Lee Westwood was among the 20 players who earned their place in the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush through Final Qualifying.
Lee, who is attached to Close House, led the 36-hole qualifying at Dundonald Links on seven under-par. The former world number one will tee it up in The Open for the 28th time. The 52-year-old was at two under-par after his morning round and, starting his second round on the 10th, moved up a gear after the turn with four birdies in six holes from the second (his 11th) to finish on a seven under-par total of 137.
“The first time I played in The Open was in 1995 when I qualified at Leven and I thought it would be great to come back here and try to qualify for another one at Royal Portrush,” said Lee. “It’s a fantastic golf course and I played well there the last time, I finished fourth in 2019, so that was another reason to come and play. The Open Championship is the greatest tournament in the golfing calendar.”
Lee’s playing partners, Angel Hidalgo and Daniel Young, finished one shot back to secure their places in the championship. Sweden’s Jesper Sandborg will make his major championship debut at The Open after birdieing his final hole to finish on five under-par. Walker Cup player Connor Graham finished on four under-par and had an agonising wait to learn whether it would be enough to qualify before fellow Scot Paul O’Hara finished on the same mark. The former R&A Junior Open champion showed his poise to win the first extra hole by nervelessly rolling in an 8ft birdie putt to secure his Open berth.
Meanwhile at Burnham & Berrow, South African Justin Walters led the field on nine under-par as 2024 Amateur champion Jacob Skov-Olesen, Harry Hall, amateur Frazer Jones, and OJ Farrell made it through.
At Royal Cinque Ports, South African Dean Burmester topped the leaderboard with a 10 under-par total. He’ll be joined at Portrush by Nathan Kimsey, Curtis Knipes, amateur Sebastian Cave, and John Axelsen.
At West Lancashire, Lucas Herbert led the way on eight under-par – with Sampson Zheng, George Bloor, Oliver Lindell, and amateur Richard Teder also making it through,
Final Qualifying featured a starting field of 288 players competing in 36-hole events at Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire. Five places in The Open were available at each venue.
