Gareth Maybin will make his major championship debut in the US Open

Ballyclare’s Gareth Maybin carded a brilliant second round 65 in sectional qualifying at Walton Heath to clinch his place in next month’s US Open.  

The 29-year-old Ulsterman will make his major championship bow when he joins Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell at Pebble Beach.

Mark Murphy and Niall Turner can bring the number of Irish participants to six if they can come through sectional qualifying in the US on June 7.

Kerryman Murphy will bid for his place at McArthur Golf Club on Hobe Sound in Florida while Muskerry player Turner will be in action at Bull Valley Country Club in Woodstock, Illinois.

Maybin grabbed one of 11 spots on offer in Monday’s 36-hole qualifier when he followed a 71 on the New Course with a sensational, seven under par afternoon effort on the Old to share third place behind winner James Morrison.  

McDowell avoided the qualifier when he rose one place to 49th in the Monday’s world rankings, also ensuring himself a spot in the Open at St Andrews.  

But Darren Clarke (74 72), Shane Lowry (71 69), Gary Murphy (73 72) and Peter Lawrie (73 75) failed to make it through the 36 hole marathon which saw shock BMW PGA champion Simon Khan eliminated in a six-man play-off for the last five spots.  

Fed up Clarke missed out by nine shots after rounds and decided to pull out of this week’s Madrid Masters.

Now ranked 161st in the world, the 40-year-old said: “I’m flogging a bit of a dead horse and need a break.

“I’m just not enjoying it - I’m trying hard, but it ain’t happening.”  

After finishing 28th in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, McDowell could have been bumped out of the top 50 by several players in the Byron Nelson Classic in Texas.  

But his main challengers -  Brian Gay, Scott Verplank and Michael Sim - failed to earn the results they needed  

If they had all birdied the last hole McDowell would have lost out, but Gay and Verplank parred to finish joint second and joint fifth respectively, while Sim bogeyed and dropped to 23rd.  

US Open Sectional Qualifier, Walton Heath Par 72  

Qualifiers

133 James Morrison 68 65  

135 Rafa Echenique (Arg) 69 66  

136 Gary Boyd 67 69, Rhys Davies 66 70, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 70 66, Gareth Maybin 71 65

137 (after play-off ) Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 69, Pablo Martin (Spa) 68 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 69, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 67, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 70 67  

Failed qualify  

137 Simon Khan 67 70  

138 Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 70 68, Lee Slattery 68 70, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 69, Richard Green (Aus) 68 70, Richie Ramsay 67 71  

139 Markus Brier (Aut) 70 69, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 69 70, Danny Willett 73 66, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 70 69  

140 Michael Jonzon (Swe) 71 69, David Horsey 73 67, Colin Montgomerie 70 70, Phillip Archer 69 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 65 75, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 71, Nick Dougherty 70 70, David Howell 68 72, Shane Lowry 71 69, Julien Quesne (Fra) 67 73  

141 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 71, Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 71, Graeme Storm 70 71, Rciardo Gonzalez (Arg) 70 71, Richard Finch 69 72, John Parry 66 75  

142 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 72, Richard Bland 71 71, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 72, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 68 74, David Drysdale 71 71, Oliver Fisher 72 70, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 68 74, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 69, (x) Tommy Fleetwood 72 70  

143 Steve Webster 74 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 74, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 68 75, (x) Chris Paisley 71 72

144 Johan Edfors (Swe) 69 75, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 74, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 72 72, Andrew McArthur 74 70  

145 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 73 72, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 72 73, Gary Murphy 73 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 73  

146 Darren Clarke 74 72, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 71 75, Tano Goya (Arg) 77 69, Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 76 70  

148 Pelle Edberg (Swe) 77 71, Peter Lawrie 73 75

149 Chris Guy 74 75  

150 Danny Lee (Nzl) 77 73, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 74 76  

151 Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 75 76  153 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 76 77  

156 Lee Harper 77 79  

WD: Andrew Butterfield, Shiv Kapur (Ind), Kenneth Ferrie, Marcel Siem (Ger)  

DQ: Chris Wood  (x) denotes amateurs