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26 March, 2008

Ali misses Open qualification

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A poor start proved costly for England's Yasin Ali as he missed out on a spot in July's Open Championship by two strokes in the Asian qualifying tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore.

The 26-year-old began the final round in a tie for the lead with Danny Chia, of Malaysia, and Angelo Que, of the Philippines, after carding a three-under-par 69 in the opening round at the Serapong Course but he bogeyed two of the first three holes to drop to one under.

He got back to three under with birdies at the fifth and 12th to move to within a stroke of qualification, but a bogey at the par-five 18th ended his hopes of winning a spot at Royal Birkdale.

Chia claimed top spot in the qualifier after carding another 69 to finish on six-under 138 - one ahead of Australia's Adam Blyth, who shot a six-under 66 today.

The final two Open slots were decided by a sudden-death play-off after Que (71), Lam Chih-Bing, of Singapore (68), and Japan's Tomohiro Kondo (70) were tied on four under.

Lam secured his place with a birdie at the second extra hole, while Que sank a 40-foot birdie putt at the fourth play-off hole to claim the final slot.

Birdies at the 16th and 17th sealed Chia's place at Royal Birkdale.

"I just tried to play my game after the good start yesterday," said the Malaysian, who will be making his second appearance at the Open after missing the cut at St Andrew's in 2005.

"I didn't make a lot of putts. But my iron play was good, and the late birdies helped my cause as well.

"It's a great feeling, and I'm looking forward to going back to play in the Open. I hope I'll do better this time."