EDDIE Pepperell will feature alongside golf’s biggest names at the US Open – but it only ranks third in importance on the Oxfordshire golfer’s schedule next month.

The 26-year-old from Abingdon impressively claimed a spot at Erin Hills, Wisconsin, with rounds of 67 and 66 in qualifying at Walton Heath on Monday.

It was an excellent display from a player who has only made two cuts on the European Tour this season.

That form has seen Pepperell, who finished 49th in the Tour’s rankings in 2014 and 2015, down at 198th and in a battle to avoid heading back to Qualifying School for the second year in a row.

It means while securing a place at his fourth Major is a very welcome bonus, the events he will play before crossing the Atlantic – in Sweden from tomorrow and Austria next week – are more crucial to the Frilford Heath member.

He said: “It’s nice to have qualified, but the truth of the matter is I have only qualified to play the toughest event in golf.

“What I take from qualifying is I played good golf, that’s the big thing for me.

“In all honesty, the next two events are more important for me than the US Open.

“After Austria there’s a re-rank which will determine how many events I will get into for the second half of the season and at the moment I will fall back because of the start I’ve had to the year.

“If someone offered it to me I would rather have two good finishes at the next two tournaments and miss the cut at the US Open, rather than the other way around.”

Pepperell had seen encouraging signs in his game during recent weeks, but just needed to find form on the greens.

While not quite hitting top gear at Walton Heath, he was confident of repeating his feat from 2013, when a spot at Merion was successfully booked.

Indeed, there was a very strong sense of déjà vu over the final two holes.

“I remember four years ago putting into a bunker on the 17th and dropping a shot, then I went to the last and hit it to 15 feet, where I holed the putt to qualify,” he said.

“This time I bogeyed the 17th and then had a 25-footer at the last.

“I said to my caddy ‘this is just the same’ and I holed it again.

“It’s amazing, the last time I was on that green I made a putt to reach the US Open and it happened again.”

He added: “To be honest it was a fairly steady two rounds where I always looked like shooting good scores.

“I just said to myself ‘go for it, make as many birdies as you can’.

“I was trying to win it and I played well enough to do that.

“Hopefully I can get on a run now.”