Open officials unmoved by qualifying controversy

If Greg Owen was waiting for an apology from Open organisers today – or an admission they had made a mistake – then it did not come.

And nor is it likely to judging by the reaction of championship committee chairman Martin Kippax and Royal and Ancient Club chief executive Peter Dawson.

When facing the world’s media as they always do on the eve of the event, the subject of the exclusion of Owen and Americans Arron Oberholser and Jeff Maggert inevitably came up.

The trio would have been called into the field off their world ranking position if they had played in the qualifier in America two weeks ago, although nothing on the entry form indicated they would pay such a price for pulling out.

Kippax said: “We feel that if you choose IFQ (international final qualifying) that’s the route you’ve got to go along and if you withdraw we feel that you’ve withdrawn from the Open.

“If we take the Olympic Games, if somebody withdraws from the heats it’s a pretty rare thing to see them in the final.”

It was pointed out that at the Olympics competitors do not have another route through, whereas Owen, Oberholser and Maggert would still have been offered a place in the Open if they had made it via other exemption categories.

“The way that the entry form is worded doesn’t give any definitive explanations as to what we define as withdrawal.

“But if somebody withdraws from a tournament and asks for their money back our assumption has been that they are not interested in entering the Open championship.”

Dawson added: “I honestly think that if it was the case that someone could withdraw from IFQ, but still get in the championship then that would be worth putting on the entry form.

“The common sense is if you withdraw from the IFQ you’re not in the championship. I don’t understand why it’s difficult to grasp.”