PLEASINGTON Golf Club hosts regional qualifying for The Open for the final time today - and successful amateur Andy Westwell is also bidding farewell to the event.

A total of 102 golfers will go head to head in East Lancashire today in their bid to progress to the next stage of qualifying in Scotland on July 6 and 7.

For the golfers participating, the chances of reaching the Open Championship itself are slim - hundreds across the country will feature in regional qualifying, with the cream of the crop battling it out at local final qualifying for just 16 places at Turnberry on July 16.

And today’s event will be the last to take place at Pleasington, with Open Championship rules preventing one golf course holding regional qualifying for more than six consecutive years.

Next year’s event will instead move to Clitheroe Golf Club.

For Pleasington amateur Westwell, this would have been a farewell in any case as he prepares to switch his sights to the Senior British Open after turning 50.

The former Harold Ryden Trophy winner reached local final qualifying once before in 2004 and has narrowly missed out after qualifying as a reserve in each of the last four years.

“This will be my last qualifying so I want to give it a go,” he said. “Obviously there’s home player’s advantage and good home support.

“I turned 50 in December so my main chance will actually be in the seniors. But just getting into final qualifying would be great. I was there alongside Costantino Rocca in 2004 and I only missed out by five shots after a disaster on the 16th with an eight.

“But the Open was at Troon that year and it was a brute of a course, so if I had got to the Open it might have been a bit too much!”

For Pleasington secretary Trevor Ashton, there will be mixed emotions as the event takes place at the course for the final time.

“Of course it will be sad,” he said. “It’s one of the highlights of our year.

“It moves on next year because we’ve come to the end of our six-year run but we have enjoyed having it here and it would be nice if it came back in the future. It has raised the profile of the course.

“We’ve got three Pleasington golfers playing so it would be really good for one to go through with it being the last one.”

Also involved will be BBC commentator Gary Wolsten-holme as well as Bolton’s Steven Parry, who qualified two years ago after progressing through qualifying at Pleasington.