Open Championship places up for grabs

• Three Open Championship qualifying places up for grabs
• Last year’s Joburg Open winner Coetzee back to retain title
• Seven Scots in the field including Amateur champion Bradley Neil

JOBURG OPEN | THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Three qualifying places for the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrews are up for grabs at the Joburg Open, which gets underway tomorrow.

The leading three players who finish in the top ten at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington GC, and who are not already exempt, will qualify for the 144th staging of the competition from July 16-19.

The Joburg Open is the third event in the 2015 Open Qualifying Series, which has seen Rod Pampling, Brett Rumford and Greg Chalmers progress through from the Emirates Australian Open and Marcus Fraser, Scott Hend, Jonathan Moore and Anirban Lahiri from the Thailand Golf Championship.

George Coetzee won the tournament last year and went on to finish 18th at Royal Liverpool GC, meaning he is already exempt from this year’s Open Championship at St Andrews.

However, he did stress how big an opportunity winning the Joburg Open was for his fellow competitors this week.

He said: “I was absolutely delighted to qualify for the Open Championship at the Joburg Open last year. It was a brilliant added bonus that came with the win. It’s a great idea to give guys the opportunity to qualify at tour events and it means everyone has a lot to play for with places in a major championship at stake.”

“I was pleased to finish in the top 20 and it gives me great confidence for this year. I am really looking forward to playing in my first Open at St Andrews and enjoying the wonderful atmosphere there.”

As well as Coetzee, other players in the Joburg Open field with exemptions are 2011 Open Championship winner and new European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke, Edoardo Molinari, Thomas Aiken and Amateur champion Bradley Neil.

Preparing for the competition, Neil tweeted:

The 210 players will take to the East and West Courses over the first two days, with that number being cut to the top 65 and ties on Friday. The final two rounds will be played only on the East Course.

There are seven Scots in the field including Neil, with Chris Doak, Craig Lee, David Drysdale, Scott Henry, Sean Jacklin and Andrew McArthur all taking to the course in the quest of a spot at the Open Championship in their home country.