Richard Sterne and Thongchai Jaidee qualify for the Open Championship
South African Richard Sterne and Thongchai Jaidee from Thailand have booked their place in the Open Championship at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, scheduled from July 19 to 22, 2012.
Both the players made it to the third major event of the year after being listed in the top two of the mini European Tour money list. The list was announced after the Irish Open finished, last weekend.
It will be Richard Sterne’s fifth appearance in the Open Championship and first since he tied for the 34th position in 2009.
Right after his appearance two years ago, he suffered a back injury that sidelined him from playing most of the events on the European Tour. In the last two years, he only managed to appear in 10 events.
This year, he returned to action with a full schedule ahead of him and recorded a total of three top-10 finishes since the 2012 BMW PGA Championship. He also tied for the second place in the ISPS Handa Wales Open last month.
On the other hand, Thongchai Jaidee will be making the sixth Open Championship appearance of his career. His best finish came in the 2009 edition, when he finished tied for the 13th position.
This year, he earned a berth at Royal Lytham through a victory in the ISPS Handa Wales Open and a top-10 finish in the BMW International Open.
“I am very happy to be competing in The Open, so that’s going to be exciting,” said the 42-year-old.
“I knew if I made the cut here in Ireland I would almost certainly qualify, so it is good I’ve qualified,” he added after finishing tied 18th at Royal Portrush, with a closing 66.
According to the British Open officials, the field will be finalized after the final results of the European Tour’s Alstom Open de France and Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, scheduled this month.
The players will have the chance of making it to the major by placing their names among the top five on the leaderboard and by being ahead of the non-qualified members so far.
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