Aussies bid for Open Championship start

Australasian PGA Tour | 2009 British Open International Final Qualifying | Preview | 08 Feb 2009

Three spots at the 2009 Open Championship are on offer when International Final Qualifying Australasia takes place at Kingston Heath Golf Club on Tuesday.

A field of 44 players will play 36 holes in one day over the Kingston Heath layout, one of the Melbourne Sandbelt’s most famous courses. The top three finishers will earn a place at the 138th Open Championship at Turnberry this July.

Lining up on Tuesday will be two of Australia’s great champions, Craig Parry and Peter Senior who have 35 Open starts between them. Both players have registered fourth place finishes at the Open previously: Parry at Carnoustie in 1999 and Senior at Sandwich in 1993.

Parry, the highest ranked player in the field this week, first lined up at the Open in 1987 and if he is to qualify on Tuesday, he will play in his 19th Open Championship in 22 years.

For Senior, who has shown fine form on the Australasian Tour in recent months with a tie for third at the Australian PGA Championship last December and a tie for sixth at last week’s Subaru Victorian Open, it will be his first appearance at the at The Open since competing at St Andrews in 2000. Winner of over 20 international titles, Senior, who turns 50 in July has competed in 17 Championships dating back to 1979.

Also lining up are two of last year’s successful qualifiers, Peter Fowler and Andrew Tampion. Forty nine year old Fowler qualified through IFQ Australasia for the third time in four years last year and if he succeeds again on Tuesday he will enter his 12th Open Championship.

In contrast, Tampion, who finished at the top of the field last year, played in his first OPEN Championship at Birkdale. Tampion narrowly missed the cut and will be keen to have another crack at golf’s oldest championship.

Also in the field are Adam Bland and Michael Wright who will be keen for a repeat performance that saw them gain entry to their first OPEN Championship after succeeding at Kingston Heath last time the event was held here in 2006.

Players will have a practice day at Kingston Heath tomorrow, Monday February 9 before the official competition is played on Tuesday with first groups teeing off at 7:15am.

IFQ Field

Aaron Townsend
Adam Bland
Adam Crawford
Alistair Presnell
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Martin
Andrew Tampion
Andrew Tschudin
Anthony Brown
Anthony Summers
Ashley Hall

Brad Kennedy
Brent McCullough

Cameron Percy
Christopher Campbell
Craig Parry
Craig Scott
Craig Spence

Damian Ulrich
David Diaz
David Lutterus
David McKenzie

Heath Reed

John Wade
Jonathan Abbott
Josh Geary

Kim Felton
Kurt Barnes

Leigh McKechnie

Michael Brennan
Michael Long
Michael Wright

Paul Sheehan
Peter Fowler
Peter O’Malley
Peter Senior
Peter Wilson

Ryan Haller

Scott Laycock
Steve Dartnall
Steven Bowditch
Steven Jeffress

Timothy Wood

Wayne Perske

International Final Qualifying (IFQ) events for The Open Championship were introduced in 2004 and are held on five continents to give more players from around the world the chance to gain direct entry into golf’s oldest championship.

IFQ has already been held in Africa this month, with IFQ — Asia to take place in April, IFQ America in May and IFQ Europe in June.

Source – PGA Tour