Immelman fails to join SA dozen at the Open

While Brandon Stone (right) booked his place at this week’s British Open with his thrilling win in the Scottish Open on Sunday. Trevor Immelman fell agonsingly short of becoming the 13th South African to tee up at Carnoustie.

The former Masters champion finished in a tie for third at Gullane alongside Swede Jens Dantorp and American Luke List, five shots behind Stone. With only three places at Carnoustie up for grabs, Stone, second-placed Eddie Pepperell of England and Dantorp secured their golden tickets. With List already exempt, the Swede edged out Immelman by virtue of a higher world ranking. Dantorp entered the tournament at No 322 in the world rankings, with Immelman lagging way back at No 1 380 following his struggles with injuries over the years.

Stone, a 1 000/1 outsider to win the Scottish Open, closed with a scintillating 60 on Sunday to book his Open spot alongside fellow South Africans Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Brandon Grace, Ernie Els, Zander Lombard, Retief Goosen, George Coetzee, Dylan Frittelli, Erik van Rooyen, Shaun Norris and amateur Jovan Rebula.

It will be his third appearance at golf’s oldest Major, with his best finish a tie for 70th place at Royal Birkdale.

Stone’s weekend could have ended a whole lot better had he sunk an eight-foot birdie putt on the 18th with the first-ever single round score of 59 on the European Tour on the line. There have now been 19 rounds of 60 on the European Tour, with Darren Clarke achieving the feat twice.

“If I’m going to be brutally honest, I had no idea what my score was until I walked on to the 18th green,” said Stone.

“My caddie came up to me and said, you don’t get putts like this too often, so I let him read it. I said I’m not reading this one. This is completely up to you.

“I rolled it over his mark, but he said it lacked a little bit of pace. So he probably is right. Didn’t hold its line, but we’ll take it.”

Irishman Padraig Harrington won the Open the last time it was hosted by Carnoustie in 2007, while Gary Player is the only South African to lift the Claret Jug there – in 1968. Els was the last South African to win the Open in 2012 at Muirfield.