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Monday, 8 July, 2002, 22:39 GMT 23:39 UK
Teenager's Open dream
Former footballer turned golfer Roy Wegerle
A 15-year-old schoolboy could become one of the youngest players to compete at the Open.
Zimbabwean Abbas-Ali Mawji, who was born in Watford, finished joint top of the regional qualifying event at Alwoodley near Leeds. Mawji, a member of the Houghwood club in St Helens, scored a level-par 71.
He now goes through to the 36-hole final qualifying event on Sunday and Monday as he attempts to line-up at the Open at Muirfield on 18 July with the likes of Tiger Woods and Colin Montgomerie.
The youngest-ever player in the Open was four-time winner Young Tom Morris, who was just 14 years and four months when he first competed in 1865. Justin Rose and Wayne Henry both won regional qualifying events at the age of 14, but then failed to survive the final qualifier. Ex-footballer Roy Wegerle failed to make it through but James Conteh, the son of former world boxing champion John, did. Top spot Former Chelsea and Blackburn striker Roy Wegerle managed only a five-over-par 77 at Hadley Wood, another of the 16 regional qualifying venues. With only eight of the 120 players going through, that was never going to be anywhere near good enough. Wegerle said: "I've become hooked on the game, but it's a mystery tour and I don't know where it's all going to end up." Conteh, a runner-up in the Hertfordshire amateur championship, won at Northants County with a superb 65. Michael Hoey, who as British amateur champion played in last year's Open and the US Masters in April before turning pro, shared top spot with Waterville amateur Mark Murphy following rounds of 68.
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