Thursday, June 12, 2014

Gailes Links - final Open qualifying coming home until 2017

Take 72 top golfers, dangle the carrot of a starting spot in the Open Championship, and you can be sure their competitive instinct will surface pretty quickly. Add Gailes Links to the mix with only the top 3 players to qualify and the competition gets even more challenging.

And they will need to be up for the challenge over these famous Ayrshire links. The greens will be fast and smooth, the fairways a rollercoaster ride of tight lies, and the pin positions exacting, but would they expect anything else from this seaside gem so lovingly maintained by Course Manager Brian Dickson and his staff. The competitors will have 2 days to prepare on the superb practice area and on Willie Park Jnr’s visionary links before 2 rounds of championship play begins. Brian is confident that the players will be presented with a stiff but fair test of their golfing skills, and should they qualify for the Open these skills most certainly will be put to the test at Hoylake 2 weeks later. From the moment that Gailes was announced as the preferred venue by the R&A planning has been on-going with Gailes Links and R&A officials to ensure the venue meets the stiff criteria required by the leading authority in world golf. That Glasgow Golf Club’s Gailes Links will be Scotland’s only final Open qualifying course for the next 4 years confirms the confidence the R&A clearly have in the capabilities of the Club.

The members at Gailes Links get in on the action too with a first glimpse of the famous Claret Jug when it is paraded at their member/guest day before the final battle for those precious places begins. The players will have access to the course from Sunday 29th June for practice rounds before the main event tees off early on Tuesday 1st July. Golf fans are welcome to see the action close up at Gailes Links in what is certain to be a flavour of things to come at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, (Hoylake) when action gets underway in the first round of the Open Championship. We wish the players every success.

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