The 149th Open: Irish Open among events to offer additional qualifying places for Royal St George’s

The R&A will offer additional qualifying places into The 149th Open via tournaments on both the European Tour and Challenge Tour next month.

Players who have entered Final Qualifying on June 29 have been given alternative chances to qualify for the final major of the year, with spots available the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open (July 1-4), Kaskada Golf Challenge (July 1-4) or the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge (July 8-11).

The three leading non-exempt players in Ireland will secure their place in the field at Royal St George’s and the leading non-exempt player in the two Challenge Tour events will also qualify, providing they withdraw from Final Qualifying.

Players who fail to advance from qualifying will not be able to claim an Open place via the three additional events, although can still claim one of the three Open places on offer at the ASI Scottish Open from July 8-11.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, executive director of championships at the R&A said: “We know that there are a number of golfers who have entered Final Qualifying who are planning to travel separately to England and then onto Ireland, Czech Republic or France to play in the scheduled tour events shortly after.

“Having considered the existing international travel measures carefully, including contact tracing protocols, we believe that there is a greater risk that, when travelling by plane, players may have to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact of a fellow passenger testing positive for Covid-19.

“With that in mind, we have agreed a solution with the European Tour that significantly reduces the possibility of our events being jeopardised in any way by the risks associated with international air travel and provides players with alternative opportunities to qualify for The Open through the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, Kaskada Golf Challenge and Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.”

Watch The 149th Open live from July 15-18 on Sky Sports’ dedicated channel – Sky Sports The Open!

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