Qualifying series and exemption categories for The Open confirmed

World golf governing body The R&A has confirmed the schedule of events that will make up The Open qualifying series for this year and the exemption categories for The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool in England from July 16-23.

Golfers aiming to book their place in The Open will have opportunities at 15 professional events in nine countries.

A total of 34 places are available through events being played around the world on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour. The number of places at final qualifying has been increased by four to provide a minimum of 16 places through events being held in the United Kingdom at Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire on July 4.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, executive director – championships at The R&A, said, “We have created an exciting schedule of events which takes in many regions around the world and provides the chance for golfers to earn a place in The Open at Royal Liverpool.

We are grateful to our colleagues at the professional tours for their support and look forward to seeing who emerges from each event to book a sought-after place in the Championship this year.”

Three PGA Tour events in the United States are included in the schedule, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Memorial Tournament. Each event will offer three qualifying places.

In Asia, a total of 10 places will be available through the World City Championship presented by the Hong Kong Golf Club on the Asian Tour, the Mizuno Open on the Japan Golf Tour and the Korea Open, which is co-sanctioned by the Korean Golf Association and the Asian Tour.

On the DP World Tour, three places will be awarded at the British Masters, Made in HimmerLand and Scottish Open.

Six golfers have already earned places through the Joburg Open in South Africa and the Australian Open which were played at the end of last year.

In a change to previous criteria, qualifying places will now be awarded to the leading players who make the cut and are not already exempt as of the closing date of entries for The Open on June 1.

Any golfer earning a qualifying place who then becomes exempt under one or more categories before the closing date of entries will result in that place being awarded to the next non-exempt golfer, which will determined by a reserve list for each event played before June 1.

The R&A has also confirmed the exemption categories for The 151st Open.

A new exemption has been added for elite amateur golfers in which the player who accumulates the most points awarded by the world amateur golf ranking in the St Andrews Links Trophy, The Amateur Championship and European Amateur Championship will earn a place in The Open.

The Ryder Cup and Presidents’ Cup exemption, which rotated each year, has been removed while the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup exemption is not included for 2023 as the event will not be played this year.

Fiona Xu second, New Zealand fifth at Queen Sirikit Cup

Afast-finishing Fiona Xu led New Zealand to fifth place in the 43rd Queen Sirikit Cup in the Philippines last month.

Xu finished in a share of second in the individual standings after shooting rounds of 68, 73, 72, and 69.

The Auckland trio of herself, Vivian Lu, and Eunseo Choi combined for a team score of two under par which was 10 shots behind South Korea which stormed home to a five-shot victory.

Xu finished as the leading Kiwi at six-under par while Lu finished four over par with rounds of 72, 77, 71, and 72 for 12th. Choi finished 32nd with scores of 82, 80, 73, and 73.

Xu led the way for the Kiwis all week and continued firing at flags in the final round. She was even par through her opening 10 holes after an eagle and a couple of bogeys. She found her rhythm with her putter, draining three nice birdie putts in her closing side to climb two places in the individual standings.

She was pleased with her finish.

“I finished with a birdie which was a great way to finish the tournament,’’ Xu said.

“A highlight was an eagle at the fourth and a couple more birdies on the 14th and 15th, as well as the birdie on the 18th.

“I hit a few of my approach shots nice and close, but I seemed to capitalise with the putter a little more. My goal today was to go out, play my own game, and not think too much. I wanted to hit fairways, greens, and hole some putts. The eagle on the fourth was a good confidence boost early, especially after an early bogey on two.”

Despite the strong end to her round, the 18-year-old didn’t think she’d done enough to sneak a podium place.

“I didn’t think that I’d played well enough to finish inside the top three, so finishing in a tie for second was a really nice surprise.

“The course was really challenging this week. The grass is completely different to New Zealand — it’s a lot harder to hit off and it’s much harder to control your spin around the greens. I found a lot of my approach shots were going long into the rough, and chipping from the rough was tough.’’

By Neville Idour

No one can question Tiger Woods’ ability when it comes to striking a golf ball and getting it into a hole on a green in the least number of shots. But is that where it ends?

He has built an ongoing and unenviable record off the golf course in his dealings with women and in other areas of life which don’t need detailing here. However, his recent immature and pathetic “fun and games” with his ``close friend’’ Justin Thomas at the Genesis Invitational in the United States have rightly drawn scathing reactions from far and wide.

It is difficult to comprehend the mindset of any male golfer, or anyone else for that matter, thinking that having a tampon at the ready to hand to a playing partner after outdriving him as if to say “you play like a girl” is funny. Surely Woods would know the cameras would pick it up.

What made it more sad was the reaction of Thomas which tells something about him as well. I would like to think most golfers with any moral fortitude would have politely told Woods it was a pathetic and demeaning joke.

Perhaps Woods always carries tampons just in case? So it was not surprising that his “hugely funny’’, so he and Thomas thought joke, drew many blunt reactions.

Leading the charge was Olympic legend Michael Johnson whose comments were right on the money. “He has never been a leader and continues to make mistakes. He is like Teflon as he is still heralded after all his mistakes.”

Johnson then went on to slam Tiger for his limp apology which went like this. “It was supposed to be all fun and games but obviously it hasn’t turned out that way.’’

The following sentence was where it became more than limp.

“If I offended anyone in any shape or form I’m sorry. We play pranks on one another all the time.”

Haha.

Unsurprisingly he has come under fire from many women’s groups. Golf presenter Sarah Stirk blasted him. She said: “Completely surprised and really disappointed. His crass actions show that women are seen as inferior to men in the sport’s battle for equality, suggesting Thomas plays like a woman.”

Let’s be frank. In many ways the women’s game is a better watch than the PGA Tour and DP World Tour with their superb shotmaking and camaraderie.