Irish golfer David Howard qualifies for The Open after cystic fibrosis diagnosis

David Howard booked his first major championship start with a four-under-par performance at final qualifying in Scotland, where the Cork amateur shot 69 and 71 at Dundonald Links to finish tied for second and take one of five places available at the venue. The 27-year-old Fota Island Golf Club member will tee it up at The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale, a stage that has hosted the championship 11 times.

Howard’s path to Southport is defined as much by medicine as by golf. Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at seven, he said that between the ages of 10 and 13 he searched online and found life expectancy estimates that put him in his mid-20s. That makes his arrival at golf’s oldest major, while still in his 20s, a milestone shaped by both treatment advances and personal persistence. Howard has credited medical staff at Cork University Hospital with helping him reach this point, and he has served as an ambassador for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland since 2024.

The numbers around his breakthrough underline how narrow the margin was. Final qualifying offered 20 Open places across four UK venues, with five spots at each site. Howard’s 140 total at Dundonald Links was good enough to put him among the qualifiers and set up his first appearance in a major championship, despite his modest place of 1,456 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Howard did not take the conventional route to elite golf. He only began focusing seriously on the game in his late teens after spending five years working as a mechanic for Audi Cork. In 2025, he won the East of Ireland Men’s Amateur Open Championship at County Louth Golf Club, his maiden Golf Ireland title, and his rise has gathered pace since then.

Family has stayed close to the story. Howard’s father, John, caddies for him and has travelled with him to events in a camper van, a detail that has added a distinctly personal edge to the run toward Royal Birkdale. Howard has said it would be special to practice alongside Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington at the championship, and he has framed his Open place as a message to younger people living with cystic fibrosis: “anything is possible if you put in the work.”