The Open :: qualifying underway

A total of 288 players are bidding to secure a place in the Open Championship today. Final qualifiers are taking place at Hillside, Woburn, Gailes Links and Sunningdale New, with three spots available at each.

Twelve places at Royal Liverpool are up for grabs in all, with players such as Matthew Fitzpatrick, Alastair Forsyth and Robert Rock hoping to join Shane Lowry and Pablo Larrazabal who qualified last week.

The players

Fitzpatrick is looking to return to golf’s oldest major after winning the Silver Medal as the leading amateur in his Open debut in 2013 at Muirfield. The 19-year-old, who also finished as leading amateur at the recent US Open at Pinehurst, is level-par for the day at Hillside.

England’s Robert Rock is currently three-under at Woburn. The 37-year-old is bidding to make his sixth Open appearance. The two-time European Tour winner finished tied seventh at St Andrews in 2010.

Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth is in action at Gailes Links. The two-time European Tour winner has made four previous Open appearances. He has work to do, however, as he’s two-over for his first round.

American’s heading to the Open

Shawn Stefani, Charley Hoffman, Ben Martin and Brendan Steele secured the four places on offer in the Open Championship after the final round of the Quicken Loans National at Congressional last week.

Stefani lost out to Justin Rose on the first hole of a play-off for the tournament but succeeded in qualifying for Royal Liverpool. “I can put my focus on the Open which is going to be so huge for me,” he said. “I will take a lot away from it.”

Hoffman finished one shot back on three-under-par after a final round 69. He has made one appearance in The Open at Carnoustie in 2007 where he finished tied for 35th.

Ben Martin, the runner-up in the 2009 US Amateur Championship, matched Hoffman’s three-under-par total at the Quicken Loans National. He has played in two US Opens and The Masters as an amateur in 2010, but this will be his debut in the Open.

Brendan Steele finished on two-under-par for the tournament and secured the final qualifying place thanks to his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking than Argentinian Andres Romero with whom he tied. He too will make his Open debut.

Recent qualifiers

Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Pablo Larrazábal, and Shane Lowry secured their places at the Open Championship through the Race to Dubai rankings. Brendon Todd and Kevin Na will take their places in the field through FedExCup points.

Cabrera-Bello, Larrazábal and Lowry were the top players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the Race to Dubai following the BMW International Open.

Todd and Na secured their spots at The Open at the end of the Travelers Championship. They were as the top players, not already exempt, in the top 20 of the PGA Tour’s FedExCup points list.

Keep up to date with qualifying

For the latest scoring at all four venues, other continental qualifying information and twitter updates click here.