Lucas Herbert

Qualified in style on July 4, winning the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet for his second European Tour title.

Three places at Royal St George’s were on offer and Herbert, whose previous success was last season’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic after a play-off with Christiaan Bezuidenhout, led from the moment he opened with a 64 and triumphed by three.

His previous Open appearance at Carnoustie in 2018 came thanks to the SMBC Singapore Open. Four spots were up for grabs there and a tie for eighth proved good enough. Winner Sergio Garcia was already exempt and so were four other players either ahead of or alongside Herbert, meaning that his world ranking of 274th at the time earned him the final spot.

“To win a major is a career goal of mine, so obviously the first step is to get into one,” he said.

He has also played two U.S. Opens and three PGA Championships.

As an amateur Herbert represented Australia in the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Team Championship, finishing joint second in the individual standings behind Jon Rahm.

Two years earlier he almost won a PGA Tour of Australasia event, losing a play-off for the Heritage Classic.