Dave

Coupland

The 35-year-old Coupland finished top 10 in the standings for the European Tour’s qualifying series for next week’s major at Torrey Pines. The three-event series was based on aggregate Race to Dubai points and began with the Betfred British Masters, where he carded four straight subpar rounds to finish T-3 at 12-under 276, one shot behind playoff/tournament winner Richard Bland. Coupland struggled the following week at the Made in HimmerLand, shooting 77-69 to miss the cut in Denmark. He did not play in the third event of the series, the recent Porsche European Open. Next week will mark Coupland’s first start in a U.S. Open, his third start in a major and his first since the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon, where he missed the cut. Coupland is 4-for-9 in cuts made on the season.

The 35-year-old Coupland showed some resilience after opening with a 6-over 77 in Denmark with a second-round 69, but it wasn’t enough to make the weekend. However, he’s still T-6 in European Tour standings for qualifying for the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. This week’s event, which was shortened to 54 holes and changed to June 5-7 due to pandemic travel restrictions, is the third of three tournaments that make up a qualifying series based on aggregate Race to Dubai points. Coupland is aiming for his third start in a major and his first since the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon, where he missed the cut. In the first event of the qualifying series at the British Masters, he carded four straight subpar rounds to finish T-3 at 12-under 276, one shot behind playoff/tournament winner Richard Bland. Coupland, who makes his tournament debut in Germany, is 4-for-9 in cuts made on the season.

“It’s what I’ve always worked for,” the 33-year-old said after winning his card at Q School last November. “The older you get, you start to ask yourself whether it will happen. But I’m really happy we’ve kept working hard and got there.” His is a story of a three year growth because he won the third tier EuroPro Tour in 2018, earned promotion to the Challenge Tour, and whilst 54th in the rankings was not what he was aiming for, it gave him the confidence to attack Q School. He’s 1-for-2 in the campaign and now the hard work starts because he’ll get more starts in the next few weeks. In career terms he’s 2-for-9 on the ET with a best of T11 in the 2015 Lyoness Open.