Grant Forrest, Richard Mansell and Brandon Robinson-Thompson shared the top spot at the Final Qualifying tournament held at Walton Heath Golf Club for the next month’a US Open in North Carolina.
The trio all finished on ten under par after 36 holes at the famed Surrey venue, with each competitor playing one round on each of the Old and New Courses. Nine places were available for the third men’s Major Championship of the year.
Robinson-Thompson was the first of the those to reach ten under par and will make his US Open debut at Pinehurst, less than a year after playing in his first Major Championship at The 151st Open at Hoylake.
The Englishman, who is now based in the United States and previously lived in South Carolina, followed up his first round 68 with a six under par 66. He was then joined on ten under par by compatriot Richard Mansell, who made his U.S. Open debut in 2022, and Scotland’s Forrest, who will be playing in his first US Open.
ROCK ROLLS BACK THE YEARS
Robert Rock, who stepped back from playing on the DP World Tour after the 2022 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, made a remarkable comeback as he the 47-year-old carded rounds of 69 and 66 to finish on nine under par.
After learning that he had qualified for Pinehurst, Rock said: “It’s difficult to describe. I really didn’t have any thoughts of qualifying. I thought it was my last chance of playing this event and a good opportunity to see where my game was having been out of it for a couple of years. I thought while I could still enter, I’d see where I’d fit. I played with James Morrison and had such a good day.”
He added: “I wasn’t even sure I could play two rounds, I’ve been playing mostly nine holes and then the back nine has hurt because my back isn’t the best at the moment. It did today, I was struggling on the back nine. Thankfully my mate came to push the trolley. I didn’t think I’d make 36, but it’s amazing what making a few putts does.”
Rock was joined on nine by Yorkshire’s Sam Bairstow, who holed a nervy seven-footer for par on the 36th hole to sign for rounds of 68 and 67, avoiding the prospect of a play-off.
“I started a bit ropey today, but from my ninth hole onwards it was good,” Bairstow commented. “I’m really pleased to get it done with that seven-footer at the last. It looked quite slow, but luckily it was straight uphill, so it wasn’t the worst putt. I thought there would just be three or four people coming down from Sheffield to watch me, so to see 12 or 15 of them was great. When you hole a birdie putt it does spur you on, so it was great for them to be out there.”
Also securing their spots for the US Open were the Italian pair of Matteo Manassero and Edoardo Molinari, Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin and Australian Jason Scrivener, who all faced a nervous wait after reaching eight under par with a number of groups still to finish.
A play-off was eventually required to decide the two alternate spots available. Five competitors finished on seven under par, with Casey Jarvis and Andrea Pavan earning the alternate spots after four extra holes.
Of the 102 players that took part in the tournament, 26 either withdrew or retired after the first round or during the early part of the second round.
For all the scores from Final Qualifying at Walton Heath, click here.