The Open Qualifying Series launches with four new events

The Open Qualifying Series for the 148th Open at Royal Portrush starts next week in Australia, and has four new events for 2019 – including three on the PGA Tour

The road to The 148th Open at Royal Portrush will begin at the Emirates Australian Open, the first of 16 events in 11 countries that will make up The Open Qualifying Series for 2019.

The Emirates Australian Open, which is being played from 15-18 November at The Lakes in Sydney, will be the first opportunity for players to secure their place at Royal Portrush next year. The leading three players, who finish in the top ten and ties and who are not already exempt, will qualify for The Open.

Three new events on the PGA TOUR will also feature in the Series for the first time: the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard being played from 7-10 March at Bay Hill, the RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club from 6-9 June and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit from 27-30 June.

The Open Qualifying Series will also visit Spain for the first time as the Andalucía Valderrama Masters on the European Tour replaces the Open de France in the schedule. It will be played from 27-30 June.

A total of 46 places in The Open are available through the Series, which provides golfers with opportunities to qualify at events around the world on the PGA TOUR, the European Tour, the PGA Tour of Australasia, the Asian Tour, the Korean Tour, the Japan Golf Tour and the Sunshine Tour.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Executive Director – Championships at The R&A, said, “The race to qualify for The Open at Royal Portrush has well and truly begun and we are eagerly anticipating an exciting series of events as golfers around the world aim to book their place at the Championship.

“We know that there is real excitement at the prospect of The Open returning to Northern Ireland for the first time in almost 70 years and it will undoubtedly act as an extra incentive for those players who are hopeful of teeing it up at the famous Dunluce links in July.”

The South African Open hosted by The City of Joburg will replace the Joburg Open following a merger of the two events. It will be played at Randpark, Johannesburg from 6-9 December this year when three qualifying places will be on offer.

Four places in The Open will be available at both the SMBC Singapore Open, which is being played at Sentosa Golf Club, and The Mizuno Open taking place at The Royal Golf Club in Japan.

On the PGA TOUR, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and RBC Canadian Open will each have three qualifying places while two golfers will qualify from the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The last qualifying place will be confirmed at the John Deere Classic on the eve of The 148th Open.

On the European Tour, three places at each of the Andalucía Valderrama Masters, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open and the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open will be available.

Two places will also be available at the KOLON Korea Open in June.

Regional Qualifying and Final Qualifying events will take place at venues throughout Great Britain and Ireland. The Fairmont St Andrews will replace The Renaissance Club as one of the four Final Qualifying venues.