Four Scots at the Open so far as Hume seals place

BARRY Hume will join the small contingent of Scottish golfers in next week's Open championship after sealing his Royal Birkdale place in the closing round of final qualifying yesterday.

The former Scottish Amateur champion, who played in the 2004 Open at Troon, signed off with a five-over 75 in tough conditions at West Lancs but his one-over aggregate of 145 was good enough to gain the second of four places on offer behind No 1 qualifier Philip Walton, the Irish Ryder Cup player.

Hume, who will tee-up alongside fellow Scots Colin Montgomerie, Paul Lawrie and Sandy Lyle in the Open field next week, had been setting the pace in the qualifying race after opening with a two-under 70.

The 26-year-old was still out in front through 12 holes of his second 18 but slipped to bogeys at the 14th, 15th and 17th and had to endure an anxious wait before his Birkdale berth was confirmed. "This is a huge lift and hopefully I can use this to kick-start my season," said Hume.

"I was going along nicely and then hit a very poor second shot at 14 which started a chain of events and led to a couple more bogeys. But I held on in there and I'm delighted to get through. Hopefully I can use the experience of Troon to my advantage this time and have a good week at Birkdale."

Hume was the only Scot out of 23 home hopefuls to progress past the 36-hole shoot-out. Andrew Oldcorn, who led the 1991 Open at Birkdale after two rounds, withdrew from his campaign at West Lancs after an opening 75, while George Murray, the former Scottish Amateur champion, missed out at Hillside after a 75 left the Fifer in a share of seventh on 145. Andrew Coltart, the former Ryder Cup player, also failed there with a 149 after a damaging 77.

Comrie amateur Wallace Booth, in the hunt after a first round 71 at Southport & Ainsdale, toppled out with an 80 for 151, while Raymond Russell, tied fourth the last time the Open was held at Birkdale in 1998, signed off with a 79 to finish well down the order on 154.

Jean Van de Velde will be back on the Open stage after a last-hole birdie sealed a one-under-par total of 143. The 42-year-old Frenchman, famed for his last-hole disaster at Carnoustie in 1999, pitched to within 18 inches of the flag on the 439-yard 18th. But that would have been of no use if his ball had been lost in thick rough off the 17th fairway.

"I might have taken eight on the hole, but managed to par it," said Van de Velde, who had asked for better crowd control after his opening 70 on Monday.

"The crowd were on my side both days, but just a little bit too close to my side at times. People are trying to communicate with you, but sometimes they were so excited they got in my way and I felt I had to say something."

Van de Velde added: "It means a lot to be playing in it again. There are only two tournaments a year I want to play in and play good in – the French Open and the Open. I qualified in 1999 and played quite well, so maybe this is my chance."

FACT BOX

Open Championship local final qualifying

(GB&I unless stated, * denotes amateur)

HILLSIDE (par 72)

Qualifiers:

140: J Elson 67 73; 143: *C Wood 71 72, *R Blizard (Aus) 71 72, J Van de Velde (Fra) 70 73.

Scottish non-qualifiers:

145: G Murray 70 75; 148: C Kelly 71 77; 149: A Coltart 72 77; 151: S Rettie 76 75; 152: I Simpson 74 78; 154: M Finlayson 74 80; 155: *M Cunningham 77 78.

SOUTHPORT & AINSDALE (par 72)

Qualifiers:

141: *T Sherreard 72 69, J Bevan 70 71; 143: G Boyd 71 72, J Howarth 70 73.

Scottish non-qualifiers:

149: J Doherty 73 76; 151: *J Mathers 74 77, *W Booth 71 80; 154: R Russell 75 79; 156: G Gordon 72 84; 159: *N McKinnon 80 79; N/R: D Drysdale.

WEST LANCS (par 72)

Qualifiers:

142: P Walton 72 70

145: B Hume 70 75

147: J Lomas 75 72, P Appleyard 72 75

Scottish non-qualifiers:

153: D Patrick 74 79; 156: G Brown 78 78; 157: *K Hamilton 76 81; 159: J McGhee 80 79; 162: *J Byrne 79 83; W/D: A Oldcorn.

TEE TIMES

Tomorrow's first round

Gbr & Irl unless stated (x) denotes amateurs

Starting at hole 1

0730 David Lynn, Simon Wakefield, Anton Haig (Rsa)

0740 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa)

0750 Anthony Wall, David Dixon, Paul McGinley

0800 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Bradley Dredge

0810 Sam Walker, James Kingston (Rsa), Paul Broadhurst

0820 Iain Pyman, Simon Lilly, Marcus Fraser (Aus)

0830 Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Phillip Archer

0840 Scott Drummond, Stephen Dodd, Peter Hedblom (Swe)

0850 Danny Willett, Emanuele Canonica (Ita), Oliver Fisher

0900 Peter Whiteford, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Rafael Echenique (Arg)

0910 John Bickerton, Simon Dyson, Ariel Canete (Arg)

0920 Rory McIlroy, Ross McGowan, Christopher Hanell (Swe)

0930 Peter Baker, Andrew Oldcorn, Callum Macaulay

1230 Carl Suneson (Spa), Sion Bebb, Mardan Mamat (Sin)

1240 Richard Finch, Peter Hanson (Swe), Soren Kjeldsen (Den)

1250 David Howell, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Thomas Bjorn (Den)

1300 Henrik Stenson (Swe), Andres Romero (Arg), Marc Warren

1310 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Graeme McDowell, Ernie Els (Rsa)

1320 Oliver Wilson, Phil Mickelson (USA), Ross Fisher

1330 Gary Orr, Darren Clarke, Damien McGrane

1340 Richard Sterne (Rsa), Paul Lawrie, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind)

1350 Sam Little, Simon Khan, Andrew McLardy (Rsa)

1400 Jean Van de Velde (Fra), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)

1410 Mark Brown (USA), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra)

1420 Gary Murphy, Henrik Nystrom (Swe), John Gallacher

1430 Jonas Blixt (Swe), Peter Fowler (Aus), Jose-Filipe Lima (Por).

Starting at hole 10

0730 Ignacio Garrido (Spa), Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Pablo Martin (Spa)

0740 Graeme Storm, Anders Hansen (Den), Nick Dougherty

0750 Peter Lawrie, Scott Strange (Aus), Felipe Aguilar (Chi)

0800 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie

0810 Niclas Fasth (Swe), Ian Poulter, Angel Cabrera (Arg)

0820 Gregory Havret (Fra), Adam Scott (Aus), Alastair Forsyth

0830 Thomas Levet (Fra), Hennie Otto (Rsa), Johan Edfors (Swe)

0840 Richard Green (Aus), Soren Hansen (Den), Stephen Gallacher

0850 Jamie Donaldson, Shiv Kapur (Ind), Mikael Lundberg (Swe)

0900 Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Lee Slattery, Carlos Rodiles (Spa)

0910 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Andrew Coltart, Greig Hutcheon

0920 Reinier Saxton (Ned), Martin Wiegele (Aut), Stuart Manley

0930 Leif Westerberg (Swe), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Michael Jonzon (Swe)

1230 Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Miles Tunnicliff, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra)

1240 Pelle Edberg (Swe), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Phillip Price

1250 Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Christian Cevaer (Fra), Barry Lane

1300 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Francois Delamontagne (Fra)

1310 Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)

1320 Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Mark Foster

1330 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Steve Webster, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe)

1340 Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Robert Dinwiddie, David Drysdale

1350 Matthew Millar (Aus), James Kamte (Rsa), Paul Streeter

1400 Tom Whitehouse, Sven Struver (Ger), Alexander Noren (Swe)

1410 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Peter O'Malley (Aus), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)

1420 Lloyd Saltman, Garry Houston, Edoardo Molinari (Ita)

1430 David Griffiths, Gareth Paddison (Nzl), Benn Barham.