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POLK CITY, Iowa – With just two spots available for next month’s U.S. Senior Amateur, John Peters knew every shot was significant.

“It’s a pretty stressful day,” Peters said of Monday’s U.S. Senior Amateur qualifier. “You can pretty much lose your opportunity with one swing or one bad hole. You really have to stay under control.”

Peters did that.

The 10-time Muscatine men’s city champion shot an even-par 71 at the Tournament Club of Iowa Golf Club in Polk City and will advance to the Sept. 12-17 Senior Amateur at Beverly Country Club in Chicago. It will be the 61-year-old’s third appearance at the Senior Amateur.

Peters, one of 156 players in the field, will play 36 holes of medal play.  From there, the low 64 scores qualify for match play. Peters reached the second round of match play in 2003 and just missed qualifying for the round of 64 in 2006.

“It’s exciting because every year there are two things I try and achieve – qualify for this tournament and qualify for the (U.S.) Senior Open,” he said. “Both of those qualifications are 18 holes on one day. So you take a whole year and compress it into 18 holes on two separate days.

“It’s a great feeling to be able to qualify.”

Johnston’s Stephen Larson won the 22-player qualifier with a 1-under 70.

Meanwhile, Peters birdied the par-3 third and par-4 11th holes, but had bogeys on the par-3 fifth and par-4 12th.

“You don’t know where you stand while you’re on the course, so it’s difficult to determine how aggressive you should or shouldn’t be,” he said.

The Tournament Club of Iowa has hosted a Champions Tour event in recent years.

“With all the rain the Des Moines area has received, the course played a little bit longer,” Peters said. “The fairways were soft and the ball wasn’t rolling out. The golf course was fairly difficult.”

Peters said he’s never played the Beverly Country Club. The United States Golf Association sets aside two days for practice rounds, so Peters plans to take advantage of that before medal play begins.