Dartford Golf Club’s Mason Essam drops out of Final Qualifying contention during round two at Royal Cinque Ports; Martin Rohwer and Thomas Detry lead the field at Kent venue

Mason Essam was Kent’s best hope for Open qualification on Tuesday after a brilliant first round at Royal Cinque Ports - but he couldn’t sustain it.

Dartford Golf Club amateur Essam was one of several players in the county hoping to land one of the 19 places up for grabs over four links courses during Final Qualification.

Essam scored a brilliant 71 in the first round on the Kent coast to tie second but struggled when he went back out for the second round, signing for 76 to leave him three over.

Five places were available at Royal Cinque Ports for the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool later this month.

Essam had advanced to the Final Qualifying after finishing second at Rochester & Cobham last week. There were 288 players competing over 36 holes for the prize of Open qualification over the four courses.

England’s John Gough – the leading European in the World Amateur Golf Rankings – and Sweden’s Albert Hansson were among those at Royal Cinque Ports but it was South Africa’s Martin Rohwer and Belgium’s Thomas Detry who finished tied for first, three under par after two rounds.

Steven Tiley, from Royal Cinque Ports, got Final Qualifying under way with an early start, hitting the opening tee shot at Royal Porthcawl at 6.30am on Tuesday. It wasn’t the best of starts for him, however, as he double-bogeyed the first hole in what were tricky conditions for the early starters

Tiley shot rounds of 74 and 72 to finish four over in Wales.

At the same course, Rochester & Cobham’s Nick Panting had rounds of 76 and 80 to finish +14 overall

Nevill Golf Club’s James Whyte improved on his disappointing first round score of 81 with a second-round 75 to finish +14.

Abe Bignell (Kings Hill) shot a first-round 79 and signed for an 80 during