Sam Locke will be the first Scottish winner of the Silver Medal for leading amateur at The Open since 2005 after making the cut by one shot.
The Stonehaven teenager was first out at 6.35am and had a long wait into the evening before his two round score of three over par was confirmed as being good enough to get through to the weekend.
And, with the other three amateurs in the field dropping out, Locke will be the last one standing.
He certainly showed impressive tenacity to bounce back from dropping three shots in his first three holes yesterday.
A run of pars was followed by three birdies in a row from 13, and even the bogey down 18 proved to be a good one.
“I thought my putt (from 25 feet) was just going to sneak in at the end, but it wasn’t to be,” he said.
“A five wasn’t too bad though, really. I could have been in the hazard (after his tee shot). I could have been out of bounds. So it could have been a lot worse than what it was.
“I felt I had to dig quite deep to get some of it back after my start. It was quite a tall ask to do that, so I was pretty pleased with myself to be honest.
“I just kept plugging away. You never know what’s round the corner in this game. I felt that if I could keep it in play on the tee and give myself chances for birdies, a few of them are going to go in. And thankfully they did.”
With the cut and Silver Medal pressure now off, everything over the weekend is a bonus for Locke, who has his dad and coach Andrew with him at Carnoustie as caddy.
“Neither of us have been in this situation before,” he said. “It’s nice for me to have him here because I wouldn’t have got here if it wasn’t for him.
“We’re both enjoying it. It’s a new experience but it’s worked out quite well.”
