MOBILE, Ala. – Nearly a month after competing in the U.S. Open at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, two former University of South Alabama men’s golfers are set to play in the next major tournament of the 2010 campaign.
Both Heath Slocum and Gareth Maybin are in the field of 156 for the 150th Open Championship, which will take place Thursday-Sunday at The Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. The two will play in back-to-back groups, with Slocum beginning at the par-72, 7,305-yard course at 9:26 CDT and Maybin to follow 11 minutes later.
It will be the first time since 2008, when he placed 32nd with a four-day 295 total at Royal Birkdale, that Slocum will participate in the championship. He has made the cut in 14 of 16 events he has played in this season — finishing in the top 10 on three occasions and the top 25 seven times — as he enters the British Open ranked 43rd in the FedEx Cup Standings and 60th in the Official World Golf Ranking released Sunday.
It’s the third major of the season for Slocum, who earned an exemption into the British Open after he was one of 30 players to qualify for the season-ending 2009 PGA Tour Championship.
Maybin will be competing in the event for the first time after he tied for fourth place in a 36-hole qualifier at the Sunningdale Golf Club in Surrey, England, last month with an 8-under-par 132 total. In his first-ever appearance at one of golf’s four majors last month, Maybin made the cut at the U.S. Open before ending up in a tie for 63rd.
He is currently 37th in the standings for the Race To Dubai — the top 60 players qualify for the final championship of the European Tour in November — after making the cut in all but one of the 16 tournaments he has entered this year, with a season-best finish of second at the Ballantine’s Championship in April.
Both Slocum and Maybin made the cut at the Barclays Scottish Open that concluded Sunday, with each finishing in the top 50 overall.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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