GOLF: New Zealander Josh Geary and Australians Tim Wood and Michael Wright grabbed the three places on offer for this year's British Open at the international qualifier in Melbourne today.
The international qualifier was staged at Kingston Heath and went ahead despite the close promixity of the bushfires which are now feared to have killed more than 200 people.
Geary and Wood tied for first place with four-under-par totals of 140, while Wright’s birdie on the penultimate green took him to three-under and knocked out Peter Senior and Cameron Percy.
Wright is ranked a lowly 1,056th in the world and has made only one halfway cut in his last six starts, while Geary and Wood are ranked 625th and 839th respectively.
Craig Parry, who led the 1999 Open at Carnoustie with seven holes to play and missed the play-off there by just one shot, missed out by eight shots.
The British Open gets under way on the Ailsa Course at Turnberry in Ayrshire, Scotland from Thursday, July 16th-19th.