McIlroy and McGinley fall short

Paul McGinley and Rory McIlroy have both missed out on qualification for the US Open after falling short of the mark when 42 …

Paul McGinley and Rory McIlroy have both missed out on qualification for the US Open after falling short of the mark when 42 European players battled it out for seven spots at Torrey Pines next week.

At Walton Heath it was four Englishmen, one Scot, one Frenchman and a Swede that booked their tickets to the major.

Scotland's Alastair Forsyth finished joint top with England's Ross Fisher on seven-under-par, with the latter's compatriots Robert Dinwiddie, Phillip Archer and Ross McGowan a shot further back.

France's Thomas Levet and Sweden's Johan Edfors beat 48-year-old amateur Gary Wolstenholme and Argentina's Daniel Vancsik in play-off holes after finishing five under.

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McIlroy missed out by seven with rounds of 74 and 71. "I was a bit rushed at the start because my taxi was 30 minutes late, but I don't want to use excuses," said the Holywood golfer afterwards

McGinley was a shot behind the teenage Irishman after a 70 and 76.

Open champion Padraig Harrington is, therefore, the only Irishman in the 72-strong Torrey Pines field.

Only last Saturday Forsyth five-putted from 12 feet during the Wales Open at Celtic Manor, but it was a different story in the 36-hole event.

The Madeira Islands Open champion put together rounds of 69 and 68 to match the seven-under-par total of Dutch Open champion Fisher.

"My one previous American major was the 2003 PGA at Oak Hill and I found that really, really hard," said Forsyth. "But I like to think I am far better player now."

Fisher stated that he had experience of Torrey Pines, but only on the Tiger Woods computer game. "I shot something like 56."

Dinwiddie and McGowan have never played in any major, the former having made nine failed attempts to get into The Open and McGowan eight.

Ten days after shooting a course record 63 in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Dinwiddie had six birdies in his last eight holes to qualify with a shot to spare.

"With nine to go I just started to have a bit of a laugh," commented the former Walker Cup player from Durham.

"My caddie told me he had booked his flights to Austria for this week's tournament and then said 'don't start making birdies now'."

Collated scores (Gbr unless stated, Irish in bold, both courses par 72):
(x) denotes amateurs
137

Alastair Forsyth 69 68, Ross Fisher 67 70

138

Robert Dinwiddie 71 67, Phillip Archer 69 69, Ross McGowan 67 71

139

(after play-off) Johan Edfors (Swe) 69 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 70

Non-Qualifiers:
139

(x) Gary Wolstenholme 68 71, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 69 70

140

Steve Webster 68 72, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 70, Barry Lane 70 70

141

Benn Barham 71 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 72, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 72, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 70

142

Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 69, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 71 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 70 72, Oliver Fisher 71 71, Jamie Donaldson 72 70

143

Pelle Edberg (Swe) 74 69, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 74, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 72

144

Marc Warren 73 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 72

145 Rory McIlroy 74 71,

Francesco Molinari (Ita) 73 72, Pablo Martin (Spa) 69 76, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 70 75

146

Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 74 72, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 73 73, Simon Khan 73 73, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 73 73,

Paul McGinley 70 76
147

David Griffiths 71 76, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 75

148

Paul Curry 76 72

156

(x) Will Roebuck 76 80

Retired

: Sam Walker

Withdrawn

: Soren Kjeldsen 74