BASINGSTOKE golfer Stuart Archibald has his sights set on a place at The Open Championship at Muirfield as he looks to kick-start his season.

The Worting player, who turns 29 later this week, will travel to Buckinghamshire Golf Club for Regional Qualifying next Monday – and he is looking forward to it.

“I love Open qualifying,” Archibald said. “It is every golfer’s ultimate goal to play at the Open and I am determined to give myself a good chance of qualifying this year.”

Archibald will need to finish near the top of the leaderboard to make it through to final qualifying, which will take place in Scotland at the start of July.

Again, only a handful of players will win a spot at the Open, which gets under way at Muirfield on July 18, but Archibald knows what it feels like to compete at final qualifying.

He made it through regional qualifying in 2009 and finished 17th in final qualifying at Gailes Links, in Scotland, shooting a one-over-par total of 143 for his two rounds. Sadly, this was not enough to earn Archibald a place at Turnberry – but he feels the experience will stand him in good stead this time around.

“I got myself into contention in 2009 but could not quite finish as I wanted,” he said. “Hopefully I can get the job done this time.

“I have done well at Buckinghamshire in the past and have some good memories from playing there. It will be nice to go up there and hopefully get through to final qualifying again.”

Archibald’s main focus for the season will once again be on the EuroPro Tour, the third tier of competition in European golf.

Finishing in the top five in the Order of Merit would earn him a place on the Challenge Tour for 2014 but he has got off to a slow start, missing the cut at his first two tournaments of the year.

“I have not been able to put it all together so far,” he said. “I’ve not got to grips with building a score.

“I am playing quite nicely in practice but we are getting a lot of breaks on the EuroPro Tour at the moment but I could have a good couple of weeks coming up.

“Then, the plan is to go to Dubai and play in the Mena Golf Tour in September and October. The top three on that tour get to play in the Dubai Desert Classic and it will be nice to play in the sunshine at that time of year.”

The really good news is that the www.golfprinciples.co.uk sponsored player seems to be free from the long-standing back injury that has caused him so many problems – and he is determined to enjoy playing golf for at least another year.

“I am in a good position at the moment in that I do not have any major financial outgoings,” he said. “Not many people get the chance to play golf professionally so I have decided to give it another go.

“The feeling you get when you are winning or in contention is amazing.

“It’s that feeling that keeps you playing and I have tried to replicate it by playing football in the winter but it’s not the same.”