Irish Golf Desk

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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