Golf’s X-factor

There are not many opportunities across the World nowadays, but when the few National Open Championships that still do so open up their locks for the qualifying it is something very special. The slim chance of teeing it up in one of these events serves as an inspiration to many a player and the fact that surprise names regularly come through to grab their chance means that more will seek the opportunity next time. This last Monday it was the Open across the ocean that had its European version of its own X-factor and boy were there some dreams that came true!

James Morrison, a very recent winner on the European Tour and a previous member of the England Squads booked his journey to America, as did Swede Rikard Karlberg. Most would now go ‘Who?’ which is perfectly understandable. Rikard is 1118 in the world rankings and spends most of his time on the Asian Tour where he is a rookie this year. His career earnings are about £100,000 and in a nutshell he is the beauty of all qualifiers. For every Rikard there are 1117 players in front of him and quite a few behind him that are going to go –

‘Wow! Just wait until next time. Then it is my turn!’