The four Irish golfers involved in today’s US Open qualifier at Walton Heath failed in their bid to earn one of the 11 berths for the event at Bethpage Black in New York next month.
The quartet were stymied by poor opening efforts in the 36-hole qualifier and although they all improved their scores over the afternoon round it was not enough.
Gareth Maybin and Paul McGinley fell three shots outside of a seven-strong group that played off for the final five spots after they both finished on two-under-par.
Maybin added a three-under 69 on the tougher Old Course after opening 73, while McGinley’s 68 in the afternoon on the New Course wasn’t enough to make up for an opening 74.
Gary Murphy and Michael Hoey both finished on one-over-par after 36 holes.
Swede Peter Hanson provided the story of the day over the Surrey track, securing his place with a spectacular play-off hole-in-one tonight — after making a late change about which club to hit.
Hanson was left battling with Scot Stephen Gallacher and England’s Richard Bland for the last spot up for grabs.
The 17th hole on the Old Course measures 206 yards and Hanson said: “I was pumped up so switched from a five iron to a six and knew I had to hit it really well to land it on the front of the green. It was just a perfect shot.”
The seventh ace of his career came just two weeks after his sixth during the 3 Irish Open at Baltray.
Italian Francesco Molinari, France’s Jean-Francois Lucquin and Hanson’s fellow countryman Johan Edfors went through with birdie threes on the first hole of sudden death.
Molinari thought his chance of playing at Bethpage Black next month might have gone when he was disqualified in Ireland after taking the first round lead.
He was hoping to climb into the world’s top 50 and earn a spot that way, but was thrown out for signing for a wrong score on a card marked incorrectly by playing partner Hanson.
First place in the qualifier was shared by England’s Simon Khan and Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin on nine under.
Simon Dyson was third one behind and said of the challenge that now awaits him: “I just hope it’s not as hard as Pinehurst was four years ago.
“That was too hard, the most difficult course I’ve ever played. You were hitting four-irons into greens that were designed for wedges.
“You could be stood in the middle of a fairway with like a six iron in your hands thinking ‘How do I hit this on the green?’
“I didn’t play that great to be fair, but I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Dyson shot 79, 78 to miss the cut by nine shots.
With Colin Montgomerie among those to withdraw before the start today, only four Ryder Cup stars were in the field, but while McGinley, David Howell and Niclas Fasth missed out recent Spanish Open winner Thomas Levet made it through on seven under.
Joint fifth, meanwhile, were South African Andrew McLardy and another Tour rookie David Horsey, the 24-year-old Englishman who led the BMW PGA Championship after the opening round last Thursday.
US OPEN QUALIFYING
At Walton Heath (Gbr and Irl unless stated):
Qualifiers
135Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 68, Simon Khan 68 67
136Simon Dyson 66 70
137Thomas Levet (Fra) 70 67
138David Horsey 72 66, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 71 67
139Stephen Gallacher 70 69, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 72 67, Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 68, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 66, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 68, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 68 71, Richard Bland 68 71
Molinari, Luquin, Edfors, Lara and Hanson qualified from play-off
The following players failed to qualify
140Nick Dougherty 71 69, Markus Brier (Aut) 70 70, Brett Rumford (Aus) 69 71
141Wade Ormsby (Aus) 74 67, Richie Ramsay 71 70, Alastair Forsyth 71 70, Simon Griffiths 72 69
142 Gareth Maybin73 69,
Paul McGinley74 68, Oliver Fisher 71 71, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 72 70
143Chris Wood 73 70, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 71, Jamie Donaldson 73 70, Phillip Archer 74 69, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 72, Sam Hutsby 69 74
144Scott Strange (Aus) 71 73, Richard Finch 72 72, Miguel Rodriguez (Arg) 71 73, Fracois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 72, Paul Waring 72 72
145 Gary Murphy74 71, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 70 75, Gregory Havret (Fra) 74 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 75 70,
Michael Hoey75 70, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 69 76, Robert Dinwiddie 74 71, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 74 71
146Ross McGowan 72 74
147Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 74 73, TC Charamba (Zim) 75 72, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 69 78, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 75 72
148Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 76
149Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 71 78, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 74 75, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 76 73, Steve Webster 76 73
150Alan McLean 76 74, Benn Barham 73 77
151Marc Cayeux (Zim) 74 77, Anthony Kang (USA) 77 74, Pablo Martin (Spa) 74 77
153Merrick Bremner (Rsa) 73 80
154Magnus Carlsson (Swe) 78 76, David Howell 78 76
WD: Kenneth Ferrie, Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa), Rafa Echenique (Arg), Tano Goya (Arg), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Pelle Edberg (Swe), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Marcel Siem (Ger), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg)
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