All Lancashire golfers in The Open golf regional qualifying

The 28 players, a mix of club professionals, amateurs, and a star of golf YouTube will be teeing it up at venues around the country during Regional Qualifying on Monday, June 23.

Hundreds of players are taking to the links at 15 locations in the British Isles, all dreaming of a spot at the 153rd Open Championship, being held this year at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

Only a handful of players from each venue will earn a spot in Final Qualifying on July 1, when they will face down top professionals who are trying to play their way into the oldest golf major.

Representing East Lancashire at Frilford Heath’s Red Course, a historic classic heathland course seven miles southwest of Oxford, will be Pleasington Golf Club’s Tom Ryder.

The stunning links at Portrush, where the East Lancs hopefuls are aiming to play in July (Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire) The other three players are all teeing it up at Hesketh Golf Club in Southport, a predominantly links course situated on England’s Golf Coast in what is traditionally Lancashire but now deemed Merseyside.

Darwen Golf Club’s assistant PGA professional Cameron Aspinall, will be joined by two of Longridge Golf Club’s PGA professionals, Simon Lucas and Jordan Brown.

Hesketh sees the bulk of the Lancashire contingent competing in Regional Qualifying teeing it up there, with only four other players heading elsewhere.

Caldy Golf Club, on the Wirral, will see Penwortham Golf Club’s Tom Dolan and YouTube star Peter Finch, who hails from Preston, in action, while Morecambe Golf Club amateur Oliver Hirst-Greenham is travelling to Bearwood Lakes, near Reading, and Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club amateur Kieran Hogarth crosses the Pennines to play at Fulford Golf Club in York.

A mural of Shane Lowry, who won the Open the last time it was at Portrush in 2019 (Image: PA Wire) Alongside the East Lancs trio at Hesketh are:

• Jake Wiltshire, James Nash and Andrew Haswell (a) (all Ormskirk),
• Simon Wilson and Michael Zwarts (both Lytham Green Drive),
• Alexei Butchart (a) and Lee Williams (a) (both Fairhaven),
• Andy Palmer, Chris Storey (a) and Connor MacGowan (all Chorley),
• Neil Williams (a) and James Robinson (both St Annes Old Links),
• Sean Dobson (a) and William Walne (a) (both Preston),
• Alex James (a) Jamie Van Wyk (a) (both Royal Lytham and St Annes)
• Zain Wild (a) (Penwortham)
• Daniel Webster (Lytham Golf Academy)
• Mark Walsh (a) (Lancaster)
• Richard Bowman (Heron’s Reach, Blackpool)

Anyone can go and spectate the events on Monday, June 23, to see the players in action.

Successful players from Regional Qualifying will move on to Final Qualifying on July 1, which is being held at Burnham & Berrow in Somerset, Scotland’s Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports on the southeast coast of England, and at West Lancashire Golf Club just outside Liverpool, and sees players complete two rounds in a day to earn the final spots at The Open.

The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush is being held from July 13 to 20, where the best players in the world will compete for the Claret Jug and to be named Champion Golfer of the Year at the oldest and most prestigious of golf’s four majors.