Zane Scotland

Youngest ever Open qualifier

Qualifying for The Open in 1999 kick-started everything for me.

Up until then I was scraping into the England boys team.

Then all of a sudden I was getting straight into that team and the men's team as well.

I was also getting into Tour events - for me that was massive.

It's not easy getting there though.

There's two rounds of qualifying to even get to The Open which means you play three rounds of golf.

First you play 18 holes at a course local to you. It's a bit of a sprint but it helps if you know the course pretty well.

You have to go there shoot a few under and hope you get through.

Then the final qualfying is 36 holes at a course close to where the Open is being held.

That's where you really need to concentrate and focus.

It's very easy to get ahead of yourself and start thinking about what the Open is going to be like.

But you have to worry about what's happening at the time.

When I did pre-qualifying I spoke to my coach and my dad to get me through it.

At the end of it, it's just three good rounds of golf.

Meet Zane

Open Qualifying

The big tee off

Getting round

Meeting Tiger

Open qualifying facts

1800 players took part in this year's regional qualifying Regional qualifying takes place at 16 different courses in the UK Final qualifying takes place at Littlestone, North Foreland, Prince's and Royal Cinque Ports

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