Why Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood skipped Open Qualifying

Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood have explained that scheduling difficulties contributed to them skipping Final Qualifying for The Open Championship.

The European Ryder Cup veterans chose not to enter the marathon 36-hole qualifying shootout on Tuesday to have the chance to tee it up in the final major of the year at Royal Liverpool.

Fellow LIV golfers Charl Schwartzel, Brandon Grace and Laurie Canter all secured their spot through final qualifying, while the duo’s former Ryder Cup teammates Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell came up just short.

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Poulter prioritised staying fresh with the event sandwiched between LIV events at Valderrama and at the Centurion Club this weekend.

Westwood, meanwhile, will miss his first Open in 28 years, and had instead planned to enter the Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl before being banned from that tournament following his resignation from the DP World Tour.

“Look, I’ve missed lots of majors through the years,” Poulter said in a press conference in St Albans on Wednesday.

“I’ve missed the Masters. I’ve missed lots of opportunities. When you’re not top 60, you’re not in the US Open; you’re not top 50, you’re not in the Masters; you’re not top 50 or earn it through an Order of Merit position to get in the Open Championship.

“It’s not the first time. It won’t be the last time unless we can get some World Ranking points and move back up into a position where I can automatically qualify.

“I’ve got 14 events on my calendar season. There will be a couple of addition to see that. It’s a shorter season than what I have played in the past.

“I feel better, fresher, stronger, when I’m competing here on LIV, and as Lee said, if the qualifying date wasn’t the date it was, maybe I’d have qualified or attempted to try and qualify.

“But to sandwich 36 holes right in the middle of two tournaments that I’m working hard to play well on didn’t make sense for me at the time.”

Meanwhile, Westwood, who recently turned 50, was keen on competing in the Senior version of the championship a week later, but is now unable to enter the showpiece in South Wales.

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“I sit down at the start of the year, do a schedule, and see when the qualifying was for the Open Championship,” he explained.

“I knew this was going to be a busy week, knew that I played Valderrama, thought it was a good opportunity to play my first ever seniors event and it be the Seniors Open Championship, which is the week after the Open.

“So I’d entered and committed to that. Unfortunately, the Seniors Open doesn’t look to be as open as the Open Championship, so was barred from playing in that.

“My idea and goal was to go and play in the Seniors Open Championship the week after, being 50 and it be my first opportunity. I thought that was going to give me the best opportunity to perform well and have a chance at winning that.”