Does anybody now why he declinded the Open spot.

Frenchman Thomas Levet has gained a late entry for this week's Open Championship at Turnberry after American Brett Quigley turned down his exemption for the third Major of the year.

???????

He couldn't get on the charter flight because he didn't have his passport. That's the only reason I heard.

He wanted to go to the memorial service for Chris Smith's wife.

Now we'll have someone calling him a tool for having respect for a friend's deceased wife in refusing an prestigious Open exemption.

while him goin to memorial for friends wife is very honorable and possible true. i heard he didnt have his passport with him so was unable to go overseas.

he obviously didnt have any faith he would play well haha

Quigley's second place finish Sunday at the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic qualified him for the British Open. When the day began he never anticipated finishing in that spot. Quigley was in last place among those who made the cut, with 36 holes to play in the rain-delayed event. But he shot a sizzling 62 on the first 18 holes, and he followed that with a 67.

At that point Quigley had a difficult decision to make. "I didn't get much sleep last night kind of agonizing over that decision not to go to the British," Quigley told WTVO. "Basically the deciding factor is I didn't have my passport. It's in Florida. I couldn't get the charter that they had going over there last night, so I couldn't get over there (Scotland) until Tuesday night. And I just wouldn't have been mentally and physically ready to play. It's the British Open. It's not something you go into half-hearted."

Milwaukee, Wis.—At least a dozen PGA Tour players won’t be on site Tuesday at the U.S. Bank Championship here at Brown Deer. They’ll be boarding a plane to attend a memorial service in Peru, Ind., for the wife of tour player Chris Smith, who was killed last month in a car accident.

A dozen players have signed up for the flight so far, plus two spouses, and more are expected. Among those attending will be Brett Quigley, who qualified for this week’s British Open at Turnberry by virtue of his second-place finish Sunday at the John Deere Classic. Because of the memorial service, Quigley opted to take a pass on going to Scotland and play instead at Brown Deer. Quigley told the Associated Press, “My heart’s not into playing the British.”

I was told that he did not even bring his passport to the John Deere. He had made the decision to go to the funeral service before he even teed it up this week.

Quigley ????? Why decline the Open spot

He put a friend before golf. For that he just moved up on my list of professional players. Hopefully the golf Gods will pay him back soon with his first tour win.

i'm surprised it was possible for the original poster to learn of quigley eschewing the british open without simultaneously learning his reason for missing it.......every article i've seen dealing with item A includes item B.

Yours is the only post I am reading saying that.

Quigley's not one of the guys that really "move the needle" on Tour, so you don't hear much about him, but he seems like a great guy.

I can confirm that he is a great guy...me and my cousin were standard bearers at the old Advil Open(Cog Hill) and he was in our group and was extremely nice

Thanks for the info guys.
The web sites here in England only said that he declined the spot and not the reason,they decided to focus on who was getting the spot rather than why Quigley declined.
I agree that is great to see Family and Friends comes before golf.

I didn't want it to be another American that does not want to play real golf,i think Brett is a great player and would do well on links course's.
Hopefully he will make next year's Open

Good! It's definately not the norm. Everyone who makes a good decision for "them" gets flamed on boards like this. I'm glad this thread didn't go in that direction.

I went to college with Brett at South Carolina and he is a stand up guy.


I see him at tour stops and he is still the same guy he was when we got to Columbia in 1987.

Good for him.

Jay