tom watson
A rule change in the British Open means that a top ten finish by a former champion in any of the previous five Opens, will automatically qualify them for a place in the following years tournament.
The change of rules has been made to accommodate this years Open runner up Tom Watson, who under the previous ruling would have lost his exemption from qualifying as he would have turned sixty by the next Open championship.
R&A chief executive Peter Dawson explained the reason behind the rule change;
“We have introduced this new category as a direct response to seeing two of our great Open champions, both in their fifties, challenging to win our championship these last two years. We rightly reduced the age of exemption for past champions from 65 to 60 in 2007 and our intention was never to remove players still at the top of their game from competing in The Open.”
Watson who thrilled the Open crowd with his extraordinary feat at Turnberry, was one putt away from winning the tournament for a record equalling sixth time in July, but a bogey on the final hole sent him into a play off with Stewart Cink who won comfortably by six strokes.
Greg Norman who finished in third place at the 2008 Open will be 55 at next years tournament and is bound to eventually benefit from the new ruling should he continue to play.
1 comment so far
1 Masters Golf Tickets // Nov 23, 2009 at 4:38 am
Hi,
The change of rules has been made to accommodate this years!!
I like golf game.