'Troon-bound'
First-round co-leader Adam Le Vesconte mastered his nerves Wednesday and fired a 3-under 69 at Kingston Heath in Melbourne to earn at berth in 2003 Open Championship to be played at Royal Troon.
MELBOURNE (TWI) -- Adam Le Vesconte, joint leader after the first round of International Final Qualifying, held his nerve and repeated his three-under-par score of 69 to share the honours at the head of the field at Kingston Heath, Melbourne, to book his place in The Open Championship at Royal Troon in July.
He was joined on the leading qualifying score by fellow Australian Andrew Buckle who followed his first round 71 with a five-under 67. English player Matthew Hazelden added a 68 to his opening 73 to claim third place and the final qualifying spot went to joint first round leader Brendan Jones. He finished with the same 141 total as Hazelden.
Paul Sheehan, Andrew Tschudin, David MvKenzie and Martin Doyle claimed the reserve places after a play-off involving seven players.
| * Andrew Buckle | Unattached | 71-67--138 -6 |
| * Adam Le Vesconte | Unattached | 69-69--138 -6 |
| * Matthew Hazelden | England | 73-68--141 -3 |
| * Brendan Jones | Unattached | 69-72--141 -3 |
| † 3 David McKenzie | Unattached | 71-71--142 -2 |
| †--1 Paul Sheehan | Unattached | 71-71--142 -2 |
| † 2 Andrew Tschudin | Unattached | 75-67--142 -2 |
| † 4 Martin Doyle | Long Island | 73-70--143 -1 |
| Nathan Green | Unattached | 73-70--143 -1 |
| Eddie Lee | New Zealand | 73-70--143 -1 |
| John Wade | Unattached | 74-69--143 -1 |
| Stuart Bouvier | Unattached | 72-72--144 Par |
| Euan Walters | Unattached | 70-74--144 -2 |
| Shane Tait | Unattached | 78-67--145 +1 |
| Richard Ball | Unattached | 74-72--146 +2 |
| Adam Crawford | The Brisbane | 73-73--146 +2 |
| Scott Hend | Unattached | 75-71--146 +2 |
| Craig Warren | Unattached | 75-71--146 +2 |
| Craig Carmichael | Unattached | 71-76--147 +3 |
| Steve Collins | Royal Perth | 73-74--147 +3 |
| Matthew Ecob | Unattached | 73-74--147 +3 |
| Scott Laycock | Unattached | 75-72--147 +3 |
| James Nitties (am) | Charlestown | 78-69--147 +3 |
| Wayne Perske | Unattached | 77-70--147 +3 |
| Matthew Ballard | The Colonial | 80-68--148 +4 |
| Jens Nilsson | Sweden | 78-70--148 +4 |
| David Diaz | Unattached | 77-72--149 +5 |
| Ryan Haller | Unattached | 74-75--149 +5 |
| Luke Hickmott (am) | Southern | 77-72--149 +5 |
| Justin Hooper | Kingston Heath | 74-75--149 +5 |
| Gary Simpson | Unattached | 79-70--149 +5 |
| Leith Wastle | Unattached | 72-77--149 +5 |
| Matthew Millar | Unattached | 76-74--150 +6 |
| Jason Norris | Unattached | 75-75--150 +6 |
| Martin Pettigrew | New Zealand | 76-74--150 +6 |
| Ed Stedman | Unattached | 78-72--150 +6 |
| Michael Pearson | USA | 74-77--151 +7 |
| Michael Wright | Unattached | 78-73--151 +7 |
| Richard Backwell | Unattached | 73-79--152 +8 |
| Gareth Paddison | New Zealand | 75-77--152 +8 |
| Grant Dodd | Unattached | 77-76--153 +9 |
| Steven Jeffress | Port Macquarie | 78-75--153 +9 |
| Michael Light | Unattached | 80-74--154 +10 |
| Steven Conran | Unattached | 80-75--155 +11 |
| Richard Lee | New Zealand | 78-77--155 +11 |
| Andrew Webster | Unattached | 76-79--155 +11 |
| Andrew Bonhomme | Unattached | 77-79--156 +12 |
| David Bransdon | Unattached | 73-83--156 +12 |
| Adrian Percey | Unattached | 80-77--157 +13 |
| John Sutherland | Unattached | 83-74--157 +13 |
| Craig Scott | Portsea | 81-80--161 +17 |
| David Armstrong | Spring Valley | 87-83--170 +26 |
| * Qualified for 2004 Open Championship | ||
| † Alternate |
Copyright 2004 by TWI, Inc. All rights reserved.
- Open Championship Notebook: Westwood inspired — Lee Westwood believes his best-ever finish in a major is just a sign of things to come, while Vijay Singh needs some rare time off to regroup before the PGA Championship and the final hole at Troon turned into a Love-fest. Plus, Jerry Kelly hustles back to Milwaukee, while low amateur Stuart Wilson will be back at work Monday morning, and more..
- Woods now reduced to talking about contending — Tiger Woods failed to win a major for the ninth time in a row Sunday at Royal Troon, and has finished an average of eight shots back in those losses. Where once all he discussed was winning, Woods now can only talk about what he needs to do to get back into the hunt in future majors.
- Mickelson can't wait for next year at St. Andrews — Don't get Phil Mickelson wrong. He's disappointed about coming up short in The Open Championship on Sunday, but he's also very encouraged. After having never finished in the top 10 in the Open, his third-place finish at Royal Troon has him believing he's come to grips with links golf and salivating for another chance to win on the famed Old Course in 2005.
- Els haunted by the Open-winning putt that got away — Ernie Els had a 10-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole of The Open Championship Sunday, but misread it. An hour later, he lost a playoff to Todd Hamilton, and admitted afterward that he will be thinking about that lost chance to win his second Open title for along time.
- Montgomerie falls short but proves he's not done yet — Colin Montgomerie didn't win The Open Championship on his home course of Royal Troon, as he failed to mount a rally on Sunday. But a strong performance in front of a supportive crowd proved that he's still an elite player and worthy of a wild-card selection to the European Ryder Cup team.
- Hamilton stuns Els in playoff to win claret jug — Move over Ben Curtis. You have company in the major shocker department. Little-known Todd Hamilton stared down the best players in the world and never blinked Sunday, winning the 133rd Open Championship in a stunning four-hole playoff over three-time major winner Ernie Els at Royal Troon Golf Club.
- Sunday Q&A with TNT's Billy Kratzert — TNT course reporter Billy Kratzert spent two hours Sunday morning in the tower off the 18th green and got a first-hand look at what the players faced at Royal Troon Golf Club. In his opinion, the conditions were the toughest they had been all week. He also offered his thoughts on surprise third-round leader Todd Hamilton's chances.
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