Westwood qualifies for The Open as Poulter and son miss out

Lee Westwood confirmed his place at The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush by coming through the Final Qualifying competition for the event.

Westwood topped one of the two-round events taking place across four different venues on Tuesday, with the Englishman shooting seven-under par at Dundonald Links in Scotland.

Playing at Royal Cinque Ports, both Ian Poulter and his 21-year-old son Luke Poulter failed to qualify as they finished outside the top five and that advance to the final major of the year, which begins on July 17 in Northern Ireland.

Westwood, 52, who will play in golf’s oldest championship for a 28th time after a two-year absence, had flown in from Dallas where he had been competing in Sunday’s LIV Golf event.

“I’ve been up since half-past one this morning with jet lag so I was starting to feel it,” said Westwood, whose move to the breakaway series removed his chances of qualifying for majors through regular tour events.

“I haven’t tried to qualify for the last couple of years for one reason or another.

“Royal Portrush is a fantastic golf course and I played well there last time, finished fourth in 2019, so that was another reason to come and play.

“The Open Championship is the greatest tournament on the golfing calendar. I’m not getting any younger, I’m 52 now.”

Ian Poulter at least finished the day with some pride intact as, having trailed Luke all day in the scoring, he ended up level with his 21-year-old son on one under.

Luke followed an opening 67 with a 76 at Royal Cinque Ports in Kent, with his dad shooting 72-71, as they and former US Open champion Graeme McDowell finished just short.

“I played good on the first 18, the last 18 not great,” said Luke.

England’s Harry Hall went through at Burnham & Berrow, while Westwood’s LIV Tour colleague Dean Burmester led the way at Royal Cinque Ports and Australian Lucas Herbert topped the leaderboard at West Lancashire.

When is The Open live on Sky Sports?

Sky Sports is once again the exclusive home of The Open, with live coverage from all seven days of tournament week from July 14-20 and round-the-clock coverage of the final men’s major of the year.

There are seven hours of live coverage on the Monday and Tuesday practice days at Royal Portrush before a bumper nine hours of live programming on Wednesday, starting at 9am each morning.

Wall-to-wall coverage of The Open then begins at 6.30pm on Thursday July 17, with live action available for all four tournament days and a host of extra feeds also available. Not got Sky? Stream The Open and more with no contract.