returned on Tuesday for the make-up and scorched the soaking-wet course with an eight-under-par 65 to earn one of two available spots to the Nissan Open, which begins Thursday at Valencia Country Club.

Gore, a Valencia resident, wasn’t as fortunate.

After finishing in a three-way tie for second at 68, Gore bogeyed the third playoff hole, allowing Derek Gilchrist of Elk Grove to claim the second spot.

Mike Miller, also from Valencia, parred the first playoff hole and was eliminated when Gilchrist and Gore made birdies.

Had Gore qualified, he would have made his PGA Tour debut in his home town.

“It would have been nice,” Gore said dejectedly.

Gore just ran out of miracles in the playoff.

On the first playoff hole he squeezed a shot from the left rough through some trees to within 18 inches from the hole from 150 yards and made birdie.

On the second playoff hole, the par-three ninth, Gore made a 20-foot chip shot for par after leaving a bunker shot short.

They replayed the ninth in the dark for the third playoff hole and Gore hit his tee shot over the green into the rough, left his chip shot 15 feet short of the hole and missed the putt. Gilchrist two-putted from eight feet for the victory.

“He kept doing stuff but I answered,” said Gilchrist, who has played in PGA Tour events twice in his two-year professional career. “I’m glad we kept playing [in the dark] because I felt a rhythm. When it’s going well with that you don’t want to stop.”

For Sanday, a 1994 graduate of Cal State Northridge, it is the second consecutive qualifying tournament he has blistered. Two weeks ago he shot nine-under-par 63 to qualify for the Buick Invitational in La Jolla. He tied for 16th in that tournament.

On Tuesday he had six birdies on the back nine on a course that looked more like a muddy fishing hole than a golf course.

Players were allowed to lift, clean and place their balls and, in some instances, could use tees from the fairways and rough.

A second qualifying tournament scheduled for Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills was unable to be played because of wet conditions. It was rescheduled for today at Moreno Valley Ranch Golf Course and Green River Golf Club in Corona.