John Dwyer, from the Ward Golf Centre in Dublin, shot a four-under-par 69 at Co Louth to take the top spot in the Irish regional qualifying round for the British Open championship yesterday. It was Dwyer's first attempt to get through to the big test and the 24year-old fired five birdies on his back nine to finish on 69 and a clear leader of the seven qualifiers.

It took a six-man play-off to decide the last spot for next weekend's final qualifying in England and to sort out the two reserves in the event of some of the qualifiers dropping out.

Amongst those in the shoot-out were amateurs Stuart Paul and Niall Goulding and they showed the paid players the way.

Both made par at the first hole as the four professionals suffered a bogey five while Paul steered a nine iron to three feet at the second extra hole for eagle three and to become the seventh player heading to England next weekend.

Goulding's par meant he was first reserve and the second player on standby is Hugh O'Neill, who made birdie three at the third playoff hole.

Meanwhile, at the regional qualifying competition at Coxmoor, John King, the Worksop club professional who taught Lee Westwood how to play golf, gave himself the chance to join him in the Open. King now heads for Hillside on Sunday and Monday for the final qualifying event.

A round of 70 left King only two strokes behind Nottingham amateur Matthew Naylor, who beat former England amateur champion Mark Foster into second place.

Mac O'Grady, the 47-year-old former American tour winner and extrovert character, qualified at Moortown in Leeds, shooting a two under par 70 to be three behind Ilkley's Alex Twist, whose 67 was only one outside the course record. O'Grady birdied three of the last four holes to share third place.