Cuatro previas. Cuatro campos. 36 hoyos. 20 jugadores clasificados para el Open. Cinco en cada sede. Y un nombre propio por encima de todos: Lee Westwood. The Englishman has put aside his mediocre trajectory in LIV Golf and has unveiled his essence this Tuesday to win his qualifier at Dundonald Links and return to the British Open three years later. To the British… and to the Majors, as his last major was precisely the Open in 2022.
Lee Westwood, Lucas Herbert, Dean Burmester, and Justin Walters have been the winners of the four qualifiers. It hasn’t been a bad balance for the LIV Golf players. Seeing that, anyone would say very good, for those three victories, although the overall numbers are not to set off fireworks. There were 14 registered in the qualifiers and three have passed.
As for the Spaniards, five have finally participated, as Eugenio López Chacarra, as we already announced in Ten Golf, changed plans due to delays in the trip from Italy to England, and Rafa Cabrera Bello also dropped out at the last minute. Of the five, one qualified, Ángel Hidalgo, as already recounted on this website. David Puig, Ángel Ayora, Luis Masaveu, and Raúl Gómez were left out. Each in a different way.
Hidalgo ya sabía que se metía en el Open ocho hoyos y medio antes de acabar
The most painful was Puig’s. Cruel, even. He started the qualifier like a shot. In the first 18 holes, he delivered the best card by far at Royal Cinque Ports. A fantastic eight under par that opened the doors of the Open wide for him. Of course, with that result, he would have qualified directly. However, a stretch of eleven holes to forget, with a six over par, with six bogeys, finally left him out. He was two strokes away from the playoff. A tough break. Not even Puig feels like he played badly. That’s what links are like. When they cross you, they can short-circuit anyone.
Ángel Ayora was hovering around all day at West Lancashire, but never got into the fight. He finished the first round very well, with a two under par, but in the second 18 holes, he didn’t manage to ignite the round. It was a day to have the putter very hot, and it didn’t happen. He finished five strokes from the target. Luis Masaveu, also with an even par at Royal Cinque Ports, finished four strokes from the playoff. Something similar happened to Ayora. He didn’t manage to change gears when he needed to. Finally, the amateur Raúl Gómez was far behind on this same course at Royal Cinque Ports. In his case, the experience is above the result. His success was already passing the first qualifier.
Among the qualifiers, in addition to those already mentioned, the names of Jacob Skov Olesen, Harry Hall, the Chinese Sampson Zheng, and the English amateur Seb Cave, ranked 135th in the world and last year’s winner of the St Andrews Links Trophy, stand out.
