R&A chief executive Peter Dawson believes a new international qualifying series for the Open championship will be more rigorous than the international final qualifying which it replaces.
The Open qualifying series will comprise 14 events in nine countries on the European Tour, PGA Tour, Japan Golf Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia, offering players the opportunity to qualify for golf’s oldest major championship, which takes place at Hoylake from July 17 to 20 next year.
Nine qualifying places will be available on both the European and PGA Tour via the Irish Open, Alstom Open de France and Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and AT&T National, Greenbrier Classic and John Deere Classic respectively.
The new system replaces international final qualifying, which was introduced in 2004 and involved 36-hole qualifying events in Australasia, Asia, Africa, America and Europe.
“We have been thinking about some changes for a long time,” said Dawson.
“We recognise players have increasingly busy schedules and qualifying events are an addition to the calendar. If we can use Tour events instead that’s a bonus.
“The fact we have 72-hole events makes it more rigorous and I think that’s important. The players’ performance in the Open has been disappointing, very few have made the cut. We are trying to make it more rigorous.”
Final qualifying has also been changed for 2014. Three places from each of four courses remain available, but for the first time those courses will be in different parts of the country rather than all near the Open venue.
The venues are Glasgow Gailes Links, Hillside, Woburn and Royal Cinque Ports.