Colin Montgomerie’s transatlantic marathon to try and get back into the Open Championship for the first time in three years evaporated in the driving rain at Gullane but there was the usual drama as three Scots qualified.
The former Ryder Cup captain flew in from the USA on Monday to play in Local Final Qualifying, where just 12 players out of a field of 288 spread over four East Lothian courses could win a place in the championship at Muirfield in two weeks’ time.
It looked promising for Monty in the first round as the 50-year-old reached five-under-par after 12 holes, but the weather closed in at the same time as fatigue and he fell away to miss one of the three spots available from Gullane’s No 1 course.
There was joy for Scotland as national amateur champion Grant Forrest, who lives over the wall from Muirfield at Archerfield, won a place in his home Open by winning at Dunbar, while another local, the former Walker Cup player Lloyd Saltman, came through at Musselburgh.
At North Berwick Anstruther’s George Murray edged through in a three-way play-off for two spots when Irishman David Higgins found he had 15 clubs in his bag and was penalised two shots.
Murray, who shot a course record 64 at the famous West links to make the play-off, parred the first extra hole while Scottish-based club pro Gareth Wright birdied and both progressed into the Muirfield draw when Higgins discovered his mistake when he arrived at the green.
It will be the 29-year-old Murray’s first Open Championship, coming as a welcome boost after he lost his European Tour card at the start of this year.
Montgomerie flew in from finishing tied for ninth his Champions Tour debut at the Senior Players Championship in Pittsburgh and drove down from his home to play his first round at Gullane since he was an amateur, watched by a healthy-sized gallery despite the poor weather.
It started brightly enough with three early birdies and he stood well placed at five under the card and leading all qualifiers with four to play in his first round, but the gruelling schedule started to take its toll.
The supportive galleries perched along the top of Gullane Hill like a scene from Zulu saw him drop four shots on the way in and although he salvaged a birdie at the last from 18 feet, early bogeys in the afternoon had him reeling as the wet and windy weather closed in.
By the time he bogeyed out of a bunker at the short eighth, frustration had set in and he booted a bunker rake into the trap. A further bogey followed at the eleventh and Monty’s challenge fizzled out from there, ending with a 76 to miss by six shots.
“It wasn’t my schedule, and although the pace of play was shocking it wasn’t that either,” said the veteran Scot, who had only 35 minutes’ break between his two rounds.
“It was just that I didn’t play very well. I’d loved to have played in the Open again and that’s why I was here, and it’s very disappointing to fail to qualify having being five-under after 12 this morning.”
Monty played 21 successive Opens after his debut at St Andrews in 1990, but hasn’t made the championship since 2010, also at the Old Course. His best finish remains his second place to Tiger Woods, again at St Andrews, in 2005.
Forrest (20) shot a superb 65 in the afternoon at Dunbar to win the competition there by a shot.
Saltman shot two 68s at Musselburgh to tie for second place there and admitted afterwards that he has little experience of Muirfield although also he lives nearby.
There were some heartbreaks with Fifer Jamie McLeary edged out of the North Berwick play-off by just a shot having led with a five-under 66 after the first 18 holes.
There was also disappointment for young Glenbervie amateur Fraser Moore, who co-led at Gullane after 18 holes but missed a long birdie chance at the last in his second round to miss a qualifying place by just a shot.
Another amateur, Wiltshire’s Ben Stow, won at Gullane with two-under figures.