AS preparations for a tilt at qualifying for the 131st Open Championships go, not picking up a club for five weeks doesn't rank among the best ways of approaching the task.

For Worcestershire Golf Club professional Richard Lewis, however, it paid dividends as he fired a three under par 69 during regional qualifying at Trentham to earn a shot at grabbing one of the few prized Muirfield slots available at national qualifying this weekend.

The traditional scramble for the final few places in the Open Championship annually throws up a number of human interest tales from the golfing world and this year's is no exception.

Already through regional qualifying are the 15-year-old son of a Zimbabwean doctor and the son of boxing legend John Conteh.

Securing a starter spot in the Open is the Holy Grail for any golfer and this year 1,839 amateur and professionals pitched up for a chance at realising what is every golfer's dream -- Lewis is no exception.

Even former Open champion Gary Player, at the ripe old age of 67, will be teeing off in national qualifying in a bid to land a place alongside Tiger Woods et al next Thursday.

For Lewis it is the fourth time from six efforts that he has reached national qualifying but only once, when he missed out by one stroke, has he come close to gaining qualification.

"It is something I have always dreamed of doing and I will try every year until I do it," he said.

"Just pegging up in the championships would be wonderful and doing so would give me the push to play more."

With zero practice, however, and not even the chance to walk the Trentham course before he played it, Lewis was not expecting fireworks during regional qualifying.

The golfing Gods had other ideas however.

"I had no expectations, I had not even played golf for five weeks," he said.

"I hit a bag of balls the previous night then drove up and stayed locally because I didn't fancy tackling the traffic or getting up at 5am the next morning.

"I went straight to the practice ground and hit the biggest variety of shots you've ever seen in your life.

"All of a sudden I was stood on the first tee and flicked a switch and started hitting it straight.

"I was playing the course blind and it wasn't very professional in terms of preparations but what you don't see you don't worry about.

"Ordinarily I would always have a practice round and would always practice before an event but such were my commitments here I was unable to."

Lewis's next challenge comes at North Berwick in Scotland, where he will line up alongside the likes of 1995 Open runner up Constantino Rocca for 36 hole qualifying.

The 33-year-old has fond memories of Berwick, where he won as an amateur, and if the wind blows at the seaside course, Lewis believes he has every chance of making the cut.

"I've played a lot of links golf and if need be I can hit the ball knee high all the way round," he said.

As a former assistant pro at Royal St George's at Sandwich, he loves links golf and the different shot-making it involves.

"It's my favourite golf and if I had a choice that is all I would play," he said.

"Mainly because there are no trees, but also you are not tricked by the wind. You know exactly where it is coming from and how strong it is."

After his unconventional approach to regional qualifying at Trentham Lewis is taking no chances at Berwick and if he fails to reach the heights of Muirfield you can be sure it won't be down to lack of practice.