Open Qualification

As one of the most prestigious tournaments in the World, a place in the British Open is always sought after.

Teeing it up at Royal St Georges this year will be a first for many whose qualification started way back in January in Melbourne Australia.

The process runs from International qualifying to regional and then local final qualifying which took place today.

International Qualifying

This takes place on five continents to give more players from around the world the chance to gain direct entry into golf’s oldest championship.

IFQ events for The 2011 Open at Royal St George’s will be as follows:

• IFQ — Australasia: 11 January 2011, Kingston Heath Golf Club, Melbourne, Australia
• IFQ — Africa: 19 & 20 January 2011, Royal Johannesburg & Kensington, South Africa
• IFQ — Asia: 24 & 25 February 2011, Amata Spring, Thailand
• IFQ — America: 23 May 2011, Gleneagles Country Club, Plano, Texas, USA
• IFQ — Europe: 6 June 2011, Sunningdale Golf Club, Berkshire, England

Ex-major champions such as Davis Love III and Chad Campbell have come through the qualifying as well as players like Thomas Levet and Gary Boyd.

Regional Qualifying

On 20 June 16 clubs around the United Kingdom played host to regional qualifying.

They were: Abridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed (Goswick), Bruntsfield Links, Buckinghamshire, Clitheroe, Coventry, East Sussex National, Enville, Ferndown, Gog Magog, Hankley Common, Lindrick, Mere, Pannal, Royal Dublin and The London.

Local Final Qualifying

Final qualifying took place at these four courses:

Littlestone, Prince’s, Royal Cinque Ports and Rye.

Only the qualifying at Prince's was able to be completed on the day with the three others going into a second day due to the weather or play-off being needed to decide the few final spots.

Lake District pro Simon Edwards won the Princes event on seven under with Thomas Shadbolt and Francis McGuirk also qualifying. The latter doing so on his home course.

Andy Smith from Tudor Park won the event at Littlestone on a four under total with Markus Brier and Lee Corfield also qualifying.

Amateur Craig Hinton from the Oxfordshire Golf Club won the Royal Cinque Ports event on a five under total. Andrew Johnstone and Simon Lilly also qualified.

At Rye, another amateur made the final list to play at Sandwich. Tom Lewis from Welwyn Garden City Club had superb rounds of 63 and 65 to finish three shots clear on eight under.

Adam Wootton and Mark Laskey also qualified.

For the long list of players that are already exempt for the event they will hope that they don’t have to go through the process on like so many big names have done this year.

Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has yet to book his place as well as ex-US Open champion Michael Campbell and Jose Maria Olazabal.