British Open Final qualifying: The last tickets to play in the British Open at St Andrews were handed out yesterday, but Irish amateur international Michael McGeady failed to secure one. In the end, it proved to be a tantalising step too far for the Derry man as he narrowly missed out in the 36-hole qualifying at Lundin where his second round 69, to go with his opening 65 to finish on 134, was a shot too many.
McGeady was the only Irish player attempting to qualify who came close to achieving his aim, but, in the end, he came up agonisingly short. Six Irish players - Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie and British Amateur champion Brian McElhinney - are exempt for the season's third major.
US Tour veteran Brad Faxon did manage to claim one of the 12 qualifying places up for grabs at four courses yesterday. Faxon, after a 69 for 133, was initially pessimistic about that score being sufficiently good in the benign conditions at Lundin. "You never know, stranger things have happened," he added.
And that was how it transpired as his early return stayed the pace and he tied for runner-up with Swedish amateur Oscar Floren.
Norwegian Lars Brovold took only 27 strokes over the back nine en route to a round of 64 and a two-round total of 130 to head the qualifying at Lundin, while Italian Edoardo Molinari's total of 133 was the leading score at Ladybank. The Italian student shot a 66 to book his place in the field, and he was joined by Australia's John Wade and Robert Steele.
A 64 by England's Sean McDonagh set an early qualifying target at Leven Links on 134, a score that was matched by Eric Ramsay, a Scottish international who reached the semi-finals of last year's British Amateur.
Their places in championship were assured, and the third qualifying spot was decided by a play-off between Phil Worthington and Tino Schuster of Germany, with Schuster birdieing the first tie hole to book his place.
The play-off started at the 17th hole, which Schuster had birdied in his second-round 65. And he did it again to earn his place at St Andrews. The hole had cost Worthington a shot at the close of his second round when a nine-iron approach bounced through the green into a bunker, and it did him no favours in the play-off. "I thought it might be costly," he said ruefully.
McDonagh, from Dorset, but now based in California, called his coach overnight after a first-round 70 and changed his address position before the second round.
"It made a huge difference, I felt in control," he said.
Scottish pair Murray Urquhart and Lloyd Saltman, who will make his Walker Cup debut next month, and England's Andrew Marshall were the three qualifiers at Scotscraig.
