Lindrick and Fulford welcome Open Championship hopefuls

Lindrick, on the South Yorkshire/Worksop border, and Fulford in York are two of the 15 courses nationwide hosting the first stage of qualifying for next month’s Open at Royal Portrush.

Up for grabs for anything between eight to 12 golfers at each course is progression to local final qualifying the following Tuesday. That is a 36-hole shootout from which only three people from each of the four courses will qualify. First up though is today’s challenge, 18 holes at courses they are more familiar with.

Like the Gill brothers for instance. Bailey is a professional who plays on the Challenge Tour, and the course record holder at Lindrick. He has made it to final qualifying before. Going out in the group before him at 7.44am is his 18-year-old brother Spencer, an amateur, whois playing the Open qualifier for the first time.

Others at Lindrick include amateurs Tom Osbourne and Callum Macfie, Huddersfield’s James Bailey and Dylan Shaw-Radford, Garry Cuthbert and Michael Sowerby (Alwoodley), Julian Wood and Joshua Morley (Hallamshire), Max Reynolds (Wheatley), George Mason (Wath) and Jack Whaley (Rotherham).

The cast list at Fulford includes Stephen Pullan (Sand Moor), George Davies (Harrogate), Ben Schur and James Trant (Wetherby), Ben Hutchinson (Howley Hall), Louie Walsh (Huddersfield), Daniel Hood (Doncaster), Ryan Greenfield (Pontefract), Chris Green (Moortown), Sam Wilkinson (Selby) and Jason Proctor (Driffield).