European Challenge Tour Member Adam Blyth of Australia fired a sparkling six under par 66 to secure a place at The 137th Open Championship at International Final Qualifying – Asia.
Blyth made a brilliant birdie charge on the back nine, picking up four shots in seven holes between the 11th and 17th holes of the Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong Course in Singapore to join Malaysia’s Danny Chia, Lam Chih Bing of Singapore and Filipino Angelo Que in qualifying for Royal Birkdale this summer.
Having put himself in position to qualify qith his outstanding birdie run, Blyth then endured the “most nervous putt of my career” – a four foot par putt on the 18 hole to qualify.
Chih Bing and Angelo Que survived a thrilling play-off against Japan’s Tomohiro Kondo to earn the last two available spots to golf’s oldest championship.
Final scores (Qualifiers in bold text):
138:Danny Chia (Mas) 69-69
139:Adam Blyth (Aus) 73-66
140:Lam Chih Bing (Sin) 72-68, Angelo Que (Phi) 69-71,Tomohiro Kondo (Jpn) 70-70
(Lam and Que qualify for The Open after winning in the play-off against Kondo)
141: Lloyd Saltman (Sco) 71-70, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 74-67, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 71-70
142: David Gleeson (Aus) 75-67, Will Yanagisawa (USA) 71-71, Ben Leong (Mas) 70-72, Yasin Ali (Eng) 69-73, Han Lee (USA) 72-70, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 71-71
143: Anthony Kang (USA) 73-70, Brett Bingham (Can) 72-71, Gavin Flint (Aus) 71-72, Noh Seung-yol (Kor) 77-66
144: Prom Meesawat (Tha) 71-73, Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 77-67, Adam Groom (Aus) 75-69
145: Mars Pucay (Jpn) 72-73, Lee Sung (Kor) 73-72, David Bransdon (Aus) 73-72, Ahmad Bateman (Can) 75-70, Yoshinobu Tsukada (Jpn) 71-74
146: Chung Joon (Kor) 72-74, Unho Park (Aus) 75-71, Jason King (Jpn) 71-75, Scott Barr (Aus) 72-74
147: Tatsuhiko Ichihara (Jpn) 73-74, Rhys Davies (Wal) 78-69, Shinichi Yokoto (Jpn) 76-71, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 72-75, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 75-72, Takuya Taniguchi (Jpn) 73-74
148: Craig Smith (Wal) 76-72, Park Jun-won (Kor) 74-74, Sushi Ishigaki (Jpn) 74-74, Masaya Tomida (Jpn) 79-69, Ross Bain (Sco) 76-72
149: Keiichiro Fukabori (Jpn) 70-79, Akinori Tani (Jpn) 76-73, Clay Devers (USA) 82-67, Jun Kikuchi (Jpn) 74-75
150: Richard Moir (Aus) 75-75, Simon Dunn (Sco) 78-72, Bryan Saltus (USA) 74-76
151: Naoya Takemoto (Jpn) 78-73
152: Airil Rizman (Mas) 72-80
153: Zaw Moe (Myn) 75-78, Tadahiro Takayama (Jpn) 76-77, Amandeep Johl (Ind) 74-79, Olle Nordberg (Swe) 75-78
155: Soushi Tajima (Jpn) 78-77
157: Marcus Both (Aus) 77-80, S. Sivachandran (Mas) 80-77
158: Young Nam (USA) 72-86
WD: Jyoti Randhawa (Ind), Gurbaz Maan (Ind), Digvijay Singh (Ind), Tony Carolan (Aus), Antonio Lascuna (Phi)
