Colin Montgomerie Qualifies for The 145th Open Championship
Monty will be teeing it up at his home course, Royal Troon, next month
Colin Montgomerie came through final qualifying at Gailes Links, near Troon where the Open takes place next month
Colin Montgomerie will play The Open Championship for the first time in six years after he qualified at Gailes Links, just north of his home course of Troon where he'll be teeing it up next month.
The Scot posted rounds of 66 and 71 to end on five-under and grab the last of just three qualifying spots.
He finished behind Sweden's Oskar Arvidsson who won with a score of 10-under-par and Scott Fernandez of Spain who was second.
His best finish in the Open was in 2005 at St. Andrews when he was runner-up to Tiger Woods.
Colin Montgomerie: a new lease of life
Monty said, "This will be my last opportunity to play at Royal Troon because it only comes around once every 12 years.
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"But it was nice to come here with 72 players, a high-quality field and to finish third, which is all one has to do."
With Troon not hosting the Open for at least another 12 years, it will likely be the eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner's last Open at his home course.
Elsewhere, Ireland's Paul Dunne qualified at Woburn with rounds of 68 and 67 on the Marquess Course to finish on nine-under-par and qualify for the Open for the third straight year.
Dunne famously held the Open Championship 54-hole lead at St. Andrews last year as an amateur alongside Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen.
The forgotten Open Championship venues
Two-time European Tour winner Robert Rock also came through qualifying at Woburn, beating Aaron Rai in a play-off.
At Royal Cinque Ports in Kent, Matthew Southgate won by three strokes from Steven Alkar and friend of Golf Monthly James Heath.
At Hillside GC in Southport, Jack Senior won with a 36-hole score of five-under-par.
The Open Championship takes place from the 14th - 17th July at Royal Troon.
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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