More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Canterbury Golf Club’s Richard Wallis and Josh Bristow failed to claim a place in The Open Championship from 36 holes of final qualifying on Tuesday but Wallis went agonisingly close.
Only three spots were available to each field of 72 players at four venues trying for a place at Royal St George’s on July 15-18.
Canterbury’s popular teaching pro Wallis scored a superb six under par 66 in his morning round at St Annes Old Links, at Lytham, Lancashire, with five birdies, a superb eagle, set up by a 290-yard three iron to four feet at the par five 17th and only one dropped shot.
But he couldn’t match it in the afternoon, a two under par 70, with four birdies and two bogeys taking him to eight under par, tied for sixth place and four adrift of the third qualifier, Spanish former European Tour player Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
Wallis said: "This morning was nice, this afternoon was a little bit sloppy when I was chasing a few birdies and made a couple of silly mistakes.
"I played very solid, hit a lot of really good shots and couple of sloppy ones but that was in the afternoon really, when I was chasing birdies.
"It’s really hard. Look at who was there, I mean Gonzalo Fernandes-Castano was a main tour player for about 25 years, he’s no mug and he only beat me by four.
"I’m not gutted, you can’t look at it like that, I played two rounds of very, very solid golf and there’s only positives to take from it."
Newly-crowned Canterbury club champion Bristow was cursing a cold putter after a three over par opening round in driving rain and strong wind at Prince’s left him six shots behind the third qualifying spot.
Scoring was much harder at Sandwich, even the winner, Australian European Tour player Deyen Lawson, was only three under par.
Bristow was in touching distance when he birdied the second, third and fourth holes in the afternoon round but a poor wedge shot cost him a bogey at the par three fifth and he never recovered.
He gave all three shots back by the turn before a one over par back nine for a 73 saw him miss out on qualifying by six shots and tied 20th.
Bristow said: ''It was tough mentally to keep that concentration going for 36 holes when it's like 20mph constant wind and the gusts and rain as well.
"But for me that was one of the best ball striking days I’ve ever had. It’s very rare a golfer compliments himself on his ability but I struck the ball fantastic.
"It was just the putter, if the putter had been hotter it could have been a very different day.
"It’s disappointing not to qualify but you know how tough it is to get into The Open.
"When you have 72 players chasing three places it is always going to come down to who can hole the most putts and unfortunately my putter was not hot enough to get me to St George’s. Another day they all drop.
"All day I missed maybe three fairways but I had a couple of three putts in the first round and one in the second round when I started off like a rocket and got myself back to level par and then hit a poor wedge on the par three fifth for bogey and it really stunted the momentum.
"At the other venues you are looking at double figures under par to qualify, whereas at Prince’s it was three under. I missed it by six shots over 36 holes and that’s not a lot, just a few putts here and there.
"They really did trick it up around Prince’s too, they put out some real nasty pins and if you were literally a yard or so the wrong side of it you were running off and either had to make a fantastic up and down to save par or it was an instant dropped shot.
"I’m extremely proud of how I played, I mean Tour player Thomas Detry only finished level par so it shows my game isn’t far off and if it keeps improving at the rate it is, who knows."
It was the first time in living memory that Canterbury Golf Club had had two players in Open final qualifying and club captain Paul Redfearn said: "We are tremendously proud of them, they are fantastic ambassadors for our club."
