One of four Aussies seeking to play their way into the field for Royal St George’s starting July 15, Lawson made a late run to snare one of just three spots on offer at Prince’s, his 36-hole total of 3-under putting him one shot clear of Englishmen Sam Forgan and Connor Worsdall.

“I’m over the moon. I’ve never played a major and it’s been a goal of mine for quite a while – since I was a little kid really watching golf and seeing the best players in the world play in majors,” said Lawson.

“To be able to qualify for it is amazing.

“It’s good to look over and see Royal St George’s – but I was more looking at it as a fan. But now obviously I can go over and play it – which will be nice.”

Kiwi Daniel Hillier will give New Zealand two starters in The Open – the other being Ryan Fox – after he finished atop the leaderboard at Hollinwell with a two-round total of 11-under but Austin Bautista (T25 at Prince’s), amateur Josh Greer (T38 at West Lancashire) and Elvis Smylie (WD at Hollinwell) all missed out.

In third spot after an opening round of 2-under, Lawson’s grip on a place at The Open appeared to be slipping as he made the turn in 2-over 38.

Now based on the Gold Coast, the 30-year-old made par at each of his first two holes to begin the back nine before catching fire, peeling off three birdies in the space of four holes from the par-5 12th to climb into a qualifying position.

Three closing pars and a back nine of 3-under 33 was good enough to finish on top and secure a place in one of the game’s most prestigious events.

“You try not to think about it and just try and stay in the moment, which I thought I was really quite good at today,” Lawson said of the pressure associated with Open qualifying.

“You think about the players that have won The Open and the players that have played. It’s one of the biggest tournaments in the world and it will be great to play.”

Lawson’s performance is all the more remarkable given he had missed nine cuts in a row on both the European Tour and Challenge Tour prior to teeing it up in the hope of playing his way into a major championship.

Lawson’s qualification takes the number of Australians who are exempt for The Open to eight, joining Cameron Smith, Adam Scott, Marc Leishman (top 50 in Official World Golf Ranking in Week 21, 2021), Jason Day (US PGA Championship winner), Brad Kennedy (PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner), Matt Jones and Aaron Pike (Open Qualifying Series-Australian Open).

Currently 10th in the Race to Dubai standings, Jason Scrivener is awaiting official confirmation that he too will be part of The Open field with the first five European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for fifth place, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai rankings on completion of the 2021 BMW International Open to be granted entry.