Ian Poulter, playing in front of a large gallery at his home course of Woburn, was one of 15 players to make it through Final Qualifying for the 146th Open at Royal Birkdale.
The 45-year-old Ryder Cup star thought he had missed out on a place at his favourite Open venue after three-putting for a par five at the seventh, his 34th. hole of the 36-hole qualifer. He then had to get up and down from a bunker on his last for par to return rounds of 70 and 68 and set up a return scene of his best finish in the Open as runner-up to Padraig Harrington in 2008.
Speaking after the round, Poulter said: “Job done. I would say Birkdale is my favourite Open venue, after what happened in 2008, and I’m looking forward to competing there. It’s going to be a busy run. But as soon as I get there I will be pumped for the week.”
India’s Shiv Kapur took the top spot at Woburn with scores of 71 and 65 for an eight-under-par 136 total. He made a 4,167-mile round trip from his home in Delhi just to play. He only arrived in Woburn on Sunday evening and was flew straight home afterwards. England’s Toby Tree, currently competing on the Challenge Tour, earned a start in the biggest championship of his career by tying Poulter for second on six under par.
Elsewhere, Matthew Southgate won the qualifier at Royal Cinque Ports at Deal for the second year running as three players at each of five venues claimed places in the line up at Birkdale.
In 2014 Southgate won at Sunningdale before going on to miss the cut at Royal Liverpool. In 2015 he failed to qualify and instead spent the week of The Open at St Andrews recovering from an operation for testicular cancer. Last year he made an emotional return to the Open with a tied 12th place finish at Royal Troon, just missing out on an automatic trip to Royal Birkdale. But an afternoon 65, thanks to an outward 32 plus his seventh birdie of the round at the 17th, took care of that as he finished on six-under-par.
Robert Dinwiddie finished three shots behind to secure his second Open appearance while Austin Connelly, a 20-year-old dual citizen of Canada and the United States in his first year on the European Tour, birdied the first extra hole of a play-off from 15 feet to claim the final place ahead of three others.
Up at Gailes Links in Ayrshire, amateur Connor Syme carded the lowest round of the day – a four-under-par 67 – to share top spot with American professional Julian Suri in testing conditions at Walker Cup contender Syme, who turns 22 next week, produced a flawless afternoon effort.
Suri, a 26-year-old Floridian, led by a shot after a morning 69 before signing for the same second-round score to also finish on four-under-par. Following in the footsteps of US Open champion Brooks Koepka, he has come over to play on the Challenge Tour, winning in the Czech Republic this season to lead the Road to Oman. Ryan McCarthy, a 27-year-old from Tasmania, secured the third place after winning a four-man play-off with an eight-foot birdie at the first extra hole.
Haydn McCullen, shot a course-record 64 to finish on 135 at Hillside, two strokes clear of Nick McCarthy, with Adam Hodkinson third a further stroke back. McCullen, a 20 year old who plays out of Delamere Forest in Cheshire, gained nine birdies and dropped just one shot as he came from five behind the leaders at the halfway stage. It was third time lucky at Hillside for Moortown’s McCarthy when he posted rounds of 66 and 71, having fallen at the same final hurdle in the last two years.
England’s Mark Foster and Joe Dean shared first place at Notts Golf Club (Hollinwell). Forster, from nearby Worksop, carded rounds of 68 and 66 and a few minutes later was joined on ten under par by Dean whose second-round 64, including a run of five consecutive threes from the fourth, was the lowest score of the day.
Foster and Dean finished three shots clear of English professional Lawrie Canter and amateurs Rhys Nevin-Wharton and Stefano Mazzoli. Mazzoli, who played in last year’s Open as reigning European Amateur champion, was the first player to drop out of the subsequent play-off when he bogeyed the second extra hole before Canter sealed his spot at Birkdale with a par-four on the next hole.