Lee Westwood in action
Lee Westwood in action

US Open sectional qualifying: Lee Westwood comes up short


Lee Westwood will miss the US Open for the second year in succession after coming up short in Monday's qualifier at Walton Heath.

The former world number one was part of a 110-man field battling for 14 places in Surrey, but paid the price for a slow start and was unable to recover.

Westwood was two-over through four holes and while fighting back to five-under, a bogey at the final hole confirmed that he will be absent from the field at Pebble Beach next week.

Andrew Johnston had come through qualifying in 2016, 2017 and 2018, but his bid for another back-door spot came up short as he ended up on three-under, a shot behind Westwood.

Alongside him, Alex Fitzpatrick missed the chance to join older brother Matthew in the field while Alex Levy, Andy Sullivan, Tom Lewis and Belgian Knockout winner Guido Migliozzi were other big names who struggled.

At the top of the leaderboard, Dean Burmester took medalist honours thanks to a blistering back-nine in his second round.

Burmester opened with a nine-under 63, then carded five birdies in succession from the 12th hole of his second round to secure a second US Open appearance.

"I guess it’s just one of those days when you roll out of bed and the putts go in the hole," said the South African. "The nine-under was solid, I had a few bad shots but managed to get up and down and roll in the putts.

"I had a nervy start in the afternoon, one-over through the first five, but then the momentum kicked in after rolling in a few and it was like how things were in the morning.

"It’s up there with playing in an Open at St Andrews, just because of where it is and the history. I’m excited to go out there and give it my best for four days."

New Zealand amateur Daniel Hillier added his name to the list of those needing flights to California, as did Thomas Pieters after driving the 18th green to make the birdie he needed to scrape through.

Sam Horsfield, Clement Sordet, Marcus Fraser, Matthieu Pavon, Lee Slattery, Marcus Kinhult, Merrick Bremner, Rhys Enoch, Adri Arnaus and Justin Walters also earned places in the field.

That left five players in a play-off for the final spot and it went to Renato Paratore, who overcame Bernd Wiesberger with a birdie at the second play-off hole.

Wiesberger, who birdied five of his final six holes to get into the play-off, will take the first alternate spot, with Nacho Elvira second alternate.

Donald bounces back

Luke Donald showed all the fight of a former world number one to secure his US Open place via an exceptionally competitive qualifier in Ohio.

Having carded a final-round 80 in the Memorial Tournament on Sunday, Donald defied another setback in Columbus as a birdie at the penultimate hole of round two saw him scrape through by a single shot.

In-form Web.com Tour player Luke Guthrie led the 14 qualifiers, with Anirban Lahiri, Sam Saunders, Jhonattan Vegas and Rory Sabbatini in closest pursuit.

Donald finished tied for seventh along with Chesson Hadley, Erik van Rooyen, K.H. Lee, Ryan Fox, Aaron Baddeley and amateur duo Collin Morikawa and Brandon Wu.

Harrington comes up short

Padraig Harrington's bid to qualify for Pebble Beach came up short as he finished two shots off the required mark on the Ontario sectional.

Despite a strong start to the first round, the three-time major champion was unable to keep mistakes off his card as Tom Hoge and Austria's Sepp Straka led four qualifiers.

A bogey-free 68 helped Nate Lashley share third with Alex Prugh, the latter having shown good form at Pebble Beach in the past.

At Newport Beach, amateur Chun An Yu led the way with Stewart Hagestad also qualifying, along with Hayden Shieh, Richard Lee and Norway's Andreas Halvorsen.

English youngster Callum Tarren made an astonishing 15 birdies and two eagles across his 36-hole sectional in Florida, topping the qualifiers from Costa Rica's Luis Gagne, an amateur, and Chile's Guillermo Pereira.

Home comforts helped Ollie Schniederjans and Roberto Castro qualify in Georgia alongside amateurs Noah Norton and Chandler Eaton, while Billy Hurley led home Connor Arendell, Joseph Bramlett and Ryan Sullivan in Maryland.

Firefighter Matt Parziale progressed in New York, where he's a star of the amateur circuit. His sectional was another topped by an amateur, Cameron Young, with Andy Pope and Rob Oppenheim joining them, as former US Amateur champion Kelly Kraft failed by one.

Zac Blair, Chip McDaniel, Brian Stuard, Nick Hardy and Brett Drewitt qualified in Ohio's weaker sectional, with Eric Dietrich, Matthew Naumec and amateur Spencer Tibbits progressing from Washington.

Related links

Like what you've read?

MOST READ

Join for Free
Image of stables faded in a gold gradientGet exclusive Willie Mullins insight, plus access to premium articles, expert tips and Timeform data, plus more...
Log in
Discover Sporting Life Plus benefitsWhite Chevron
Sporting Life Plus Logo

Next Off

Fixtures & Results

Fetching latest games....