Wesley Bryan Misses British Open Qualification By Single Shot

Wesley Bryan has missed out on qualifying for the upcoming British Open by a single shot, ending his two rounds at the West Lancashire Final Qualifying event at -7. The younger member of the Bryan Bros duo shot a -2 70 in his first round before charging him with a 67, but a bogey on 18 ultimately saw him fall painfully short.

With just five spots available at each of the four Final Qualifying locations and 72 in the draw at West Lancashire alone, the odds were stacked against Wesley and George, who also competed in the event after winning his Regional Qualifier last week. But both of them were in it up to their eyeballs heading into their final nine holes, with each a very real chance of qualifying entering the final stretch. 

Wesley fired a -4 front nine in his second round to move to -6, made par on the next six holes, before back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17 saw him move to -8, which would have been enough to see him move into a playoff to snatch the final qualifying spot. Unfortunately, his first bogey of the round came at the worst possible time, with a missed eight-foot par putt ultimately costing him what would have been his second British Open start, and his first since 2017.

And as for George? His two rounds followed a very similar path to those of his brother, though he ended up a few shots further back following a disappointing end. He too shot a first round 70 before making a charge on the front nine of his second round, shooting 33 to move to -5 and within reaching distance of the all-important top five. But an erratic final nine holes would prove costly; he managed three birdies in a row during that stretch, but that run came after a three bogeys and a double in the space of four holes all but ended his major hopes.

It was a disappointing end to what was a really impressive 36 holes of golf by both brothers, and attention for them both will now return to the creative realm. Fortunately there is plenty going on in that space to distract them; it was just a day ago that the inaugural video for the revolutionary Your Golf Tour dropped on YouTube, and within 24 hours had hit nearly 2 million views. Entailing four tournaments overall this year, the debut season of YGT will include 12 videos overall, and is set to play a significant role in bridging the gap between YouTube and professional golf. The second video of the first tournament will drop on the Bryan Bros channel on Thursday.