Living the dream as hopefuls tee-up at Open qualifying

The Herald Scotland

6 days ago

In fact, some of the more technologically challenged entrants would probably view a successful navigation of The Open Qualifying Player Portal online log-in process as something of a rousing triumph.
At the likes of Barassie and Craigielaw up here to Ferndown and Gog Magog down south, The Open dream will be alive and kicking. Well, until a nervy triple-bogey on the first.
For £150, though, it's all worth it to be, even at this early and remote stage, part of the game's most treasured major championship.
From amateurs and up-and-coming stars to club pros, veteran campaigners and a couple of golf fanatics who made a name for themselves in different ball games, the 18-hole regional qualifying shoot-out features a giddy old mix of combatants.
Jimmy Bullard and Peter Odimwingie, both former Premier League footballers in their day, are giving it a whack and a thwack at Rochester & Cobham Park and Enville respectively.
After retiring from the roon ba' game, the dimpled one became Odimwingie's passion and he embarked on the three-year PGA degree course.
The former Stoke City, Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion player graduated as a qualified professional last May.
'The course takes some effort to accomplish,' said the 43-year-old who earned over 60 international caps for Nigeria. 'I hear that people do quit halfway through because of the volume of it and the pressure that comes with it. It wasn't easy, but I think the character I developed from football helped.
'I've had those times when I had a goal drought and didn't score for five or six months, but you have to keep going. Sometimes you just have to endure.'
It sounds like the qualities you need to get through qualifying for The Open. Or just through a round of bloomin' golf in general.
If you happen to be interested in ice hockey, then you may have heard of Mario Lemieux, an Olympic gold medal winner and one of the sport's greatest players. And if you're not interested in it, then we may as well be writing about Mario Lanza.
Anyway, Lemieux's son, Austin, was set to be teeing-off at Craigielaw as the he joined the scramble for a place in next week's 36-hole final qualifiers.
Whenever Open qualifying crops up, of course, it's almost impossible not to think about the intrepid, eccentric and well-documented escapades of Maurice Flitcroft.
It's almost 50 years now since the Barrow crane operator bluffed his way into final qualifying at Formby for the 1976 Open at Royal Birkdale, posted a bewildering 121 and sparked so much headshaking, harrumphing and handwringing among officialdom, the turbulence of said agitation just about buckled the handle of the Claret Jug.
It was hardly surprising. In those days, golf's high heids yins were described as being, '10 per cent flesh, 10 per cent blood and 80 per cent rule book.'
Flitcroft's acts of cunning, determined and ultimately futile subterfuge would go down in golfing history. And whenever some hapless hopeful at Open qualifying endures a chaotic day, Flitcroft's name often crops up.
Back in 2008, for instance, an entrant by the name of John Spreadborough got the tongues wagging during the regional stage at Musselburgh with a lively 99.
'Maurice Flitcroft revisted?,' suggested one of the referees at the time after a round which included a 13 at the par-5 seventh and an 11 at the par-five 11th.
A defiant flurry of three straight pars to finish was the kind of roof-raising finale you'd get with a rendition of Nessun dorma.
A very brief post-round chinwag with Spreadborough, however, heightened the suspicions that we may have had another Flitcroft in our midst.
'I put the Brucefields golf facility down as an attachment as I don't have a handicap,' he said after revealing that he had, like Flitcroft before him, entered as a professional and had sneaked under the radar.
'Everybody dreams of playing in The Open and I thought it would be good to be involved,' he added before beating a hasty retreat.
There will be plenty of dreamers giving it a go today. And sometimes, those Open dreams can come true.