Irish quartet fail in US Open qualifying
Sweden's Peter Hanson holed in one to grab his place in in next month’s US Open but Irish hopefuls Gareth Maybin, Paul McGinley, Gary Murphy and Michael Hoey all failed to qualify at Walton Heath.
Ulsterman Maybin finished with four birdies in his last six holes for a 69 on the Old Course but could not undo the damage of a 73 on the New and finished three strokes outside the qualifying mark on two-under par.
Maybin said: “Tee to green is was just ugly this morning but it was nice to finish with a few birdies. This is the first time I've played Walton Heath and what a gem. I just wished we played courses like this regularly on the European Tour.”
Without a major start since the 2007 US PGA, McGinley shot rounds of 74 and 68 to miss out on 142 as Hoey shot 75-70 and Murphy 74-71 to finish well down the 75-man field on 145.
Padraig Harrington, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke have already qualified to tee it up at fearsome Bethpage Black from June 18-21.
They will be joined by Raphael Jacquelin and Simon Khan, who topped the sectional qualifiers in Surrey by a shot from Simon Dyson on nine-under 135.
Thomas Levet, Andrew McLardy and David Horsey also booked their places with Jose Manuel Lara, Francesco Molinari, Jean Francois Lucquin, Johan Edfors and Peter Hanson coming through a seven-man play-off for the last five spots.
Lara, Molinari, Lucquin and Edfors all birdied the first extra hole before Hanson aced the 206-yard 17th hole on the Old Course as he battled England's Richard Bland and Scot Stephen Gallacher for the last of 11 qualifying places.
Hanson said: "I was pumped up so switched from a five iron to a six and knew I had to hit it really well to land it on the front of the green. It was just a perfect shot.
"This game is just so stupid sometimes.
"Obviously I am delighted to get through, but to do it like that is unbelievable. We were between clubs on the tee but I thought that I would go for a full 6-iron and play for the middle of the green. You need a bit of luck with any hole in one and I got my share today."
Ironically, Hanson and Molinari were protagonists in the Irish Open two weeks ago.
Hanson had a hole in one there too but made a mistake when filling out Molinari's second round scorecard, which ended with the Italian being disqualified for signing for a wrong score.
The Turin native led the tournament after the first round and was hoping to climb into the world's top 50 to avoid pre-qualifying for Bethpage.
| Player | Country | Score |
| Raphael Jacquelin | France | 67-68-135 |
| Simon Khan | England | 68-67-135 |
| Simon Dyson | England | 66-70-136 |
| Thomas Levet | France | 70-67-137 |
| Andrew McLardy | South Africa | 71-67-138 |
| David Horsey | England | 72-66-138 |
| Jose Manuel Lara | Spain | 72-67-139 |
| Jean-Francois Lucquin | France | 68-71-139 |
| Francesco Molinari | Italy | 71-68-139 |
| Johan Edfors | Sweden | 73-66-139 |
| Peter Hanson | Sweden | 71-68-139 |
|
Failed To Qualify |
||
| A - Richard Bland | England | 68-71-139 |
| A - Stephen Gallacher | England | 70-69-139 |
| Markus Brier | Austria | 70-70-140 |
| Nick Dougherty | England | 71-69-140 |
| Brett Rumford | Australia | 69-71-140 |
| Alastair Forsyth | Scotland | 71-70-141 |
| Simon Griffiths | England | 72-69-141 |
| Wade Ormsby | Australia | 74-67-141 |
| Richard Ramsay | Scotland | 71-70-141 |
| Oliver Fisher | England | 71-71-142 |
| Jean-Baptiste Gonnet | France | 72-70-142 |
| Gareth Maybin | Northern Irelan | 73-69-142 |
| Paul McGinley | England | 74-68-142 |
| Phillip Archer | England | 74-69-143 |
| Gregory Bourdy | France | 72-71-143 |
| Jamie Donaldson | Wales | 73-70-143 |
| Marcus Fraser | Australia | 71-72-143 |
| Peter Hedblom | Sweden | 72-71-143 |
| (a) Sam Hutsby | England | 69-74-143 |
| Daniel Vancsik | Argentina | 70-73-143 |
| Christopher Wood | England | 73-70-143 |
| Francois Delamontagne | France | 72-72-144 |
| Richard Finch | England | 72-72-144 |
| Miguel Angel Rodriguez | Argentina | 71-73-144 |
| Scott Strange | Australia | 71-73-144 |
| Paul Waring | England | 72-72-144 |
| Felipe Aguilar | Chile | 69-76-145 |
| Robert Dinwiddie | England | 74-71-145 |
| Niclas Fasth | Sweden | 75-70-145 |
| Gregory Havret | France | 74-71-145 |
| Michael Hoey | Northern Irelan | 75-70-145 |
| Gary Murphy | Ireland | 74-71-145 |
| Alvaro Velasco | Spain | 74-71-145 |
| Mads Vibe-Hastrup | Denmark | 70-75-145 |
| Ross McGowan | England | 72-74-146 |
| Tongoona Charamba | Zimbabwe | 75-72-147 |
| Mikko Ilonen | Finland | 74-73-147 |
| Christian Nilsson | Sweden | 69-78-147 |
| Jyoti Randhawa | India | 75-72-147 |
| Shiv Kapur | India | 72-76-148 |
| Rafael Cabrera-Bello | Spain | 71-78-149 |
| Jeppe Huldahl | Denmark | 74-75-149 |
| Michael Lorenzo Vera | England | 76-73-149 |
| Steve Webster | England | 76-73-149 |
| Benn Barham | England | 73-77-150 |
| Alan McLean | Canada | 76-74-150 |
| Marc Cayeux | Zimbabwe | 74-77-151 |
| Anthony Kang | Anthem, Ariz. | 77-74-151 |
| Pablo Martin Benavides | Spain | 74-77-151 |
| Merrick Bremner | South Africa | 73-80-153 |
| Magnus A Carlsson | Sweden | 78-76-154 |
| David Howell | England | 78-76-154 |
| Ricardo Gonzalez | Argentina | 71-WD |
| Estanislao Goya | Argentina | 75-WD |
| Alejandro Canizares | Spain | 76-WD |
| Marcel Siem | Germany | 76-WD |
| Rafa Echenique | Argentina | 77-WD |
| Pablo Larrazabal | Spain | 77-WD |
| Per Edberg | Sweden | 78-WD |
| Tyrone Ferreira | South Africa | 80-WD |
| Kenneth Ferrie | England | 81-WD |