Petrovic, seven others earn British Open berths
PLANO, Texas – Tim Petrovic shot a 11-under 129 to win International Final Qualifying (IFQ) for The 139thOpen Championship Monday at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano, Texas. Bo Van Pelt shot a 10-under 130 to finish one stroke behind Petrovic. D.A. Points finished two strokes behind Petrovic with a 9-under 131 to qualify for his first British Open. Points held the lead after the first 18 holes Monday.
The other five players that qualified include Scotland native Martin Laird (132), Tom Pernice Jr. (133), Glen Day (134), George McNeill (134), Cameron Percy (135).
Percy defeated Bubba Watson and Charley Hoffman on the third extra playoff hole with a birdie-3. The three golfers were battling for one spot in the playoff.
The 6856-yard, par 70 Queens Course at the Gleneagles Country Club in Plano, TX hosted the event to determine eight qualifiers from the 78 who began the day. The top eight qualifiers advance to the 139th Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland on July 12-18.
Petrovic (64-65-129) missed the cut in all three career appearances at the British Open (2002, 2005, 2008).
Van Pelt, who fired a bogey-free 5-under 65 in the morning round, picked up his first PGA Tour win last year at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee on the same weekend as the British Open.
“I drove it pretty well, which kind of set up everything and I just took advantage of those short holes,” said Van Pelt. “I took advantage of the holes you could get at, then the tough holes just made pars on.”
Van Pelt returns to the British Open for the first time since 2006, when he missed the cut. His three appearances at the British Open were in consecutive years from 2004-2006.
“I’ve played in three [British Opens] before,” added Van Pelt. “It has been a couple of years. It’s probably the biggest Tournament in the world, so those are the ones you want to play in. Every guy that came here Monday obviously wanted to get in, so it’s exciting to get there.”
Van Pelt has been on a hot streak on the PGA Tour in his last four starts since missing the cut at the Shell Houston Open. Van Pelt’s last four starts include: Verizon Heritage-T3; Quail Hollow Championship-5; THE PLAYERS-T4 and Valero Texas Open-T28.
Points, who has 108 starts on the PGA Tour, has never competed in the British Open and has only played in one major championship during his career (2008 U.S. Open/T69).
“Qualifying means a lot,” added Points. “I’ve never played in a British Open and I’ve never played at St. Andrews.”
“Monday was the best golf I’ve probably played in 2010,” said Points. “I drove it pretty well, I hit some decent iron shot, putted really well and managed my game well. Even when I missed the green, I chipped it real close. So it was just a good day.”
Laird missed the cut in his only appearance at the British Open in 2009. He has missed the cut in his only other two major championship starts (2007 and 2009 U.S. Open).
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Laird. “My parents live 15 miles away from St. Andrews so I will stay there all week. St Andrews, that’s the place I always wanted to play as a kid.”
Day has not played in the British Open since 2004 (MC). He has competed in five British Open’s missing the cut each time.
“It is one of my favorite Tournaments, especially being at the Old Course,” Day said of the British Open. “Anybody that doesn’t want to play that Tournament, especially this year at the Old Course, doesn’t know anything about golf.”
Pernice qualified for his fifth British Open. He missed the cut the last three times from 2005-2007 and finished T66 in 1993.
McNeill has never played in the British Open. He has played in the U.S. Open four times, missing the cut in three of those. He also missed the cut in the 2008 PGA Championship in his only other major start.
Australian Cameron Percy, a PGA Tour rookie, missed the cut at the 2003 British Open. Percy qualified for his first British Open in 2003 through the IFQ in Britain. That was Percy’s only round on the PGA Tour before becoming a rookie this year. Percy has made five of 12 cuts on Tour this season.
The shot of the day came from D.J. Trahan, who made double-eagle 2 on the par-5, 10th hole in the morning round. Trahan used a 4 iron from 241 yards to record the rare double-eagle. Trahan finished 1-over and failed to qualify for the British Open Monday.
Davis Love III’s streak of 23 consecutive starts at the British Open dating back to 1987 is in danger as he missed qualifying. There are still three different routes available that Love could qualify through.
Colombian Manuel Villegas, the younger brother of PGA Tour player Camilo Villegas, failed to qualify for his first British Open. Camilo has played in the British Open the last two seasons (T13/2009 and T39/2008).
This is the seventh time the Open qualifying Tournament has been held in the United States although this is the second in Texas.
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