Four Aussies qualify for 2007 British Open

BY iseekgolf.com | Australasian PGA Tour | 2007 British Open International Final Qualifying | Wrap | 06 Feb 2007

Aussies Ewan Porter, Peter Fowler, Scott Laycock and Ben Bunny are the four players through to the 2007 Open Championship after Australasian Final International Qualifying at the Lakes in Sydney today.

Porter and Fowler were through immediately upon completing their rounds after Porter finished first on 11 under with rounds of 66 & 69 and Fowler second on 8 under with 74 and a course record 64 after 36 holes.

Scott Laycock, Ben Bunny and Chris Campbell faced a three way play-off for third and fourth place after the trio finished on 5 under, with Laycock, a Japan Tour regular the first through after he birdied the first play-off hole, the par 4, 10th. Bunny and Campbell parred the hole and went on to the par 5 11th.

Bunny then birdied the 11th to be the fourth player through and qualifies for his second successive OPEN Championship via Australasian Final Qualifying.

Porter, from Sydney’s south finished first in his first attempt at International Final Qualifying and admitted his initial thoughts were just to make the 36 holes. He withdrew from the Von Nida Tour’s Victorian Open last week with badly blistered feet but barely felt a tingle as he raced around the first 18 scoring a 7 under 66.

“I’m a bit in shock actually. I’ve never even been to Europe before”, said Porter. “It’s awesome because the last 12-18 months hasn’t been so great for me and I definitely thought ’what am I doing?’ a few times. My Mum and Dad will be thrilled. Looks like I’ll be postponing my back packing trip around Europe and preparing for my trip there by playing golf.”

Porter believes local knowledge was a key to his game today, having been a member at The Lakes for six years.

“I know nearly every blade of the course so there would have been something pretty wrong if I didn’t do well. I played nine holes yesterday and I knew the wind would pick up in the afternoon and it played like I expected.”

The elder statesman of the group, 47-year-old Peter Fowler has qualified for his second Open Championship in Australia in as many years and guesses he has played in over 10 Opens in his career. Recovering from a virus over the past few weeks, Fowler holed two eagles on the 2nd and 11th for the final 18, shooting a new course record of 9 under 64. He admitted it was tiring getting around the course but joked his’superior fitness’ had got him through.

“I’m not really sure where the 10 better shots came in the second round but I just put my head down and putted a lot better”.

Source – PGA Tour