Duo left to fly the flag

Nick Rodger

Golf Correspondent

Saturday 21 July 2012

It was a day of mixed emotions on the home front.

Martin Laird at the 18th on his way to surviving the Open cut for the first time. Picture: Getty Images

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Nick Rodger

Paul Lawrie and Martin Laird fly the flag for Scotland in the upper reaches of the leaderboard heading into the Open's closing 36 holes but the small tartan army at Royal Lytham was decimated on cut day. Six became two as Richie Ramsay, Steven O'Hara, Sandy Lyle and Elliot Saltman missed out.

For Ramsay, who had early exits in his previous two Open appearances, at Carnoustie in 2007 and Turnberry in 2009, the failure to make the grade here was particularly infuriating. It was his fifth missed cut in six events and he has been left with plenty to ponder after a three-over 73 left him a shot the wrong side of the qualifying line on 144."There were so many simple mistakes and this has been by far and away the worst couple of weeks of my career," seethed Ramsay. "The Scottish Open and the Open, the two biggest weeks of the year? It's easily the worst. I'm going to have to sit down and work out exactly what I'm doing, it's not even close to satisfactory. I'm striking it alright but the scoring and the mental game are just terrible."The three weeks until Ramsay resumes European Tour duties will be spent doing a considerable amount of soul searching."It's pretty depressing to be honest," added the 29-year-old. "You won't be able to print what I think, it'll just be bleeps. This has been the toughest two weeks of my career, by a massive margin. I'm going to have to come back somehow. It's not a time to make knee-jerk reactions but there are going to be some serious changes. To keep playing like this would drive me insane. Everybody says there's light at the end of the tunnel but I don't see any right now."The mood wasn't so dark with Laird. Following three successive missed cuts in the Open since his debut at Turnberry in 2009, the Glasgow man finally made the breakthrough yesterday and comfortably progressed to the weekend with a one-under 69 for a 139 total which hauled him up into a share of 15th place.It was Laird's first sub-par round in the Open. He is now targeting a much lower number as he looks to barge his way further up the standings. He did not fully exploit the benign, inviting and scoreable conditions and, despite reeling off five birdies, the two-time PGA Tour winner's progress was hampered by a three-putt double-bogey six on the eighth. "It was a mixed bag, there were some good shots and some terrible ones," said the former Scottish Youths champion. "I do feel there is a score in there and even my caddie said that we could've been eight under today. Unless we get wind, this course is here for the taking. I'm going to need to do a six-under to get back in this and if the conditions stay the same, the leaders are going to pull further away. I'm in a good position, though but I just need to cut out the loose shots."Lyle, the Open champion at Sandwich in 1985, will head for next week's Senior Open at Turnberry on the back of a missed cut as he exited on 146 after a 72 while O'Hara, the former Scottish Amateur champion, joined him on the six-over casualty list after a 72 that unravelled early on when he staggered to double bogeys at the fifth and the seventh. O'Hara rallied with a burst of three birdies on the back nine but it was never going to be enough to repair the damage and his Open debut came to a premature conclusion."I think the biggest thing I can take from this week is in regards to course management," said the Walker Cup winner. "And, being completely honest, mine isn't very good compared to the top guys."Elliot Saltman racked up a quadrauple bogey eight on the 17th on his way to a 75 for 151.

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Duo left to fly the flag

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