A number of amateur and professional players were exempt directly into Final Qualifying based on their past playing achievements. The rest of the field was made up of players who had come through Regional Qualifying.

Robert MORAN (IRL), who is tied with compatriot Eoin MURPHYon 2-under in 5th place, will clearly have been disappointed to triple-bogey the home hole to slip out of the Round 1 lead which he had held on 5-under standing on the 18th tee. In the 79 competitions played today England have won 38, Scotland 21, Ireland 12 and Wales 1. The remaining 7 were tied before it was decided that ties would be resolved by using game points. players will contest this year’s Open Championship which will be played at Royal Liverpool G.C. on 20-23 July 2023. The latest forecast is encouraging with dry weather and low winds forecast for the three competition days: – A further 19 spaces have also been given over to Regional and Final Qualifying. Regional Qualifying was played on Monday 26th June 2023 and Final Qualifying on Tuesday 4th July 2023. Players competing in Regional Qualifying were playing for the opportunity to play in Final Qualifying while the latter presents the actual gateway to The Open.

The Silver Medal is awarded to the leading amateur in The Open Championship who completes 72 holes. Bronze Medals are awarded to all other amateurs who complete 72 holes. Ireland defending the Men’s Home Internationals they won in spectacular fashion at Hankley Common at Ballyliffen. The Women’s Home Internationals is also being played concurrently at the superb Donegal complex in August 2022. Final Stage will be played at Infinitum Golf in Spain on 10th – 15th November where 156 players will battle over six rounds for a top 25 and ties finish and a place on the DP World Tour for the 2024 season.

A return to some semblance of normality would be nice with easier international travel helping field strengths, particularly outside of USA, recover to pre-COVID 19 levels. The leading 25 players (plus those tied for 25th place) in the Final Stage competition will earn Conditional Membership of The DP World Tour (and fully exempt status on the Challenge Tour) for the 2024 season. On average the medalist receives 27 tournament starts whilst the 25th qualifier has receives 18. Europe’s Mario GALIANO, Ivan CANTERO GUTIERREZ, Robin PETERSSON and Matthias SCHWAB will all take 100% unbeaten records into Day 2.Experienced Matt CLARK contributed the most for Scotland winning four games, including two Singles, and halving another. Great Britain & Ireland’s new captain Craig WATSON could not have got off to a worse start this morning. His four foursomes pairings all lost, not one able to take their match beyond the 17th hole at Prince’s Golf Club.

Former winners who have gone on to enjoy very successful professional careers include Stephen GALLACHER (1994), Sergio GARCIA (1995), Gregory HAVRET (1999), Carl PETTERSSON (2000), Rory MCILROY (2006), Victor DUBUISSON (2009) and Nicolai HØJGÅRD (2018). Christo LAMPRECHT (RSA) shot a 66 (-5) in the opening round to be tied for the lead alongside Emiliano GRILLO (ARG) and Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG) at Royal Liverpool G.C.In 1872 at age 16, he was sent to St. Andrews University in Scotland where he started to play golf. He took lessons from Old Tom Morris and played matches on the Old Course.

Just like Scotland in the earlier game Ireland easily beat Wales in the Singles, albeit looking through the hole-by-hole scores the 8-2 margin of victory perhaps flattered them a little.For the Welsh Luke HARRIES won his game with a birdie on the last and Ben CHAMBERLAIN hung on well after going 4Up after four holes. The NCAA Championship National Finals – the premier event in US College golf – is played annually at the end of May. 30 teams of five players plus six individual qualifiers take part, making a total field of 156 players. Since 2015 the Women’s event has preceded the Men’s on the same course. The men’s now consists of 54-holes of stroke play from Friday to Sunday before a cut is made. Thereafter the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team will play a final 18 holes on the Monday. The results from these 72-holes will determine both the Individual Champion and the top eight teams that will advance to the Team match play stage. The Team Champions, which is the primary focus of the NCAA, will then be finalised on the Tuesday and Wednesday. The points formula is being modified to progressively reduce the points awarded position by position closer to last place and in turn encourage player participation. Currently there is insufficient difference from position to position in the lower half of an event’s results. WAGR has become increasingly concerned that players are protecting their ranking or average by avoiding low Power events and focusing only on regional, national and international high Power events. Here is a summary of the 15 Regional Qualifying events focussing on the leading amateur performances:-