They Weren't in the Field This Weekend, Now They're Playing the AIG Women's Open

As if the last major of the year needed more of the ante being raised, the gauntlet of final qualifying came down to a dramatic finish. More than 100 players arrived at St Annes Old Links on Monday morning with hopes of clinching one of the final 13 spots available into this week's AIG Women's Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

Getting into a major championship field is a win within itself, but doing so in the eleventh hour feels a lot sweeter for a select group of players. Four of those celebrations came from English players who will now get to tee it up in front of a home crowd.

Bel Wardle led the English charge after tying for medalist honors at 4-under, while amateur Lauren Crump, Annabelle Fuller and Jodi Ewart Shadoff also punched their tickets to the season's final major in golf's ultimate last-chance qualifier. (It is wild that the 18-hole gauntlet takes place just days before the first tee shot is struck.)

Eight players, who were all tied at 2-under par, went into a playoff to decided the final six spots available.

This championship has only seen a select few of its own claim the title, with Georgia Hall being the last one to do so at the 2018 Open, which also happens to be the last time it was held at Royal Lytham. Now seven years later, celebrating its 50th edition, the AIG galleries will have four more homegrown players to rally behind.

See the full list of final qualifiers below.