Ramsay’s big sweat to beat US Open cut

Aberdeen’s Richie Ramsay was left sweating to see if he would beat the cut at the US Open last night.

Ramsay shot a second success one-over-par 73 at Erin Hills and at two-over for the tournament was one shot above the early predicted cut of one over.

The north-east golfer, however, was pleased with his efforts in Wisconsin, pointing out that the course was playing slightly harder on the second day.

Ramsay recorded three birdies but also four bogeys yesterday in bright but continuing breezy conditions at Erin Hills. The 34-year-old had ended day one bitterly disappointed to have double-bogeyed the downhill par 3 ninth hole to end his round. He and his caddie spent several minutes after Ramsay handed in his scorecard reviewing what went wrong.

Ramsay said: “I wasn’t here on Thursday morning but from what I saw on the TV it seemed calmer then than today.

“Now that I’m just in this morning it definitely seems to be settling down again for the afternoon starters.

“It’s not as severe as catching the wrong side of the draw at The Open – it’s not like last year at Troon.

“But I thought the course was playing harder today – a club more in the wind and playing a shot harder.

“I played well, though. I only missed one fairway but I didn’t really hole anything.

“I had a bad three-putt on 17 after hitting a good shot in and I just missed a chance on the last.

“The greens are noticeably quicker, too. Not quite like a different course but it felt more like a US Open today, whereas yesterday there was a low score to be had.

“This time it felt like if you miss it on the wrong side you are really going to struggle to get up and down. You’ve got to respect some putts.

“My playing partner Nick Flanagan hit a great shot to 25ft and couldn’t putt towards the hole because the slope would have taken it away too fast.

“Overall I thought I played well. One over is a pretty good score if you look at some of the pin positions out there today. I did myself justice.”

ROUGH TIMES: Richie Ramsay plays a shot during yesterday’s US Open second round at Erin Hills