381 - Final Qualifying Roundup

In this episode we cover final qualifying for the Open Championship across four venues, with reports from Dundonald, Burnham & Berrow, Royal Cinque Ports, and West Lancashire. We compare the atmosphere at each course, noting that the day drew strong crowds, with many volunteers managing scoring, marshalling, parking and course presentation.

We discuss how the golf courses were set up and how the weather affected play. Burnham and Barrow was described as especially well presented, while West Lancashire played firm and fast with strong runoff areas and difficult greens. We also talk about how the draw and weather conditions made a major difference to scoring, especially later in the day.

We go through several of the main qualifiers and near misses. James Nicholas qualified comfortably, Tom Sloman played well at home to get through, and Caleb Surratt, Alejandro de Castro Piera and Austin Truslow also advanced. At West Lancashire, Sam Bairstow, Kazuma Kobori, Jose Ballister, Tiger Christensen, Sam Easterbrook and Matt Jordan featured prominently, while at Royal Cinque Ports Bard Bjornovic Skogen and MJ Defoe led the way.

We also cover notable players who missed out, including Owen Edwards, John Goff, Fraser Jones and Brandon Robinson Thompson. There is discussion of withdrawals, players stopping after lunch, and the mix of amateurs, club players and touring professionals in the field. We note that many players had caddies, family members, or partners on the bag, and some chose to carry their own clubs.

We finish by explaining the new Monday last-chance qualifier at Royal Birkdale, which will give a small group of players another route into the Open.

Send us a message if you liked the show

If you've enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

You can follow us along below @cookiejargolf
Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Website