Three Scottish players fell agonisingly short of winning places in the 150th Centenary Open at St Andrews in two weeks by losing out in playoffs at the local final qualifying for the championship at courses in Fife.
Amateur Championship finalist James Byrne, former Open Silver Medal winner Lloyd Saltman and former Scottish Amateur champion Callum Macaulay all ended up in playoffs but lost out in the race for one of only 12 places available in the Open from the four venues.
Byrne was edged out in a four-way playoff for two places after shooting an eight-under 64 in the first round at Kingsbarns, while Saltman missed out despite leading after the first 18 at Scotscraig and Macaulay just missed a 25-foot birdie putt that would have prolonged another four-way playoff at Ladybank.
For Byrne, it was a fourth blow after coming within a shot of getting into the Open last year in final qualifying, also missing out narrowly on a place at St Andrews by finishing third in the European Amateur last year and being runner-up in the Amateur Championship final just over a week ago.
This despite his brilliant 64 in the morning left him three shots clear but a radical change in the wind speed in the afternoon left him grinding to a 76.
After a three-and-a-half-hour wait he had little left for the playoff, eventually losing out at the second playoff hole to another amateur, Jamie Abbott, after England’s Tom Whitehouse had claimed one spot at the opening hole of sudden death.
Ireland’s Colm Moriarty won the Kingsbarns leg with a seven-under aggregate of 137, but Byrne could barely believe the chance had gone.
He said, “I played steady but there was a 20mph stronger wind in the afternoon, it was brutal.
“In the morning it was flat calm, there wasn’t a breath of wind. I could have shot 61 as I missed three putts inside eight feet.”
He added, “Every hole was harder in the afternoon and on the back nine there weren’t many birdies chances, but I didn’t help myself with a triple-bogey on the fifth, my 15th of the afternoon, when I hit a shank out of rough into a bush.
“You start wondering if ever going to make it. I’m only 21 but this was my fourth good chance and when I had the shank I thought ‘Jesus, not again’.”
Byrne admitted that the heavy schedule of 10 rounds at the Amateur followed by playing for Europe’s student team against the USA in the Palmer Cup last week in Ireland might have taken its toll.
He said, “After the first round I was thinking this was my chance at last, but I was definitely tiring as the day went on.
“It was asking a lot after playing so much and maybe fatigue caught up with me in the second round.”
Saltman, who qualified from Scotscraig in 2005 as an amateur, finishing 25th in the Open and winning the Silver Medal, was delighted to have drawn the Tayport course again and felt good vibes after a morning 66 put him in a tie for the lead.
In the afternoon a double bogey six at the 17th, his eighth hole, set him back and two more bogeys on the front nine left him on the cusp of qualifying spots, but he birdied the par-five ninth to complete a one-over 71.
That tied him in second with Steve Tiley and Gary Clark on three-under aggregates of 137, two behind Lincoln’s Paul Streeter, who shot an outstanding 66 in the second round to lead.
That meant another two-from-three play-off and after he got a heavy contact on his second shot from a bare lie and came up 60 yards short of the green, the Scot could not get up and down and lost out to solid pars from Tiley and Clark.ChanceHe said, “I came here and gave myself a chance, and I was comfortable coming here after 2005.
“The club members were brilliant supporting me and it would have been amazing to get back to St Andrews, so this is a sore one.”
He added, “I feel I’ve been playing better the last few weeks at the Scottish Challenge, in Spain and now here and I’m off to Sweden tomorrow so I’m not going to dwell on it.”
The odds were against Macaulay with just one qualifier from four tied on five-under 137 in the play-off at Ladybank, and the Tulliallan man missed a 25-foot chance on the first extra hole to be edged out by Windermere’s Simon Edwards.
“It just burned the cup, and it’s a sore one to have got so close and just fail,” said Macaulay, who also had little time to consider as he qualified for the French Open and was heading straight for Paris where he is in the first group of the first round tomorrow morning.
The two other Ladybank qualifiers were amateur Tyrrell Hatton from Harleyford, Buckinghamshire, and veteran former European Tour player Philip Archer.
At the Fairmont St Andrews Torrance Course another amateur, Saltford’s English international Laurie Canter, led the qualifiers with Zane Scotland, who qualified for the Open at Carnoustie in 1999 aged only 16 in second place and Denmark’s Mark Haastrup in third.
The veteran former PGA Championship Andrew Oldcorn was the best-placed Scot, two shots out of a play-off.