A decade after his one and only appearance in the US Open, Richie Ramsay will be back in the second major of the men’s season next month after coming through the 36-hole sectional qualifier at Walton Heath last night.
While the scramble for a place at Erin Hills proved too much of a mountain to climb for a number of other Scots in the field, Aberdonian Ramsay coasted through the two round test and added a significant date to his golfing diary.
A pair of six-under 66s, for a 12-under aggregate of 132, left him in a share of third, two shots behind the No 1 qualifier, Aaron Rai.
For Ramsay, it will be a first US Open appearance since 2007 when he competed as an amateur at Oakmont having earned his place there by winning the previous year’s US Amateur Championship at Hazeltine.
Ramsay opened his qualifying campaign yesterday with purpose and despite an early bogey on the fifth he repaired the damage with a profitable haul of seven birdies, including four in a row from the 13th.
The former Walker Cup player repeated the trick in the afternoon to cement his place in the qualifying positions and another 66, which included a similar quartet of birdies over that same four-hole stretch, put the tin lid on a productive day.
The small Scottish contingent for next month’s showpiece in Wisconsin will be made up of Ramsay and his Invernesian compatriot, Russell Knox.
Duncan Stewart (six-under) and Scott Henry (five-under) came up short of the nine-under qualifying mark as a total of 15 players made the grade.
That number included the Welsh veteran, Bradley Dredge, and England’s cult figure Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, who is dividing his time between both the European and the PGA Tours this season,
On the amateur front, meanwhile, Jamie Stewart will head into this week’s Scottish Open Strokeplay Championship at Western Gailes in a buoyant mood after sharing second in the English equivalent, the Brabazon Trophy, at Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire at the weekend.
The Old Ranfurly youngster reeled off rounds of 74, 74, 67 and 68 for a nine-under 283 and finished joint runner-up behind South African winner, Kyle McClatchie.
Stewart’s fellow Scot, Connor Syme, shared eighth place on a 289.
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