South Australian Adam Bland and New Zealander Michael Hendry have qualified for The Open after finishing in the top-3 at the Mizuno Open on the Japan Golf Tour.

Shooting rounds of 68, 73, 69, 68, Hendry was runner-up at the tournament won by a runaway Chan Kim of America who finished five shots clear of the Kiwi.

Hendry has played the Mizuno Open five times and having never finished outside the top-11, has been close on many occasions to sealing a start at The Open.

Finally earning the privilege, Hendry will make his Major debut in a year that is already full of career highlights for the 37-year-old who became the first New Zealander to win their National Open in 14 years.

“It’s great to be through to The Open. This is the fifth time I’ve played in the Mizuno Open and I’ve never finished outside the top-11, so I’ve come close on a number of occasions,” said Hendry.

“I’ve missed by one shot here at least twice so it’s nice to finally get over the hurdle and get the chance to go and play.”

While his first Major Championship does not yet feel like a reality, Hendry has already started planning his preparations.

“I’m just going to really enjoy myself and hopefully have a good week. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I think once I start booking flights to the UK and looking at accommodation it will start to become real,” added Hendry.

“I’m going to start having a look at videos of The Open when it was played at Royal Birkdale in the past and prepare as best I can for it.”

Finishing outright third on 7-under the card, Bland has ensured his third appearance at The Open after he also played in 2015 at St Andrews and 2006 at Royal Liverpool.

“I’m just really excited. This will be my third Open, I haven’t been to Royal Birkdale so I’m hoping I can perform better than I have the last few times,” said Bland.

“This is what you play for all year, the chance to be in The Open. If you can qualify to play in all four majors, that’s the goal, to be that good in the world.”

Places at The Open were earned by the top-4 players, not already exempt at the Mizuno Open, along with Hendry and Bland the tournament winner Chan Kim (USA) and KT Kim (Sth Korea) earned the final two places.

Australian Won Joon Lee was edged out by the South Korean Kim; the pair finished the tournament tied 4^th on 6-under the card but given Kim is ranked 80^th in the Official World Golf Rankings versus Lee’s 426 the place in The Open was awarded to him.

The tournament is one of 14 international qualifying events and the top-4 players inside the top-12 and not otherwise qualified were awarded a place at the game’s oldest major.

While Lee will be disappointed to miss out on the spot at Royal Birkdale he will be equally pleased to have hit back from a missed cut at last week’s Kansai Open.

Lee has struggled for consistency in 2017 having withdrawn from the first two tournaments of the season and missing two cuts in six other starts.

This week’s finish was his second top-10 of the year and he now sits inside the top-30 on the money list.

Brendan Jones was next best of the Australians at T16, one shot better than Todd Sinnott and David Bransdon whose 1-under totals for the week were good for a share of 21^st.

Kurt Barnes was a further stroke back and T30 but it was Brad Kennedy who was perhaps the most surprising of the Australasians, the former winner stumbling to a 5-over par finish and a share of 46^th.

Kennedy entered the week among the favourites after posting three straight top 10 finishes in the lead up to the tournament but never really got going and was over par in three of the four rounds.

New Zealand’s Ben Campbell finished a shot behind Kennedy and T50 while Matthew Griffin was the only Australian to miss the cut.

Bland joins Ian Baker-Finch, Scott Hend, Cameron Smith, Matthew Griffin, Ashley Hall, Aaron Baddeley, Jason Day and Adam Scott to have qualified for the 146^th Open at Royal Birkdale.

Hendry is the first New Zealander to have secured a place for this year’s Championship.