SANDWICH, KENT, ENGLAND, (July 11, 2011) –– The third major of the year is just a few days away and unlike the U.S Open a few weeks ago, the British Open is light on amateurs.  Only three players received exemptions from previous wins and the other two earned their spots in local/international qualifying.

Lucas Bjerregaard	Craig Hinton	Tom Lewis	Bryden Macpherson	Peter Uihlein

Lucas Bjerregaard
Became only the second Danish player to win the European Amateur Championship when he shot a final round of 70 for a 15-under 273 total to win by a stroke over England's Tommy Fleetwood and Italy's Andrea Pavan on the Vanajanlinna course in Finland. Fellow countryman Morten Backhausen beat Lee Westwood in a playoff for the title in 1993.

Craig Hinton
Won Local Final Qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports with rounds of 69-70 two years after suffering a short period of blindness while travelling in Spain with the England squad.  After a few days in hospital it took eight months to recover fully.  Then at the Spanish Amateur early in 2011 he again spent a week in intensive care with myopericarditis, an inflammation of the heart.  "After everything, it is unbelievable to be in The Open," he said.

Tom Lewis
A member of the Walker Cup squad, he won International Final Qualifying at Rye with rounds of 63-65.  Winner of the Boys Championship in 2009, he reached the last 16 of The Amateur this year and captured the St Andrews Links Trophy.

Bryden Macpherson
The 20-year-old from Melbourne became only the second Australian winner of the Amateur Championship when he defeated Scotland's Michael Stewart by 3 and 2 at Hillside, 57 years after Doug Bachli's victory over America's Bill Campbell at Muirfield in 1954.  A student at the University of Georgia, Macpherson gained his place at Royal St George's with his victory and said: "The Open is my dream tournament and if I could choose to win just one event in my life, I'd chose that one." He was the 2009 New Zealand and Australian Strokeplay Champion at 18 and reached the semi-final of the 2011 Australian Amateur.

Peter Uihlein
Winner of the 2010 United States Amateur Championship and a long-time holder of the number one position on the World Amateur Golf Ranking.  He was a member of the victorious American team that won the Walker Cup match against Great Britain & Ireland at Merion in 2009, winning all four of his matches.  His father is chief executive officer of Achusnet, parent company of Titleist.