Australian duo Tim Wood and Michael Wright and New Zealander Josh Geary all qualified for the Open at Turnberry.
Trio qualify for Open Championship from Australian event
Australian duo Tim Wood and Michael Wright and New Zealander Josh Geary will all play in the Open Championship at Turnberry after coming through qualifying in Melbourne.
Wood and Geary will both be making their Open debuts at Turnberry in July, while Wright has booked his spot for the second time in four years.
Australian Wood's bizarre pre-shot routine drew him some publicity at the Australian Open, with his antics being likened to a wounded seagull.
27-year-old Wood has been playing on the Canadian Tour but, after finishing joint top of the leaderboard after the 36-hole qualifier at Kingston Heath, he will now be mixing it with the best in the business.
"I feel like I am going to wake up and say 'Damn, that was a great dream - I qualified for The Open'," said a euphoric Wood.
Routine
Wood's curious routine first sprung up during December's Australian Open when he adopted a Jonny Wilkinson-type pose before waving his arms around before going on to take his shot.
"You've just got to laugh about it," he said, after finishing 11th there.
"I've just got poor posture. I get into bad habits with my posture. I hate it, but it's working.
"I tried to hit the shots without doing the routine and in the first round I hit two shanks in the front nine. My caddie goes 'You've got to go back to the seagull'."
Wood finished on four-under par in Melbourne with rounds of 71 and 69 enough to grab him a share of the victory and a qualifying spot.
Qualifiers
Kiwi Geary also finished on four-under for the tournament and Wright was just a shot back to take the third spot and qualify again.
34-year-olf Wright missed the cut by four shots at Hoylake in 2006 after winning the qualifier, but he has since tumbled down the rankings to number 1,056.
He raised his game enough to get through though, at the expense of the likes of former European Open champion Peter Senior.
The 49-year-old needed birdies from his last two holes to force a play-off, but despite picking up one on 17 a par on the last was not to be enough.
The event went ahead despite the close proximity of the bushfires which are now feared to have killed more than 200 people.
