Rory McIlroy may have no concern for some time in being exempt into golf’s oldest major but it hasn’t stopped the double Major winning lending his support to the new Open Championship Qualifying Series.

R & A’s Mike Woodcock holds the Claret Jug on the 1st tee at Royal Sydney.

The R & A’s Mike Woodcock arrived in Sydney earlier this week carrying the famed Claret Jug that has been on show all week on the first tee of this week’s Australian Open host course at Royal Sydney.

The R & A has done away with the 36-hole International Final Qualifiers on five continents and instead has selected four national open’s (Australian, Irish, French and Scottish) plus a number of other events around the world where players can now gain entry into the Open Championship through a 72-hole tournament.

It has been hard for McIlroy not to miss the Claret Jug to the side of the first tee and he spoke of his support for the R & A’s superb new initiative.

“It’s a great new idea and a much better opportunity for players to try and qualify for The Open,” he said.

“Staging a 36-hole qualifier, as the R & A has been doing for a few years now, on the Monday ahead of a regular tournament is not the ideal preparation heading into a tournament like the Irish Open, so to merge qualifying into a 72-hole event makes more sense.

“It’s a lot fairer system I feel and also to have three spots available into The Open in events such as the Irish Open is a huge lift for those competing.”