McDowell keeping the major winning dream alive in Open Final Qualifying

Fatiha Betscher
|
|

Graeme McDowell (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Fatiha Betscher

Feature Interviews

Latest Stories

Graeme McDowell’s dream of capturing a second career major remains very much alive as he heads a contingent of 18 Irish among 288 players, teeing-up tomorrow (Tuesday, July 4th) over four venues, and vying for just 19 spots into next fortnight’s 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

McDowell will be looking to compete in golf’s oldest major for the first time since 2019, and return to Royal Liverpool where he shared ninth place behind fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy in 2014.

‘G Mac’ made his Open Championship debut in 2004 at Royal Troon, and secured a best result of T4th eight years later in 2012 at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.

The 2010 U.S. Open champ has not contested a major championship since missing the cut at the 2020 U.S. Open, and despite birdieing the closing two holes McDowell missed out by a shot in teeing-up in last month’s U.S. Open in LA.

McDowell will tee-up at the West Lancashire course, a long-time qualifying venue for The Open Championship.

“I’m heading to West Lancashire as it’s going to be my only way to qualify for the Open Championship, and I will be there and prepare as best I can”, he said last week while competing in the Valderrama LIV event.

“I’ve never been to the course before and looking forward to teeing-up.

“It goes without saying, I still dream of major championships, and I still dream of competing against the best players in the world. Nothing has changed, and LIV hasn’t changed who I am and who I want to be.

“I still believe I am good enough to compete and while I was extremely disappointed not to qualify for the U.S. Open, having birdied the closing two holes and missed out by a shot, hopefully I can earn one of the qualifying spots on offer at West Lancashire and then move on to tee-up at Royal Liverpool”.

And the West Lancashire course to the north of Royal Liverpool will boast the strongest showing of golfers including McDowell’s fellow LIV star and Masters champ Sergio Garcia along with PGA Tour winning Matt Wallace and 2014 European Ryder Cup winning hero Jamie Donaldson.

Also joining McDowell are US Mid-Amateur champion Matthew McClean who is looking to book his place in his third major championship this year having appeared in the Masters and US Open Championship.

The Malone man arrives following a missed cut at the European Amateur Championship in Estonia despite shooting eight-under-par for 54 holes. The 30-year-old optometrist was included in Ireland’s six-man European Team Championship squad next week.

County Louth amateur Gerard Dunne completes the Irish contingent in West Lancashire.

A stacked Irish contingent will tee it up in the quest for Hoylake at Dundonald Links with Jonathan Yates (Naas) the Island amateur Kevin Le Blanc – who led local qualifying in Baltray – John Ross Galbraith, Stuart Grehan (Tullamore), Brian McCormack, Daniel Mulligan, Kilkenny amateur Mark Power, Robert Moran (Castle) Brendan McCarroll of West Cliffs and Derry professional Michael McGeady.

Ronan Mullarney of Galway rounds off the Irish hopefuls in Dundonald as he looks to qualify for successive Open Championships.

North and South of Ireland champion Hugh Foley will be purring ahead of his Open bid at Royal Porthcawl following a top-4 finish in Estonia last week. The Royal Dublin golfer was an eye catching omission from Ireland’s European Championship squad but an appearance in Hoylake in two weeks would boost his Walker Cup hopes.

Irish Close winner Quentin Carew (Castleknock) has drawn an interesting tee time with Thai star Jazz Janewattananond.

The K Club professional Liam Grehan was a last minute entry into the field for Royal Cinque Ports and he links up with Challenge Tour pro Dermot McElroy and Irish Amateur champion John Gough who impressed at the British Masters.

The names of all 18 Irish competing and their final qualifying venue include:

Jonathon Yates (Nass) – Dundonald Links

Kevin Le Blanc (a) – Dundonald Links

Quentin Carew (Castleknock) – Royal Porthcawl

Stuart Grehan (Tullamore) – Dundonald Links

Brian McCormack – Dundonald Links

John Rose Galbraith (Whitehead) – Dundonald Links

Hugh Foley (a) (Royal Dublin) – Royal Porthcawl

Daniel Mulligan – Dundonald Links

Liam Grehan (The K Club) – Royal Cinque P/*orts

Michael McClean (Malone) – Royal Cinque Ports

Mark Power (a) (Kilkenny) – Dundonal Links

Michael McGeady – Dundonald Links

Robert Moran (a) (Castlerock) – Dundonald Links

Dermot McElroy (Ballymenna) – Royal Cinque Ports

Brendan McCarroll (West Cliff) – Dundonald Links

Gerard Dunne (a) (Co. Louth) – West Lancashire

Ronan Mullarney (Galway) – Dundonald Links

Tee Times HERE

Stay ahead of the game. Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest Irish Golfer news straight to your inbox!

More News

Leave a comment


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy & Terms of Service apply.