Scotland’s Richie Ramsay will play in next week’s US Open eight days after he arrived minutes too late for a play-off in the qualifying event at Walton Heath.
In near darkness Swede Johan Edfors beat Dane Andreas Harto for what was thought to be the final spot on offer, but now 22-year-old European Tour rookie Harto will play his first major at Congressional after the United States Golf Association decided to award an extra place.
That left Ramsay as first reserve from the qualifier and waiting to discover the chances of a late call-up himself.
Thinking his four-under-par total at Walton Heath was not good enough, he drove to Heathrow hoping to catch a flight to Belfast so that he could attend the wedding reception of tour colleague Gareth Maybin.
The 27-year-old from Aberdeen missed the plane, was then told he could be in a play-off, but by the time he got back to the course Edfors and Harto were already in action.
Ramsay would have been in another play-off for the US Open if he had birdied the final hole at Sunningdale on Tuesday, but instead he three-putted it for bogey to finish four under again.
However, USGA spokesman Pete Kowalski announced two extra spots being were given to qualifying sites in England and Japan. As Ramsay was the first alternate in England, it means he will be at Congressional on June 16-19 for the US Open.
Meanwhile, James Byrne narrowly missed out on qualifying in the US Open’s sectional shoot-out in Dallas.
The Banchory youngster had led the 36-hole contest at the Dallas Athletic club with an opening 66 but dropped out of a top-four finish needed to qualify with a second-round 72 for a 138.
Elsewhere, Spain’s Sergio Garcia and the 2004 Open champion Todd Hamilton both earned spots at Congressional next week but former major winners Mike Weir and David Duval were among the notable failures across the 11 qualifying venues.
Tiger Woods also announced that he was pulling out due to an ongoing leg injury.