Doak seals his place in maiden major

Scottish star Chris set to play at Merion after Walton Heath heroics

American dream: Chris Doak will line up against the world’s best players at Merion in next month’s US Open

Scotland’s Chris Doak is gearing up to play in his first major championship after coming through international qualifying for the US Open at Walton Heath.

Doak, 35, secured his place in the field for the year’s second major – taking place at Merion Golf Club next month – after surviving a tense six-man play-off at the Surrey club.

With only 12 places up for grabs, Simon Khan, Jaco Van Zyl and Paul Casey secured the first three berths in the 36-hole shoot-out. Denmark’s Morton Orum Madsen followed them, as did Peter Hedblom, Eddie Pepperell and Marcus Fraser.

That meant that there were only five more places to be won but when John Parry, David Howell and Jose Maria Olazabal finished on the same mark as Tano Goya, Rikard Karlberg and Chris Doak, a sudden-death play-off was required to decide who would get the remaining spots.

At the first play-off hole, Olaz·bal, Howell and Parry all made birdie to progress, Parry securing a major championship debut and Olaz·bal and Howell earning their first appearances at the US Open since 2007 and 2011 respectively.

That left Doak, Karlberg and Goya to battle it out. All three made pars on the subsequent two additional holes before Karlberg struck a tree with his tee shot on the fourth and could only make bogey, meaning the Swede was the unfortunate man to miss out.

For Doak, who just last season was part of the Team Scottish Hydro set-up on the Challenge Tour, the outcome was a dream come true and he admitted that he can’t wait to test himself against the world’s best players on arguably the toughest set-up in all of golf.

“I’m really excited about it,” said former Tartan Tour No.1 Doak. “I’ve got one of the golden tickets and it is fantastic. I actually lost in a play-off for the Open Championship last year, so it’s nice to actually get to a major.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor