The Promise of Open Qualifying
- Alice Watson
- Jun 30
- 4 min read
There is something romantic about the chance to qualify for golf’s oldest major championship.
An opportunity to turn a lifelong dream into a reality and perform on arguably the grandest stage in British golf.
The Qualifying Series offers players around the world the prospect of securing a spot in The Open each year.
Events are dotted across the annual calendar and range from tournaments on global professional tours, such as the Arnold Parmer Invitational and Korea Open, to Regional Qualifying on home soil [1].
The highest place finishers who aren’t already exempt can punch their ticket to the final men’s major of the year or get one crucial step closer.
Regional Qualifying, for example, is played at 15 venues across Great Britain and Ireland, which this year included Frilford Heath, Lindrick, and Kilmarnock.
On Monday 23rd June, golfers competed over 18 holes of stroke play with those at the top of the leaderboards progressing to Final Qualifying, alongside already exempt players.
Two hopefuls who sadly failed to break through were Jimmy Bullard and Peter Odemwingie, both former Premier League footballers who played at Rochester & Cobham Park and Enville. Scores of 74 and 82 respectively were, alas, not enough to reach the final showdown.
This week stages Final Qualifying at four iconic golf courses around the country, namely Burnham & Berrow in Somerset, Dundonald Links in Ayrshire, Royal Cinque Ports in Kent, and West Lancashire in Merseyside.
Tuesday 1st July will see 288 players battle it out over 36 holes for 20 coveted spots in The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush.
And there are some tantalising storylines to keep an eye on.
Ryder Cup stalwart and LIV Golf member Ian Poulter will play alongside his son Luke Poulter, who is currently a student at the University of Florida and ranked 51st in the world amateur standings. Both family members will be going head-to-head on the links at Royal Cinque Ports and what a prospect it would be if they made it through [2].
Graeme McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion, will also be joining the action in Kent to try and qualify for The Open in the town where he was born.
The 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett leads the chasing pack at West Lancashire, while fan favourite Eddie Pepperell will be heading to Burnham & Berrow with hopes of grabbing a major place.
On the west coast of Scotland, former world No. 1 Lee Westwood, who notably finished T4th in the previous Open at Portrush in 2019, will be seeking a ticket back to Ireland later this month [3].
But perhaps the most novel player to watch in Ayrshire is YouTube star Peter Finch who shot a 1-under par 71 in blustery conditions at Caldy GC on the Wirral to progress - for the first time in his career - to Final Qualifying.
The social media sensation had team members filming and live tweeting his round so fans could follow along and track his progress.
The resultant video is well worth a watch as Finch talks viewers through his thinking behind and execution of every shot which led him to a T1st place finish and secured his place in the high stakes field at Dundonald.
YouTube to The Open would be quite the story.
Perhaps the most memorable qualifying tale to date, however, is that of Maurice Flitcroft - the infamous crane operator from Cumbria who duped the R&A by entering into local qualifying as 'a professional', despite not having a handicap or being a member of a golf club [4].
And he did so not once but six times.
The first escapade was in 1976 when Flitcroft began the 36-hole Open qualifier at Formby GC and went on to shoot 121 in his opening 18, the highest score ever recorded in any phase of the Open.
His shock performance delighted the British media and public, but outraged the golfing establishment who promptly banned Flitcroft from the championship for life.
Undeterred, Flitcroft went on to enter a further five Open qualifiers dressed in disguises and using pseudonyms as brilliantly comedic, if implausible, as ‘Arnold Palmtree’.
His extraordinary life and exploits were recently brought to life in the heartwarming biographical book and film ‘The Phantom of the Open’ by Simon Farnaby.
Whilst there may not be such entertaining antics on display at this year’s qualifiers, there’s undoubtedly still a lot to look out for and enjoy.
After all, this is the event that gives golfers around the world a scintilla of hope, however illusory, that maybe one day they might be able to follow in these players’ footsteps and tee it up at the legendary major championship.
[2] The Open final qualifying: Poulter, Westwood & McDowell chasing Royal Portrush spots - BBC Sport
[3] The Open - Final Qualifying: Ian Poulter and his son, LIV Golf stars, former Ryder Cup players and YouTuber Peter Finch all feature | Golf News | Sky Sports
