Lowry clinches US Open debut
Shane Lowry is heading for his third major appearance at Congressional next month. Credit: www.golffile.ieShane Lowry continued his hot run of form when he finished tied second in sectional qualifying to earn his US Open debut at Congressional next month.
The 24-year old former Irish Open winner, tied fourth in the BMW PGA on Sunday, shot rounds of 69 (Old Course) and 67 (New Course) in tough conditions at Walton Heath to finish just a stroke behind winner Nicolas Colsaerts on eight under par.
Lowry said: “It feels great to qualify – I’ve never played the US Open before, so I can’t wait to get out there. I’ve been playing well for a while now and obviously came off a great result at the BMW PGA Championship, so I fancied my chances of qualifying.
“But it’s all very well fancying your chances, it’s quite another to go out there and do it, so I’m absolutely delighted.”
The Offaly star earned one of 11 berths in the second major of the season as he tied for second with Holland’s Maarten Lafeber.
His playing partner Thomas Levet was fourth and Lowry reckons the pair pushed each other along, adding: “It was great to play with Thomas today, we bounced off each other with the birdies and eagles we were making. It was tough towards the end but I’m pretty used to playing in wet and windy weather, coming from Ireland, so it wasn’t too much of a problem.”
Robert Rock, David Howell, Alex Noren, Stephen Gallacher, Robert Dinwiddie and Marcel Siem also qualified with Swede Johan Edfors joining them after a two-way playoff for the final spot.
It should have been three but Scotland’s Richie Ramsay had left to try and catch a place to Gareth Maybin’s wedding reception, missed the flight and then arrived back at the course too late for the play-off.
The Press Association reported:
Following a fog delay of almost three and a half hours at the start, play did not finish until just after 9pm and on four under par Ramsay was needed for a play-off with Swede Johan Edfors and Dane Andreas Harto for the last of the 11 spots on offer.
The problem was that former US Amateur champion Ramsay had left hours earlier to try to catch a plane to Belfast for the wedding reception of fellow Tour player Gareth Maybin.
He missed the flight, but arrived back at the Surrey course just as Edfors beat Harto on the first extra hole.
“It’s just been an horrific day - an awful, awful day,” said the Aberdeen golfer.
“As I left it was 5.30pm and guys were teeing off the first. I actually feel physically sick - I can’t believe they played when it was pitch dark.”
Kilkenny’s Gary Murphy missed out by seven shots after rounds of 76 and 71 but will get another chance to play competitive golf when he tees it up in the Challenge Tour’s Kärnten Golf Open by Markus Brier Foundation in Austria.
US Open Championship International Sectional Qualifier
Final scores
Pos Player Country R1 R2 Agg Par
1 Nicolas COLSAERTS BEL 64 71 135 -9
2 Shane LOWRY IRL 69 67 136 -8
Maarten LAFEBER NED 73 63 136 -8
4 Thomas LEVET FRA 66 71 137 -7
5 Robert ROCK ENG 70 68 138 -6
David HOWELL ENG 72 66 138 -6
7 Alexander NOREN SWE 67 72 139 -5
Stephen GALLACHER SCO 70 69 139 -5
Robert DINWIDDIE ENG 69 70 139 -5
Marcel SIEM GER 67 72 139 -5
11 Johan EDFORS SWE 70 70 140 -4
——-Players above qualified ——-
1st Alt Andreas HARTØ DEN 70 70 140 -4
2nd Alt Richie RAMSAY SCO 71 69 140 -4
14 Wade ORMSBY AUS 69 72 141 -3
Raphaël JACQUELIN FRA 68 73 141 -3
Jamie DONALDSON WA 67 74 141 -3
Grégory BOURDY FRA 68 73 141 -3
Søren HANSEN DEN 69 72 141 -3
19 Gary BOYD ENG 72 70 142 -2
Nick DOUGHERTY ENG 72 70 142 -2
Søren KJELDSEN DEN 69 73 142 -2
Shiv KAPUR IND 72 70 142 -2
Mark TULLO CHI 72 70 142 -2
Rhys DAVIES WA 71 71 142 -2
25 Alejandro CAÑIZARES ESP 73 70 143 -1
Martin WIEGELE AUT 68 75 143 -1
Daniel VANCSIK ARG 68 75 143 -1
28 Keith HORNE RSA 72 72 144 0
Andrew MARSHALL ENG 74 70 144 0
Jeppe HULDAHL DEN 73 71 144 0
Pablo MARTIN ESP 71 73 144 0
Christian CÉVAËR FRA 72 72 144 0
Steve WEBSTER ENG 76 68 144 0
Peter O’MALLEY AUS 71 73 144 0
35 Daniel GAUNT AUS 72 73 145 1
George COETZEE RSA 72 73 145 1
Ross FISHER ENG 74 71 145 1
Colin MONTGOMERIE SCO 72 73 145 1
Bernd WIESBERGER AUT 72 73 145 1
40 Julio ZAPATA ARG 72 74 146 2
41 Leif OLSON USA 72 75 147 3
Matthew ZIONS AUS 74 73 147 3
Romain WATTEL FRA 69 78 147 3
Gary MURPHY IRL 76 71 147 3
45 Pablo LARRAZÁBAL ESP 73 75 148 4
Simon KHAN ENG 73 75 148 4
Oscar FLOREN SWE 69 79 148 4
48 Rafael CABRERA-BELLO ESP 72 77 149 5
Andrew DODT AUS 73 76 149 5
Sam WALKER ENG 74 75 149 5
David GRIFFITHS ENG 75 74 149 5
52 Lee SLATTERY ENG 76 74 150 6
Ross McGOWAN ENG 71 79 150 6
54 Rick KULACZ AUS 76 75 151 7
Jean-Baptiste GONNET FRA 78 73 151 7
56 Tjaart VAN DER WALT RSA 75 78 153 9
57 Mark F HAASTRUP DEN 76 78 154 10
58 Paul SIMSON (AM) USA 76 79 155 11
59 Alexander LEVY (AM) FRA 81 76 157 13
60 Jeev Milkha SINGH IND 76 WD 190 4
Rikard KARLBERG SWE 72 RT 190 0
Anthony KANG USA 80 RT 190 8
Richard FINCH ENG 75 WD 190 3
Danny WILLETT ENG 71 RT 190 -1
Marco RUIZ PAR 73 RT 190 1
Oskar HENNINGSSON SWE 76 WD 190 4
Rafa ECHENIQUE ARG 73 RT 190 1
John PARRY ENG 70 RT 190 -2
Niclas FASTH SWE 74 RT 190 2
Jarmo SANDELIN SWE 75 WD 190 3
Alvaro VELASCO ESP 74 WD 190 2
Scott JAMIESON SCO 74 RT 190 2
Danny LEE NZL 73 RT 190 1
Christian NILSSON SWE 74 WD 190 2
Fabrizio ZANOTTI PAR 74 WD 190 2
Alexandre KALEKA FRA 75 RT 190 3
Scott HARRINGTON USA 77 RT 190 5
Brett RUMFORD AUS 72 WD 190 0
Carlos DEL MORAL ESP 77 WD 190 5
Fredrik ANDERSSON HED SWE 76 WD 190 4
Mikko ILONEN FIN 74 RT 190 2
Michael JONZON SWE 71 RT 190 -1