Agony for Foley as Garcia and McDowell also miss out at Final Qualifying for The Open
Hugh Foley lines up a putt in the European Amateur Championship in Estonia
Amateur Hugh Foley agonisingly missed out by a shot as LIV Golf’s Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell also came up short in their bids to qualify for The Open at Royal Liverpool.
There were 19 places up for grabs in four Final Qualifying venues across the UK, but Foley and McDowell were among the 17 Irish to miss out.
McDowell shot rounds of 72 and 68 to finish on four-under at West Lancashire, two shots behind Garcia, who failed to qualify for The Open for the first time since 1998 after he followed a 67 with a 71 to miss out by three strokes.
The Spaniard was tied second behind Rory McIlroy the last time The Open was played at Hoylake in 2014.
Malone’s Matt McClean was the best of the Irish there on three-under and there was also disappointment for the man he beat in the US Mid-Amateur final last year to claim spots in the Masters and the US Open.
Foley (26) got himself in the hunt at Royal Porthcawl when he holed an eight-iron from 176 yards for an ace at the 11th in his second round, then made a 40-footer for birdie at the 12th.
But he lipped out from 12 feet for his par-four at the 18th to add a 70 to his opening 72 and finish on level par, a shot behind qualifiers Laurie Canter, Brandon Robinson Thompson, Matthew Southgate and Jazz Janewattanond.
“Pretty gutted, to be honest,” Foley said. “Massively mixed day with what felt like some really bad luck on the 18th in both rounds after great shots. Hole in one was a 176-yard 8-iron, which was cool to get me back in the hunt, followed by a 4 iron to 30 feet and holed the putt for birdie.
“I made an eagle and ten birdies in two rounds, so I really felt like it should’ve been my day.,
“Tough to miss all three majors this year so narrowly, but my time is coming and my game feels great.”
Matt Wallace, Matthew Jordan, Kyle Barker, Alex Fitzpatrick and German amateur Tiger Christensen qualified at West Lancashire while Martin Rohwer, Thomas Detry, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Antoine Rozner made it at Royal Cinque Ports, where Ballymena’s Dermot McIlroy came up four shots shy in tied seventh on two-over.
Galway’s Ronan Mullarney missed out on a three for two playoff by two shots at Dundonald Links where the top two spots went to Michael Stewart and Marco Penge before first Connor McKinney (38th) and then Graeme Robertson (41st) edged out Craig Ross.
Meanwhile, Leona Maguire and Lahinch amateur Aine Donegan have been drawn with Major champions for this week’s $10 million US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.
The Co Cavan star, who finished tied 11th in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship two weeks ago after taking a one-shot lead into the final round, is drawn with last year’s Chevron Championship winner Jennifer Kupcho and Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul.
They go off at 10.24 pm (Irish time) from the first on Thursday and at 4.39 pm on Friday.
Donegan will tee it up with 2017 US Women’s Open champion and 2018 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship winner Sung Hyun Park of Korea and the 2021 Chevron Championship winner Patty Tavatanakit from Thailand at 3.33 pm Irish time tomorrow and 9.18pm on Friday.
