Peter Uihlein wasn’t able to catch Tommy Fleetwood at the HNA French Open, but he still left Le Golf National with a rather nice consolation prize.
Uihlein earned one of three spots in The Open that were available to players within the top 10 on the final leaderboard who were not otherwise exempt. The former U.S. Amateur champ closed with a 68 to finish alone in second place, one shot behind Fleetwood and three shots clear of the next closest competitors.
This will be Uihlein’s third trip to The Open. He tied for 48th at Royal St. George’s in 2011 and missed the cut at Royal Liverpool in 2014.
The other two spots at Royal Birkdale went to Sweden’s Alexander Bjork and France’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera, both of whom tied for third after birdies on the difficult closing hole. Lorenzo-Vera’s 72nd-hole birdie from nearly 30 feet snagged the final qualifying spot from New Zealand’s Ryan Fox.
Both Bjork and Lorenzo-Vera will be making their first-ever start in a major championship.
Four more spots in The Open will be awarded Sunday at the Quicken Loans National. The Open Qualfying Series will continue next week with three spots available at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and four spots offered at The Greenbrier Classic.
The 146th Open will be held July 20-23 at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England.
Source: Internet
