Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell led 16 qualifiers into The 2007 Open Championship after winning the International Final Qualifying event at Sunningdale Golf Club.
The 36-hole qualifier, played over Sunningdale’s Old and New Courses, saw 120 players do battle for one of the coveted 16 available places at Carnoustie for The 135th Open Championship, from July 19-22.
At the end of a day blighted by bad weather and uncomfortable conditions, McDowell compiled rounds of 67-64 for a nine under 131 total, two strokes clear of England’s Nick Dougherty, Sweden’s Peter Hanson and Miguel Angel Jiménez of Spain, who shared second place on seven under 133.
"I thought we got very lucky with the weather," said McDowell. "We had only two heavy downpours this afternoon, one when we were standing on the 18th tee. But it's amazing how difficult the golf course does play when there is rain. The fairways are saturated. The golf course is right on the edge of being saturated anyway. But the way they presented it today was pretty amazing considering how much rain there has been. It was in immensely good shape.
"Last year I holed about a 30-footer on the last green to get into the play-off. Nice to do it with a bit more style this year.
"Carnoustie is a course I do enjoy. I have played there a lot. I certainly did not want to be sitting at home while The Open is going on.
"I think I have the right mind set for these qualifiers. Some of the guys go out and try to play very aggressively. I play very conservatively. Try and take my birdie chances when I get them. You obviously need a lot of mental stamina to get through these 36-holers. I feel like I'm in the top 25 per cent in mental stamina. Got to hang in there all day, try and keep the mistakes off the card."
One of the most unusual aspects of Monday’s International Final Qualifying event was the lack of a sudden-death play-off.
It has become almost a tradition that the Sunningdale qualifier ends with a few players going head to head in a sudden-death shoot-out for that last remaining spot, but that was not to be as exactly 16 players finished on four under par or better.
Seven of the 16 qualifiers finished on four under, namely Fredrik Andersson-Hed, Peter Baker, Mattias Eliasson, Mark Foster, David Frost, Jose-Filipe Lima and Francesco Molinari
Ross Fisher will make his first appearance in a Major Championship thanks to his brilliant second round 64 that allowed him to finish in fifth place on six under par, while completing the 16 qualifiers were Benn Barham, Gregory Bourdy, Alistair Forsyth and Oliver Wilson.
