Former major champions Davis Love III and Rich Beem had cause to celebrate on Monday while fellow Americans Fred Couples and Tom Lehman missed out on booking places at next week's US Open. Big-hitting Love failed to qualify for this year's Masters but was among 21 players in a field of 140 at Brookside Golf & Country Club and Scarlet Golf Club in Columbus, Ohio who secured spots. Beem, who held off a charging Tiger Woods to win the 2002 PGA Championship, was one of two players who came through from Shadow Hawk Golf Club in Richmond, Texas. Love, whose only major victory came in the 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot, shot scores of 72 and 66 to qualify for his 18th consecutive US Open. He finished seven strokes behind Carl Pettersson (64, 67) in the 36-hole sectional qualifier. Pettersson advanced with fellow Swedes Fredrik Jacobson and Jesper Parnevik. There was disappointment, though, for former major winners Couples and Lehman, as well as Australia's Steve Elkington, the 1995 PGA champion. Former world number one Couples and Lehman failed to qualify at Brookside and Scarlet while Elkington missed out at Shadow Hawk where Beem and Charlie Beljan advanced. Britons Ross Fisher and Alastair Forsyth, Swede Johan Edfors and former Ryder Cup player Thomas Levet of France were among seven players to secure Open places at Walton Heath Golf Club on the outskirts of London, England. Two of the sectional qualifiers this year were international. Ibaraki Country Club in Osaka, Japan hosted a two-round qualifier last Monday, with Australian Craig Parry and Artemio Murakami of the Philippines securing the two spots available. Seventy-two players were already exempt for the US Open and a further 83 spots were up for grabs in sectional qualifying at 14 venues on Monday. The US Open will be staged for the first time at Torrey Pines where Argentina's Angel Cabrera will defend the title he won last year by a shot at Oakmont Country Club. Female Thai takes on men In Bangkok, Thai teenager Pornanong Phatlum will be aiming to become only the second female player to make the halfway cut on the Asian Tour when she competes in the Bangkok Airways Open this week. The 18-year-old is determined to follow in the footsteps of American prodigy Michelle Wie who was the first to play in all four rounds at the SK Telecom Open in South Korea in 2006. “I am very excited and happy as I am the only female player invited for the Bangkok Airways Open,” said Pornanong, currently the Asian ladies number one. “I have been practicing from the men's tee in preparation for this tournament. “I've played at the Santiburi Samui course previously and found it to be quite a challenge, so I hope to be more prepared this time around.” Pornanong has shown her star qualities by winning the Ladies Thailand Open and Indian Open in April. In Samui, she will face the likes of defending champion Lee Sung of Korea, former Asian Tour number one Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand, Taiwanese veteran Lu Wen-teh and former US PGA Tour player Scott Hend of Australia. Pornanong first came to prominence when she won the 2005 Ladies Hong Kong Open at the age of 15 while she was still an amateur. A year later, she turned professional and dominated the Ladies tour in the region, claiming the number spots on the Ladies Asian Golf Tour, the Orient Tour China and the Taiwan Ladies Tour.
