Lee Westwood and Andrew 'Beef' Johnston fail to qualify for 2019 US Open
By Keith Jackson at Walton Heath
Last Updated: 04/06/19 5:48pm
Lee Westwood and last year's Walton Heath winner, Andrew "Beef" Johnston, were among the star draws to fall short in the 36-hole US Open qualifier.
In a 110-man field with only 14 places available, Westwood bogeyed the final hole to end up on four-under and miss the cut. Johnston came through qualifying from 2016-18, but finished on three-under in Surrey.
Meanwhile, Dean Burmester dominated as he booked his place in the field at Pebble Beach with an impressive four-shot victory over Sam Horsfield.
The South African, who celebrated his 30th birthday at the weekend, made a remarkable 18 birdies to lead the 14 qualifiers on 16 under par, with Horsfield and fellow Englishman Lee Slattery also advancing to the third major of the year.
Renato Paratore defied a five-hour wait to clinch the last place on offer following a five-man play-off, while Westwood and Johnston fell short.
Burmester enjoyed the excellent early scoring conditions as he tackled the New Course first, and he cruised to a nine-birdie 63 and kept a bogey off his card to put himself in ideal position heading into his second round.
The 2017 Tshwane Open champion then faltered on the Old Course as he slipped to one over after seven holes, but he raced clear of the field with eight birdies over the next nine holes and two closing pars added up to a superb 65.
"It was just one of those days when you roll out of bed and the putts start going in," said Burmester, who also came through qualifying at Walton Heath last year and went on to make the cut in his major championship debut at Shinnecock Hills.
"The US Open at Pebble Beach is up there with playing an Open at St Andrews because of the history, I'm excited to go out there and give it my best for four days."
Horsfield will tee up in his third US Open after following his morning 67 with a 65 on the New Course, which included five birdies in seven holes on the back nine, while Slattery qualified comfortably on nine under along with British Masters champion Marcus Kinhult.
Rhys Enoch will play the US Open for the first time after two excellent back-nines on both courses got him to eight under, although his watching fiancée will be unable to travel to Pebble Beach as she is pregnant with their first child!
Belgian Thomas Pieters, who played a starring role for Europe at the 2016 Ryder Cup, bounced back from his missed cut on home soil last week as he birdied two of the last three holes to ensure outright qualification on eight under.
With 13 of the 14 qualifiers confirmed after 36 holes, Paratore headed back to the first tee on the New Course for a sudden-death play-off for the one remaining place in the US Open field along with Nacho Elvira, Andrea Pavan, Romain Wattel and Bernd Wiesberger.
The quickfire Italian got up and down for birdie to put pressure on his quartet of rivals, and Elvira, Pavan and Wattel then missed short putts to match Paratore's three before Wiesberger held his nerve from three feet.
But Made in Denmark winner Wiesberger, who birdied five of the last six holes just to get into the play-off, would be denied at the short 17th as Paratore struck a precise tee shot to eight feet and converted the chance to book his place at Pebble Beach.