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Ian Woosnam chips in
for Open place
Former U.S. Masters champion
Ian Woosnam secured a place at the British Open for the 22nd consecutive year
with a superb chip-in during a five-way playoff in qualifying on Monday.
The Briton carded a second
successive two-under-par 70 before conjuring a birdie at the first sudden-death
hole, the 471-yard par four 10th at Prince's.
The 45-year-old, who has
played the Open every year since he failed to qualify in 1981, missed the green
by 70 feet before rolling in a perfect chip to grab one of 28 qualifying places.
"It's about time I
had a bit of luck," the 1991 Masters champion told reporters. "The ball
was in a fluffy lie and I changed from a wedge to a nine iron and it was perfect.
"I thought it would
have been stiff but I'm really fortunate it went in. I'm really happy and now
I'm off home for a pint."
Only two years ago, Woosnam
finished tied for third at Royal Lytham but failed to snatch any of the exempt
places on offer for the tournament, which begins at Sandwich on Thursday.
The Welshman, who was European
Ryder Cup vice-captain last year at the Belfry and is in the running for the captaincy
in 2004, has twice had a top three finish in the Open and fancies his chances
again this year.
He was convinced he had
blown his opportunity of challenging at Royal St George's after two closing bogeys
dropped him back to four under (140).
"My driving has been
shocking but I battled well over the last two days," he said.
Several players, including
1985 British Open champion Sandy Lyle, had questioned whether a player of Woosnam's
stature should be forced to qualify for the championship.
But the Welshman had no
complaints.
"I should have won
it (the Open) and then I'd have made sure," he said.
The 28 final qualifying
places were up for grabs at four courses -- Littlestone, North Foreland, Prince's
and Royal Cinque Ports -- and contested by 384 players.
Among the casualties were
1995 playoff runner-up Costantino Rocca of Italy and Britain's 1999 European Ryder
Cup captain Mark James.
At Littlestone (par 71)
135 Steven Bowditch (Australia) 65 70 136 Paul Wesselingh 72 64, Adam Le Vesconte
(Australia) 68 68 137 Christopher Smith 68 69, Robert Coles 68 69 138 a-Scott
Godfrey 69 69 140 Anthony Wall 70 70 (after play-off)
At North Foreland (par 71):
128 Hennie Otto (South Africa) 65 63 132 Andrew George 69 63, Adam Mednick (Sweden)
67 65, Gary
Emerson 65 67 133 Anthony
Sproston 68 65, Simon Wakefield 61 72 134 Marten Olander (Sweden) 67 67 (after
play-off)
At Prince's (par 72): 136
Jarrod Moseley (Australia) 70 66, Steen Tinning (Denmark)
66 70 137 Andrew Raitt 69
68 139 Marco Ruiz (Paraguay) 69 70 140 Matthew Goggin (Australia) 71 69, Ian Woosnam
70 70,
Cameron Percy (Australia)
73 67 (after play-off)
At Royal Cinque Ports (par
72): 135 Mark Smith 69 66 136 Ben Crane (U.S.) 70 66 139 Malcolm Mackenzie 70
69, Markus Brier (Austria) 69 70 140 Charles Challen 73 67, Euan Little 73 67,
Peter Fowler
(Australia) 71 69 (after
play-off)
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