Ten Irish players seek dream starts in The Open
Hugh Foley (Royal Dublin) en route to victory in the 2020 AIG Irish Amateur Close Championship at Sandy Hills Links, Rosapenna Golf Club, Co Donegal last October. Picture by Pat Cashman
Ten Irish players will be amongst the 288 dreamers chasing 12 golden tickets to The Open at Royal St George’s when they tee it up in 36-hole Final Qualifying at four English venues today.
Each Final Qualifying venue will have a field of 72, with the top three players claiming those coveted 12 places alongside defending champion Shane Lowry and former Open champions Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington in Sandwich from July 15-18.
On Sunday, Tyler Hogarty shot 69 and Donegal’s Brendan McCarroll a 71 to come through Local Qualifying at Hollinwell in Nottinghamshire, where they will join the exempt Tim Rice from Limerick today.
Chartridge Park’s Noel Quinn, who qualified at Prince’s, remains at the Kent venue while Kilkenny’s Luke Donnelly will try his luck at St Annes Old Links in Lancashire, where he was second in Local Qualifying with a 67 on Saturday.
Royal Dublin amateur Hugh Foley was exempt into Final Qualifying thanks to his Irish Close win at Rosapenna last year and will be one of five Irishmen at West Lancashire.
He will be joined by Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy, who shot 68 to tie for first in Local Qualifying there on Sunday, Royal Dublin amateur Richard Knightly, who tied for fifth there with a 69 on Saturday, as well as Galway’s Ronan Mullarney and Elm Park amateur Robert Galligan, who were joint 10th after level par 72s on Sunday.
The R&A has provided further qualifying opportunities with the top-three non-exempt players at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, and the leading non-exempt players at the Kaskada Golf Challenge in Czech Republic (July 1-4) and the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France (July 8-11) also earning spots in the field at Sandwich.
An additional qualifying place will be available at the John Deere Classic on the PGA TOUR with the highest non-exempt player finishing in the top five and ties securing a start in the season’s final Major.
