Storm and Echenique qualify for Open Championship

Graeme Storm and Raphael Echenique led a high quality 96-man field at Sunningdale with an impressive ten under-par score to clinch places in the field for The Open at Turnberry. In total ten of the European Tour’s finest qualified through International

Final Qualification around the New and Old courses of the Sunningdale

A course record 62 left Storm in a strong position after round one. An eagle on his first hole gave the 31 year old from Hartlepool a relatively stress-free passage through the second round. Echenique also qualified with ease after 36 bogey-free holes.

Other qualifiers include European Tour veteran Gary Orr, who has not competed in the Championship since 2001 and fellow Scot David Drysdale, who will compete in the first major of his professional career. Branden Grace, Rafael Jacquelin, Paul Broadhurst and Rhys Davies were all amongst the qualifiers.

This left two remaining qualifying spots but with six players tied on 133, a sudden death play-off would be required. In the end, Richie Ramsay and Oliver Fisher held their nerve to earn a place in the biggest tournament of the year.

Internation Final Qualifying Leaderboard

T1 Rafa Echenique -10 T1 Graeme Strom -10

T3 David Drysdale -9 T3 Gary Orr -9 T3 Branden Grace -9

T6 Raphael Jacquelin -8 T6 Paul Broadhurst -8 T6 Rhys Davies -8

T9 Richie Ramsay -7 T9 Oliver Fisher -7

(Missed out in sudden death play-off) T9 Mark Foster -7 T9 Danny Willett -7 T9 Peter Lawrie -7 T9 Taco Remkes -7

In July 2023, Neil became just the 9th editor in Golf Monthly's 112-year history. Originally working with the best coaches in the UK to produce instruction content, he went on to become a feature writer interviewing many of the biggest names in the game including Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Rory McIlroy and Arnold Palmer.

A 5-handicap golfer, Neil is a club member who takes a keen interest in the health of the game at grassroots level. You’ll often now find him writing about club-related issues such as WHS, membership retention and how best to bridge the gap between the range and the course.