Final Qualifying for The 148th Open will take place Tuesday at four sites.
Twelve spots in the July 18-21 Open at Royal Portrush will be up for grabs, with three qualifiers from each of the four 36-hole qualifiers. The host courses are Fairmont St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland, which will use 11 holes from the Kittocks Course and seven from the Torrance Course; Prince’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England; Notts Golf Club Hollinwell in Nottinghamshire, England; and St. Annes Old Links in Lancashire, England.
Here are some names to watch at each site:
PRINCE’S
Sam Horsfield: Former Florida standout is coming off qualifying for his third U.S. Open, though he missed the cut at Pebble Beach. He is trying to qualify for his first Open.
Julian Suri: American and European Tour winner is looking to qualify for a third straight Open after tying for 28th last year at Carnoustie. Recently fell out of top 100 in OWGR but did post a T-15 finish at Andalucia Masters.
Matthew Southgate: Earned a spot in the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale via Final Qualifying and went on to finish T-6. Also made the cut last year at Carnoustie.
Gregory Bourdy: Four-time European Tour winner, but the 37-year-old from France hasn’t played in The Open since 2014. However, he hasn’t missed an Open cut in five tries.
David Howell: The 44-year-old Englishman is trying to qualify for first Open since 2016, when he was T-22 at Royal Troon. Finished T-7 in the 2008 Open, has won seven times professionally and was a two-time Ryder Cup player.
Austin Connelly: Young Canadian made noise in his only major start two years ago, tying for 14th at the 2017 Open. The 22-year-old hasn’t notched a top 10, however, since his runner-up finish at the 2017 KLM Open.
a-Conor Purcell: Ranked 15th in the WAGR and was runner-up at this year’s Irish Amateur.
a-Conor Gough: Englishman won last year’s Boys Amateur and Fairhaven Trophy.
FAIRMONT ST. ANDREWS
a-Akshay Bhatia: The 17-year-old Bhatia is ranked fourth in the WAGR, though he will skip college and turn pro after this year’s Walker Cup. He recently missed the cut at The Amateur but won the Jones Cup earlier this year. He also collected several top junior titles, including at Sage Valley and the Junior PGA, last year.
a-Brandon Wu: The Stanford grad, ranked sixth in the WAGR, is coming off a T-35 finish at the U.S. Open. He also went 3-0 for the NCAA title-winning Cardinal in NCAA match play. He figures to be a strong candidate to make the 2019 U.S. Walker Cup team.
Marc Warren: The 38-year-old Scot qualified for The Open from 2013-16, making two cuts. He’s a three-time European Tour winner, though not since 2014.
a-Euan Walker: Scotland’s top-ranked amateur at No. 22 in the world, Walker was runner-up at The Amateur and placed third at the English Amateur.
a-Benjamin Schmidt: Highest-ranked English amateur in the world at No. 25 in WAGR who is coming off wins at the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters and English Amateur.
a-Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra: The Wake Forest golfer is ranked 10th in the WAGR and recently made the Round of 16 at The Amateur.
a-Tom McKibbin: The 16-year-old prodigy from Northern Ireland won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley this year and is committed to Florida.
a-Tiger Christensen: Not Tiger Woods, but this Tiger is a 15-year-old from Germany. He was runner-up at the Fairhaven Trophy and third at the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters this year. He is ranked No. 1,671 in the WAGR.
Marty Jertson: Ping rep made the cut at this year’s PGA Championship.
Zach Murray: Young Aussie has wins at the Western Australian Open and New Zealand Open in the past year.
Laurie Canter: The 29-year-old Englishman advanced out of 2017 Final Qualifying before tying for 37th at Royal Birkdale.
Connor Syme: The former 2017 GB&I Walker Cupper from Scotland won on the Challenge Tour in April. He also missed the cut at the 2017 Open.
a-Kyler Tate: UCF grad is looking to qualify for his first major championship.
NOTTS
Min Woo Lee (pictured above): The younger brother of LPGA player Minjee Lee turned pro last year and has already posted two top-5s on the European Tour this year. He is the 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur champion.
Simon Khan: The seven-time Open participant and 47-year-old Englishman hasn’t teed it up in an Open since 2012. He also hasn’t played in a world-ranked event since last October, when he shared fourth in a Challenge Tour event in Ireland.
Robert Rock: The 42-year-old Englishman s best known for his T-7 in the 2010 Open at St. Andrews. He is twice a European Tour winner but not since 2012 and is currently No. 333 in the world.
Michael Hoey: The five-time European Tour winner, now 40 years old, has never made a major cut in five tries. His last trip to The Open came in 2014 when he withdrew at Royal Liverpool.
Alfie Plant: Won the silver medal as low amateur of the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale.
a-Tom Sloman: The world’s 25th-ranked amateur won the European Nations Cup earlier this year.
ST. ANNES
a-Alex Fitzpatrick: The younger brother of European Ryder Cupper Matthew Fitzpatrick and a rising sophomore at Wake Forest. He made the quarterfinals of last year’s U.S. Amateur and was third at this year’s Jones Cup.
John Catlin: The New Mexico product won three times on the Asian Tour last year and nearly cracked the top 100 in the OWGR earlier this year.
Matthew Jordan: The 23-year-old Englishman and 2017 Walker Cupper won on the Challenge Tour on Sunday for his first professional win.
a-Benjamin Jones: The Englishman, ranked No. 43 in the WAGR, was a semifinalist at The Amateur.
a-Dylan Keating: The young Irishman is the 16-year-old nephew of pop star Ronan Keating.