Open-and-shut case for Scots’ hopes
Home challengers’ qualifying misery
THERE was no Scottish 1-2-3 this time. In fact, with the tartan hopefuls coming up emptyhanded at Gailes Links as well as the three other Final Qualifying venues, the Scottish representation in the 144th Open Championship at St Andrews in a fortnight’s time could be as little as four-strong.
With just the French Open and Scottish Open to come, Sandy Lyle, Paul Lawrie, Stephen Gallacher and Marc Warren are the only home players currently in the line-up for this year’s Claret Jug contest. To say it’s a poor representation would be an understatement.
Jamie Mcleary, successful at this stage and this venue 12 months ago, came within a shot of making a play-off at Gailes Links. So, too, did Scott Henry and amateur Ewen Ferguson. Raymond Russell finished fourth at Royal Cinque while a jaded Colin Montgomerie couldn’t get into the mix at Woburn.
In Ayrshire, it was the sound of Lancastrian voices celebrating that filled the air as darkness descended at the end of a long day. Two players from the Red Rose county, Clitheroe professional Mark Young and Formby amateur Paul Kinnear, claimed spots. The other went to Ryan Fox, the son of former All Blacks standoff Grant.
When last year’s Open was being played at Hoylake, Young was fitting conservatories. He only gave up that job last November and now, just a few months later, the 33-year-old is heading for the home of golf to play in his first major. “It will be a dream come true to play in The Open at St Andrews – where better to play in one?” he said, pinching himself.
With rounds of 68 and 70 for a four-under-par total, he claimed top spot by two shots. “I played very well this morning and actually left a few shots out there,” added Young, who recorded a confidence-boosting top-10 finish in last week’s Europro Tour event at Newmachar but has no ranking at all. “I putted well and when the greens are as good as this, they tend to go in. “In the afternoon I made an interesting birdie-4 at the 14th after nearly being on the train track with my drive. I walked off the green laughing after that.”
Kinnear, a 20-year-old from Liverpool, and Fox, a 28-year-old who has won twice on the PGA Australasian Tour, secured their spots at the expense of Welshman Rhys Davies in a play-off after they’d all finished on 140, two-under. Kinnear birdied the first extra hole from three feet while Fox went through at the next after Davies found trouble in the rough. It was the second year in a row that Edinburghborn Davies had missed out in a shoot-out. “I was shaking over