A spirited back-nine rally from Scott Jamieson over Sunningdale's Old Course was rewarded with a place in next month's Open Championship as the Glasgow man progressed through International Final Qualifying last night.
The 29-year-old, who made his one and only Open appearance to date at St George's in 2011, closed with a battling four-under-par 66 in the 36-hole scramble and grabbed one of the nine qualifying places on offer with a two-under aggregate of 137.
Jamieson had left himself with work to do after a two-over 71 on the New Course in the morning but three birdies on his opening five holes in the afternoon began the salvage operation. By the time he reached the turn, the Cathkin Braes member was in the qualifying places but back-to-back bogeys at the 10th and 11th threatened to scupper his bid. He upped the ante in the run-in, though, and a fine eagle at the 14th and a crucial birdie on the 18th sealed his place in the Muirfield showpiece.
"I thought two-under was going to be okay," said Jamieson. "I was in the process of making a bogey [on 10] when I realised it was going to be okay then I three-putted the next hole, as well. I got a nice eagle on 14 which made it very realistic again. I thought I just needed to birdie one of the last four holes and had a great up-and- down from 120 yards on 17 and a great birdie on the last."
While Jamieson celebrated, there was bitter disappointment for David Drysdale as he missed out in a play-off for the final place after finishing on 138. The 38-year-old, who acted as a marker for John Daly and Roger Chapman in the 1992 Open at Muirfield, dropped out at the first hole of a four-man shoot-out which was won by Argentina's Tano Goya.
Peter Whiteford also endured late anguish as he leaked two shots over the closing couple of holes to drop out of the qualifying zone with a 139.
The leaderboard was topped in remarkable fashion by the in-form American, Brooks Koepka. The 23-year-old had won the rain-delayed Scottish Hydro Challenge in Aviemore on Sunday night but missed his scheduled flight from Inverness to London because of the disruption. He got down south first thing in the morning, though, and reeled off rounds of 69 and 65 to tee-up an Open debut with a 134.
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