It is perhaps the most unique event we have in America.

Where else could an "ordinary Joe" compete with the top athletes in the world in a particular sport on one of that's sports top stages?

It is the United States Open Golf Tournament.

Think about it. A former high school or college football player can't throw himself into the Super Bowl. Semi-pro baseball players can't join a World Series team. Nor can a soccer player become part of a World Cup.

But in golf it's possible. Anyone in the United States can qualify for our national golf championship and possibly hit balls on the range next to Tiger, Phil and even Zach Johnson. Of course you must have a low handicap to start off with (under a 1.4), but you can still qualify if you are in that rare category.

Such is the story of Metro golfer Bill Hoefle.

Bill is a teacher and coach at Linn-Mar High School and a Marion resident. Bill is one of the area's best players. He played collegiately at Oklahoma State, and also tried his hand at some of the various mini-tours around the country.

Once again this year Bill attempted to qualify for the US Open, to be held June 14-17 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Bill was among a handful of Iowans who tried to nail down one of the 58 spots that are open to qualifiers from around the country, and the world,  who aren't exempted into this year's tournament.

It is not an easy task.

First, you must make it through the very difficult local qualifying tournament. The closest site for this year was played at the Davenport Country Club where the top five players got to move on to the Sectional Qualifier. Bill shot a 70 in the Quad Cities and moved on to the next round via his third place finish.

Then you have a decision to make. A qualifying golfer must choose which Sectional Qualifying Tournament he would like to compete in. This is a tough choice because of the number of spots guaranteed for the Open at each event and also the number of PGA Tour players you would run into at a particular site. For example, you can go to a Sectional Tournament that has very few PGA Tour players in the field, but there are only two spots available for the Open. Or you can choose to go to a Sectional that has up to 16 spots, but is chock full of "name" PGA Tour pros that haven't yet qualified for the US Open.

Bill choose to cast his lot with the former choice, heading off to the suburbs of Chicago on Monday to try and live out his dream and make the field.

Bill played well, but it was not to be this year. He carded a pair of even par 72's to shoot a combined score of 144 for the tiring 36-hole day. The two spots for the Open from this Sectional went to PGA Tour veteran Tim "Lumpy" Herron and Australian Anthony Summers. Other Iowans went in different directions, but all came up short in their individual quests to try and tee it up with the big boys for one glorious week.

So, as Bill told us on the Gym Class program last week, it's back to summer basketball with the kids at Linn-Mar and playing some golf through the summer. But Bill Hoefle got to live out a opportunity that all of us who have ever swung a golf club would love to have at some point in our lives, to try and walk among the games best just one time.

Of course we all have to get a lot better first!

Here's to you Bill for a great try again this year, and here's hoping you give it another whirl again next spring and summer.

Not bad for a guy who didn't pick up a club this year until after the basketball season in mid-March!

(Scott Unash is the sports and program director at KGYM-AM 1600 (FM 106.3). He is a six-time winner of the Iowa Broadcast News Association play-by-play Announcer of the Year Award. Scott and Mark Dukes co-host the Gym Class weekdays from 3-4 p.m. on KGYM-AM 1600 and FM-106.3)