BATON ROUGE – A memorable summer for LSU’s All-American golfer Ben Taylor will soon continue at The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews as the Tiger senior earned his spot in the field for The 144th Open Championship by tying for first place in the 36-hole final qualifying tournament held Tuesday at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club.
Taylor was one of three players in the field to fire a 36-hole score of 5-under par 139 to grab the three available spots into the field for this year’s British Open that will be held at The Old Course at St. Andrews from July 16-19. He tied Alister Balcombe and Gary Boyd for the top spot as each finished three shots clear of fourth place and safely in qualification at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal, Kent, England.
Taylor was one of 12 golfers to qualify for The 144th Open Championship in Tuesday’s final qualifying round as tournaments were also held at Hillside Golf Club in Southport, England; Gailes Links Golf Course in Ayrshire, Scotland; and Woburn Golf Club in Little Brickhill, England, ahead of a trip to St. Andrews.
With Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club playing to a par 72 and a short 7,006 yards for the day, Taylor followed a round of 2-under 70 in the morning with a 3-under 69 in the afternoon to secure his qualification.
Taylor, who ended his senior season at LSU by leading the Tigers to the national championship with a perfect 3-0 record in match play at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships, will be the first LSU Tiger to tee it up at The Open Championship in six years since David Toms last appeared in the event at The Ailsa Course at Turnberry in the summer of 2009.
A native of Leatherhead, Surrey, England, Taylor has enjoyed an outstanding summer playing the amateur circuit in the United Kingdom that also includes his run to the Round of 32 of match play for The 120th Amateur Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland, nearly two weeks ago. He tied for seventh place among a field of 288 players in stroke play qualifying with a score of 3-under par 139.
After then advancing to the final qualifying tournament for The Open Championship with a tie for fifth place in his Open Regional Qualifying event at Hankley Common Golf Club on June 22, he claimed another finish of seventh place at the Brabazon Trophy ending Saturday at Notts Hollinwell Golf Club in Nottinghamshire, England.
While playing the par-72 layout at Notts Golf Club, Taylor actually featured in the final group in Saturday’s final round after firing rounds of 3-under 69 on Thursday, 2-under 70 on Friday and 1-over 73 on Saturday for an impressive 54-hole score of 4-under 212. He added a 2-over 74 in the final round for a final score of 2-under 286 to finish five shots off the pace set by Brabazon Trophy winner Cormac Sharvin of Ireland.
Congratulations to @AlisterBalcombe @BennyTaylor92 & @GaryBoyd86 who have qualified for #TheOpen via Final Qualifying @RCPgolfclub
— The Open (@TheOpen) June 30, 2015