The Open - changes to LFQ venues

With LFQ taking place next Tuesday, it has reminded me that, as from 2014, Local Final Qualifying will no longer be held at courses in the vicinity of the venue which is holding The Open, but will be held on 4 courses spread across the country. These are Royal Cinque Ports, Glasgow Gailes, Hillside and somewhat strangely Woburn. I presume, that as currently happens with Regional Qualifying, these courses will change on a 3 yearly basis.

I think that this is a shame, as by the time LFQ takes place, the area is usually gearing up for The Open to roll into town, so there is a buzz around the LFQ venues too. This will obviously be lost by spreading it across the country, and will probably not generate much more interest than Regional Qualifying.

The R&A have already spoilt LFQ by changing it to 2 rounds played on the same day, thus if players have a poor first round there is no opportunity to spend time on the range to try and put things right, and maybe play themselves back into contention the following day.

On a different note - interesting to see that Chris Wood has decided to do LFQ this year rather than IFQ. He is drawn to play at St Anne's Old Links.

Thanks for the insight and update Mary. The is little if any news of The Open qualifying on this side of the pond or even the slightest mention of it. Doubt if most golfers over here realize there is qualifying for the tournament since the letters "U" and "S" don't precede the word "Open".

Hopefully you can use your special powers to help Mr. Wood gain an entry into the tourney.

I see that Chris Wood is 13/2 to be outright winner at St Anne's Old Links tomorrow. Nick Dougherty looks a reasonable price at 22/1 (Southport), he should know the course very well, as that's his neck of the woods.

Good article in The Telegraph on Dougherty

Don't worry - I won't be jinxing either of them by having a wager.

Did I see on Twitter that your lad is playing today Mary? Good luck to him if so!

Cheers, he's last group out at West Lancs. Looks like he will be amongst those who catch the worst of the weather later this afternoon though.

I'll see if I can follow the scores online somewhere but if you find out anything on his progress, let us know! It's 36 holes isn't it?

No trip to The Open for me this year - Steve is +5 after his first round, apparently he is not driving at all well.

Chris Wood is T3 at his venue after the first round, so with his experience should be able to secure a qualifying spot.

Just saw Steve's score come up on the online scoring Mary - a 66 and FIVE 69s in so far from the morning round. No disgrace in the 77 though

Chris Wood missed out by 3 shots, and Nick Dougherty by 6. Steve shot 73 this afternoon, so was way off the mark on a day when the professional course record was broken twice!

Play-off underway at S&A, hope they've got night vision!

Interestingly, no amateurs have gone through this from LFQ this year.