Nine golfers take part in thrilling play off during Open Regional Qualifier at Wildernesse Club in Sevenoaks

David Green, the head professional at Wildernesse, plays a shot from the 1st tee.

A TOTAL of 113 professional and leading amateur golfers from the South East, Europe and America teed up at Wildernesse Golf Club on Monday (25 June) to compete in the Regional Qualifying event for this year’s Open Championship, being staged at Carnoustie, Scotland in July.

And on one of the hottest days of the year, when only 17 players manage to score under par, it was amateur golfer Tom Sherreard from Kings Hill near West Malling who stayed cool under pressure to emerge as overall winner with a five under par round of 67.

The top seven players secured automatic qualification and there was an 18-hole playoff for the next nine players who were tied at 2 under par. They were competing for the remaining seven qualifying places.

At the finish, all the qualifiers came from clubs based in the Southeast. These included two other amateurs as well as Sherreard. The qualifiers were:

Player                          Club                                         Par                   Total

Tom Sherreard (A)        Kings Hill                                  -5                     67

Paul Nessling                 Cooden Beach                          -4                     68

Marcus Sewell               West Kent                                 -4                     68

Steven Tiley                   Royal Cinque Ports                  -4                     68

Ryan Fitzgerald            Bedford Ins Group                   -3                     69

Liam Burns (A)              Chislehurst                               -3                     69

David Boote                  Walton Heath                            -3                     69

Anthony Tarchetti         Princes                                      -2                     70

Jason Partridge            Piltdown                                    -2                     70

Warren Bennett            Chestfield                                 -2                     70

Henry Smart                 Banstead Downs                       -2                     70

Simon Khan                  Hanbury Manor                        -2                     70

Gareth Blease               Unattached                                -2                     70

Harvey Byers (A)         Walton Heath                            -2                     70

These 14 players now go forward to the final qualifying competition at Princes on 3 July.

Wildernesse Chairman, David Evans, said: “We are thrilled to have hosted this year’s Regional Qualifying for the 147^th Open Championship and to watch the 18 hole play-off.

“It was great to see over 100 competitors from across the world enjoying our course in such beautiful weather.

“It is always an honour to play a part in the Open Championship and we hope it will encourage more and more people to pay us a visit and experience all that Wildernesse has to offer.”

Wildernesse Club has been selected to host the Regional Qualifying for the Open Champion for the period 2015- 2019. It has previously held a number of prestigious competitions, including the British Seniors’ Championship and has held Regional Qualifying event for the Open Championship between 1998 and 2003 and between 1981 and 1985.