Gareth Maybin shot a brilliant 65 in his second round at Walton Heath

Gareth Maybin will join Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell at the US Open after clinching a spot in the major at Monday's qualifier at Walton Heath.

Maybin looked unlikely to qualify after a 71 at Walton Heath's New Course but his afternoon 65 at the Old Course earned him one of the 11 spots.

Darren Clarke missed out by nine shots after rounds of 74 and 72.

McDowell has secured places in the US Open and The Open after staying in the world's top 50 in the latest rankings.

McDowell had to wait until the completion of the Byron Nelson Classic on Sunday night before learning that he was placed 49th in the latest list.

That meant McDowell avoided Monday's US Open qualifier.

Only the top 11 from the Walton Heath qualifier progressed to the world-famous Pebble Beach course.

Clarke has pulled out of this week's Madrid Masters and the 40-year-old said: "I'm flogging a bit of a dead horse and need a break.

"I'm just not enjoying it - I'm trying hard, but it ain't happening."

Shane Lowry (71 69), Gary Murphy (73 72) and Peter Lawrie (73 75) joined Clarke in missing out.

After finishing 28th in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, McDowell had to wait to discover if he had stayed in the world's top 50.

He could have been bumped out by events on the US Tour, but none of his main challengers were able to get the results they needed.

As well as earning a spot at Pebble Beach next month McDowell is also now exempt for July's Open at St Andrews.

Brian Gay, Scott Verplank and Michael Sim were the key men to him at the Byron Nelson Classic.

If they had all birdied the last hole McDowell would have lost out, but Gay and Verplank parred to finish joint second and joint fifth respectively, while Sim bogeyed and dropped to 23rd.

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