A sensational afternoon round of 65 saw England’s James Morrison come out on top at the US Open Qualifier at Walton Heath. Morrison, who claimed his maiden European Tour title in Madeira earlier in the season, will feature in his first Major Championship when he heads to Pebble Beach next month.The youngster from Surrey finished on 11 under par, two shots clear of Argentina’s Rafael Echenique and a further shot clear of England’s Gary Boyd, Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Wales’ Rhys Davies and Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin.
The remaining five slots were decided by a play-off between Grégory Havret, Miko Ilonen, Simon Khan, Rikard Karlberg, Jean-François Lucquin and Pablo Martin. Simon Khan the winner of the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday was the man to miss out in the end.
Morrison was joined in the automatic qualification places by two of his fellow graduates from the 2009 Challenge Tour in Boyd and Davies, whilst Cabrera-Bello, Echenique and Maybin also secured their places on the top tier through the Challenge Tour in previous years.
Maybin’s round of 65 was the joint lowest of the afternoon, although his effort was perhaps the more impressive given that he was playing the tougher Old Course.
The Ballyclare man said: “I played poorly this morning, but I changed my driver for the second round, and it seemed to do the job. It was one of my better decisions on a golf course. One of my goals at the start of the season was to get into a Major, so I’m pretty pleased I managed to accomplish it.”
The other Irish players at Walton Heath, Darren Clarke (74 & 72), Shane Lowry (71 & 69), Peter Lawrie (73 & 75) and Gary Murphy (73 & 72) all failed to earn a place at Pebble Beach next month.
The top six will be making their US Open debuts, as will Karlberg, who claimed his maiden professional title on the Asian Tour earlier in the season.For Khan though the news is not all bad as he might still earn a place in the second major of the year as the first reserve from the course.
The US Open will be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links on June 14 - 20th, 2010
