International Final Qualifying (IFQ) America returns to the Gleneagles
Country Club in Plano, Texas, on Monday (21 May) with 78 players hoping
to earn one of eight places available at this year’s Open Championship
at Royal Lytham & St Annes.Among the 78-man field taking on the
6,871-yard, par-70 Queens Course at Gleneagles are many PGA Tour
regulars including Harrison Frazar, George McNeill, Scott Piercy and
Sean O’Hair who all have tour victories to their names in the past
twelve months.
Americans Robert Garrigus, Ryan Moore, Jeff Overton and Ryan Palmer
all currently sit well within the top 100 of the Official World Golf
Ranking (OWGR), and will be hoping for a further taste of The Open
having all featured last year at Royal St George’s.
Spencer Levin, Jerry Kelly, Bob Estes and Englishman Brian Davis will
hope to replicate last year’s IFQ successes, where all manoeuvred a
tricky field to earn their spots at Sandwich. Davis’ 6-under-par opening
round topped the field at last year’s weather-shortened IFQ, and he is
sure to be one of the top contenders this time round as he looks to make
his ninth Open appearance.
More than half of this year’s field have previous Open Championship
experience, while Rory Sabbatini, Stuart Appleby, Chris Di Marco and
Greg Owen will have fond memories of Royal Lytham having all made the
cut back in 2001. Englishman Owen especially, who made an Albatross two
at the Par 5 11th on his way to finishing in the top 25.
On-form tour stars Jhonattan Vegas, Charlie Wi, John Rollins, Kevin
Stadler and David Mathis will also be ones to watch as they come off the
back of strong top 25 finishes at last week’s PLAYERS Championship at
TPC Sawgrass.
Other high-profile contenders hoping to progress to Royal Lytham
include past Ryder Cup players JB Holmes and Henrik Stenson, Colombia’s
Camillo Villegas and American Walker Cup representative Harris English
who has already made several impressive finishes in his rookie season on
tour.
Gleneagles Country Club, a venue chosen to tie into the PGA Tour’s
Texas swing, lies just 20 miles from the TPC Four Seasons Resort, where
the HP Byron Nelson Championship is being played this week.
Play will get underway at around 7.00am local time from two tees.
Competitors will play 36 holes strokeplay format with eight places
awaiting the leading players at The Open Championship in July.
Scores, reports and images will be found at
TheOpen.com website
while live updates can be followed @The_Open on Twitter.
