Lee Westwood heads 18 LIV Golf all-star list in last chance Open saloon
Lee Westwood heads an all-star cast of golf heroes aiming to win places at The Open during Tuesday's final qualifying.
The English ace and Ryder Cup heroes Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell are amongst 18 LIV Golf representatives scheduled to try and win places at Royal Portrush.
In total, 20 cards at The 153rd Championship are available with five each being handed out at Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire during the 36-hole quest.
Westwood, who came agonisingly close to winning at Turnberry in 2009, is heading to Scotland to make his bid. He heads a trio of LIV stars in Ayrshire with Polish ace Adrian Meronk, who just missed out on a Ryder Cup place in 2023, and South Africa's Branden Grace also competing.
McDowell and Poulter head to Kent with the Royal Cinque Ports event also including Luis Masaveu, David Puig, Dean Burmester and Peter Uihlein.
Poulter's son is also trying to make it through with youngster Luke also in the field for the event staged next door to Royal St George's.
At Burnham & Berrow, Janichiro Kozuma, Jon Rahm's LIV team-mate Caleb Surratt, Bryson DeChambeau's colleagues Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey as well as Abraham Ancer aim to make it, while Lucas Herbert, Sam Horsfield, Andy Ogletree and Harold Varner III are in the line-up for West Lancashire.
Open final qualifying has been a pathway to success in the recent past with Justin Rose going through the day 12 months ago and finishing runner-up to Xander Schauffele at Royal Troon.
As well as the LIV stars, there are host of key names at each venue. Alongside Pouler and McDowell, highly-rated Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen is aiming to make his Open debut having performed at the US equivalent.
With Westwood at Dundonald, his former Ryder Cup partner Jamie Donaldson, who hit the match-clinching shot for Europe at Gleneagles in 2014, plays, as does Swede Alex Noren, who was in the final pairing with champion Scottie Scheffler at the US PGA Championship in May. Ex-Masters king Danny Willett takes part at West Lancashire.
McDowell is desperate to be part of Open on home soil with the event set to be epic as Shane Lowry goes back to the scene of his 2019 triumph and Rory McIlroy plays at home for the first time since clinching his career Grand Slam at Augusta in April.
McDowell told BBC: 'I'll be pretty fired up. I'm excited. It would certainly be bittersweet to not be there, but I'll definitely be giving it my full attention and be trying hard.
'With everything that Rory's done this year with Shane being the defending champion, to go back to Portrush, it's going to be a special week. It goes without saying that I'd love to be a part of it.'
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