Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ireland’s David Carey leads into the 150th Open as no Scots come through Final Qualifying

The Old Course in St Andrews will close on Monday for the Queen's funeral.
The Old Course in St Andrews will close on Monday for the Queen's funeral.

Dubliner David Carey walked the Old Course for the first time in his life on Monday evening – and then booked his spot in the 150th Open at St Andrews.

The 26-year-old holed a 50-foot putt on his final hole at Fairmont St Andrews to secure his place at the historic championship in July.

Carey is one of 16 players who made it over the final hurdle for Final Qualifying on Tuesday. He led the four qualifiers by four shots over 36 holes on a dreich day at the course overlooking the Auld Grey Toun.

No Scots through from Final Qualifying

None of 27 Scots in Final Qualifying across the four venues were able to make the championship.

Dunbar’s Daniel Kay got closest at St Anne’s Old Links, but lost out in a play-off to John Parry after finishing at six-under for 36 holes.

Carey, an ALPS Tour regular, was making only his second attempt to qualify for the Open, drawn by the historic nature of this year’s championship.

“I’m big on my golf history,” he said. “I went to the Old Course yesterday and walked around the first, second, 17th and 18th. Maybe that was the extra inspiration for me.

“That was the first time I’d even seen it. It is so cool to be able to walk it and see the stands and just look at everything.”

He would have been safely in the championship anyway after rounds of 68 and 69. But that monster final putt dropping meant he knew himself for sure.

“I always take the flag out but, on this occasion, I decided to leave it in, just in case it helped,” he said. “The ball barely got there before dropping in. That was a good bonus to finish.

“I think it was more a feeling of relief than a celebration as I knew that it was job done.”

Scots-born Dinwiddie makes third Open

Robert Dinwiddie, Dumfries-born but representing England, also came through with rounds of 71 and 70. The 39-year-old also played in the 2015 Open at St Andrews, and in 2017.

“Every one is special,” he said of playing in the Open. “But this is obviously a very special championship.”

Dinwiddie drove all the way from his home in London to play. He arrived on Monday night without the chance for a practice round.

“It was a tough, long day. If you’d given me three-under at the start I wouldn’t think it would have made it, but obviously I’m delighted I did,” he said.

2020 Scottish Open champion Aaron Rai, now a PGA Tour regular, was squeezed out at Fairmont. He was the odd man out in a play-off for the final two places with Dutchman Lars Van Meijel and Alex Wrigley of Hartlepool.

The best Scots finishers at Fairmont were amateur Calum Scott of Nairn and Blairgowrie’s Bradley Neil. They both finished two shots out of the play-off at level par.

After Tuesday’s qualifying there are just ten places left at St Andrews from high finishes at four remaining events. There are three places each this week at the Irish Open and the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic.

There are three more spots from high finishes at next week’s Genesis Scottish Open. There’s a final spot for a top five finish at the co-sanctioned Barbasol Championship.

Injury ends Sandy Lyle’s final bid

Sadly, Sandy Lyle’s bid to play one more time in the Open Championship ended when the 64-year-old’s body wouldn’t play ball.

The 1985 champion’s automatic exemption ran out at age 60 in 2018. He was trying to get back for one last shot at the 150th Open at St Anne’s Old Links.

However playing through a hamstring problem, Lyle was forced to withdraw after his first round.

Conversation