Regional Qualifying

The 153rd Open is just around the corner and the path to Royal Portrush starts for over 1,900 golfers in Regional Qualifying.

Regional Qualifying will take place across 15 stunning courses in Great Britain and Ireland on Monday 23 June.

There will be places in Final Qualifying on offer for those who shine at Bearwood Lakes, Caldy, Craigielaw, Enville, Ferndown, Frilford Heath, Fulford, Gog Magog, Hesketh, Kilmarnock (Barassie), Lindrick, Moor Park, North Hants, Rochester & Cobham Park and The Island.

The leading finishers at each of the 15 courses will earn places at Final Qualifying on Tuesday 1 July. Those who compete in Final Qualifying at Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire will then have the opportunity to make it to Royal Portrush for The 153rd Open.

One of the charms of Regional Qualifying is the range of golfers teeing off; expect to see veteran pros and rising stars rubbing shoulders with amateurs and even some who have made their names in other sports.

A quick look through those competing this time around provides a wealth of familiar names, including a pair of former Premier League footballers in Jimmy Bullard [below] and Peter Odemwingie.

The former Wigan Athletic and Hull City star Bullard will head to Rochester & Cobham Park fresh from an impressive performance in a Legends Tour event in Greece, where he shot five-under over 54 holes to finish level with former US Open winner Michael Campbell and ahead of Champion Golfer Paul Lawrie.

Odemwingie, meanwhile, will compete at Enville as he looks to build on a golfing dream that was born during his time playing at Stoke City.

It is not just footballers who make the switch to golf. Kevin Esteve, from Andorra, competed at consecutive Winter Olympics before swapping the ski pistes for the golf course and will be one to watch in North Hants.

Sticking with the winter sports theme, amateur golfer Austin Lemieux, the son of ice hockey great Mario Lemieux – a gold medallist with Canada in Salt Lake City two decades ago – will be looking to step out of his father’s shadow at Craigielaw.

Regional Qualifying also offers a path for current and former amateurs to make The Open, including Ashley Chesters.

It is now a decade since Chesters finished T12 in The 144rd Open at St Andrews. Chesters secured his place at back-to-back Opens in 2014 and 2015 by winning the European Amateur Championship two years running, following in the footsteps of the likes of Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia.

His performance at St Andrews in 2015 will live long in the memory, Chesters even missing an eagle putt on the Sunday that would have put him into a share of the lead. He turned professional in the aftermath of that 2015 performance and returned to The Open in 2022, at St Andrews once more. The road to a fourth Open for Chesters begins in Enville alongside Odemwingie.

Meanwhile, at Moor Park, another European Amateur champion will start his qualifying campaign. Alfie Plant took that crown in 2017 and then went on to claim the Silver Medal in The 146th Open at Royal Birkdale.

A number of former winners of The Amateur Championship will also be in action, notably James Sugrue, the 26-year-old from Mallow in County Cork, who made his major debut six years ago at Royal Portrush.

He will hope to return to the site of his first major appearance and will start that journey at The Island, in Dublin.

No one has come closer to winning The Amateur Championship without actually doing so than Monty Scowsill. In 2021, he led by eight shots at one point in the final against Laird Shepherd before losing in extra holes. He will be one of the star attractions at Gog Magog near Cambridge.

Last but not least, as The Open returns to Royal Portrush, it would be fitting if amateur Max Faulkner could come through Regional Qualifying and Final Qualifying to make it.

After all, it was his namesake who lifted the Claret Jug when The Open first visited Royal Portrush all the way back in 1951.