16 Earn U.S. Open Spots in Japan & England Qualifiers


Wen-Chong Liang, a 36-year-old from China, carded a pair of 7-under-par 65s to lead a group of five qualifiers at a U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Japan. The event, which led to five new entrants at the U.S. Open to be held next month at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash., was held May 25 at Kinojo Golf Club in Okayama Prefecture.

Masahiro Kawamura, of Japan, finished two strokes back with a 132 (65-67). Seuk Hyun Baek, of Thailand, Kurt Barnes, of Australia and Hiroyuki Fujita, of Japan survived a 5-for-3 playoff for the final spots after posting 11-under 133.

Two Japanese players, Shunsuke Sonode and Toru Taniguchi, are the first and second alternates, respectively.

Meanwhile, in England, 11 players punched their tickets to the 115th U.S. Open through qualifying on Monday at Walton Heath Golf Club. The group includes medalist Alexander Levy. The 24-year-old Frenchman carded rounds of 6-under 66 on Walton Heath's Old Course and a 5-under 67 on its New Course to finish at 11-under 133, a stroke ahead of India's Shiv Kapur, who shot a pair of 67s.

Levy fell out of the top-60 in the World Golf Ranking and an automatic Open spot following Sunday's BMW PGA Championship, and was forced to qualify. He was pleased with the results. "I'm really happy. I played really good golf for the two 18 holes," Levy said. "It's nice to play the U.S Open. I was a little upset to slip out of the top 60 after [the BMW PGA Championship] so it's great to now get in."

Also booking a ticket to Washington State are England's John Parry and Jason Palmer, Sweden's Alex Noren, Denmark's Lucas Bjerregaard, Germany's Marcel Siem, South Africans Garth Mulroy, Thomas Aiken and Tjaart Van der Walt, and Australian Marcus Fraser.

Mulroy, Aiken, Fraser and Van der Walt advanced after surviving a 5-for-4 playoff, with Oliver Farr the odd man out. The Welshman is the first alternate, with Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti coming through a separate five-man playoff to claim the second and final alternate spot.

Palmer will draw plenty of interesting glances at Chambers Bay. The European Tour rookie chips one-handed in an effort to overcome the "yips." Palmer has vowed to continue using the unorthodox method when he tees it up in a major championship for the first time.

"I doubt there have been many one-handed chippers at the U.S. Open before," the 30-year-old said. "The rough might be a bit too deep to play one-handed, so I'll have to assess it when I get there, but it is a problem I'm looking forward to have."

American Peter Uihlein, a regular on the European Tour, was looking to make a return to Chambers Bay, where he won the U.S. Amateur in 2010. But the 25-year-old from Massachusetts shot rounds of 71 and 69 to miss out on the playoff by a stroke. Also shooting 4-under 140 was three-time major champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland.

Portions of the above report are courtesy of the USGA. For full scoring details, visit http://www.ghintpp.com/rga/TPPOnlineScoring/ResultsStroke.aspx?id=65 (Japan qualifier) and http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015041/leaderboard/index.html (England qualifier). For information on the U.S. sectional qualifying sites, visit http://www.cybergolf.com/golf_news/usga_announces_2015_us_open_sectional_qualifying_sites.