'Strong Entry'

Strong entry for first Open Championship international qualifying

12/16/2003 12:49pm BST

An international field from 10 countries including 45 from South Africa will be competing at Atlantic Beach Golf Club on January 8-9 in the first of five International Final Qualifying competitions for the 2004 Open Championship.

US Tour player David Frost is one of a number of well known professionals who will be attempting to qualify for the Open which will be played at Royal Troon from July 15-18. Frost, 44, has been a professional for over 20 years and in that time has played in the Open in no fewer than 18 occasions, finishing three times in the top ten. American Scott Dunlap has also opted to attempt to qualify in South Africa. Georgia based Dunlap's best Open finish was in 1999 when, at Carnoustie, he tied for 10th place behind Paul Lawrie. Dunlap now competes in the Nationwide Tour but has been a regular competitor in South Africa.

Charl Schwartzel, 19, is one of the 45 South African players and should he gain one of the four qualifying places, will go to Royal Troon with the experience of playing in this year's Open at Royal St. George's. Last year, Schwartzel became the second youngest player to secure his European Tour card through the qualifying school and underlined his potential by qualifying for the Open with his top finish at Loch Lomond. Other top South Africans include Louis Oosthuizen, Richard Sterne, Bradford Vaughan and Darren Fichardt.

Fichardt, Andrew Coltart and Rolf Muntz regularly compete on the European tour and unusually, all three have won the Qatar Masters, Coltart in 1998, Muntz in 2000 and Fichardt in 2003 in a play-off with fellow South African James Kingston.

Commenting on the field for Atlantic Beach, Michael Tate, Assistant Secretary of the R&A said: "We are delighted with the entry for the first of the five IFQ's where players will be competing for four places in the Open.

"We were always convinced that they would attract players in their home country and we see it as a bonus that players from further afield will be making the trip to South Africa "

In 2004, IFQ competitions of 36 hole stroke play will be played at Atlantic Beach Golf Club in South Africa; Kingston Heath Golf Club, Victoria, Australia; Saujana Golf & Country Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Sunningdale Golf Club, Old and New Courses, England and Congressional Country Club, Gold and Blue Courses, Maryland, USA.

Each of Africa, Asia and Australasia will be guaranteed four qualifying places while America and Europe will each be guaranteed at least 12.

Regional Qualifying (RQ) will be retained at 16 venues and Local Final Qualifying (LFQ) will still take place at Glasgow (Gailes), Irvine, Turnberry Kintyre and Western Gailes on Saturday and Sunday, July 10-11, one day earlier than has been the recent practice. A minimum of 12 places will be available from LFQ.

The field for the Open will remain at 156 and if the 2004 modified exemption conditions were applied to recent Open entries, approximately 96 players would be exempt. With 36 players coming from IFQ and 12 from LFQ, this would leave 12 remaining qualifying spots to be allocated at the discretion of the Championship Committee who expect to take into account the relative strengths of the tours of Africa, Australasia, Asia, America and Europe.