'Qualifying Under Way'

Open qualifying under way in South Africa

01/08/2004 09:48am BST
A two-club wind from the south-east is making scoring conditions difficult at South Africa's Atlantic Beach course as play gets under way in the first International Final Qualifying event for The Open Championship.

A field of 62 players are competing for four guaranteed places in the line-up for The Open at Royal Troon in July, but under clear skies the fast-running, narrow fairways are proving hard to hold.

Among the leading contenders over 36 holes of strokeplay are Scotland's Andrew Coltart and South Africans Darren Fichardt, Bradford Vaughan and David Frost.

Fichardt has won twice on the European Tour in the past three years and is looking to make a name for himself on the US Tour in 2004 if all goes according to schedule. "It was a bit vicious out there," Fichardt said after his final practice round. "If it's going to be like this for the next two days, then it'll be tough."

Vaughan knows the conditions well and Frost, despite spending most of his career in the United States is accustomed to playing in the wind, having learnt his profession in the Cape.

But the competition for four places will be fierce with teenage sensation Charl Schwartzel also in the field and looking to start his year on a positive note.

For many of the pros in the field it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to find a way into The Open. Vaughan said: "I have played in one British Open in 2001 and as long as I can hit a golf ball I will keep trying to qualify."