British Open qualifying changes offer more choice

Final qualifying for next year’s British Open championship has been brought forward to give more players a chance to earn a place at Hoylake.

Local Final Qualifying (LFQ) will be played on July 10 and 11, a week earlier than normal, to avoid a clash with tournaments played the week before the British Open.

Regional qualifying will be played at 16 venues around the country on July 3 with International Final Qualifying (IFQ) taking place in five locations around the world.

The British Open itself, with Tiger Woods defending his title, will take place from July 20-23 at the Liverpool venue.

Mike Tate, director of the game’s governing body, the R&A said: “The Championship Committee has continually reviewed the way in which qualifying for the Open has developed throughout the world since the introduction of IFQ and the renamed LFQ two years ago.

“One anomaly that has been addressed concerns players who either elect to play in LFQ or cannot be accommodated in the IFQ fields and are therefore transferred to LFQ.

“At present, these players find themselves unable to play both in LFQ and any professional event in the week prior to The Open due to the clash of dates. It has always been our aim to give players as wide a choice as possible as to when and where they attempt to qualify.

“In consultation with the European Tour, we decided to bring LFQ forward by five days to the Monday and Tuesday of the week prior to The Open and believe we have added an additional opportunity in that regard.”

Keith Waters, director of international policy for the European Tour said: “The European Tour would like to thank the R&A for its co-operation and support in rescheduling Local Final Qualifying and thus avoiding a clash with The Barclays Scottish Open.

“This allows our members greater choice in qualification for The Open championship.”