LOTHIANS ace Lloyd Saltman's hopes of a return to the Open championship field were given an early lift in the first round of the International Final Qualifier at the Sentosa club in Singapore today.
The Craigielaw rookie, who won the silver medal as the top amateur in the 2005 championship at St Andrews, fired a one-under 71 over the Serapong course and shares eighth place, two shots behind leading trio Danny Chia, Angelo Que and Englishman Yas
in Ali.
Saltman, looking to bounce back from missing the cut in the Asian Tour International at the weekend, made a flying start to his challenge with a birdie on the first hole. The former Walker Cup star picked up another stroke at the 12th and, despite a bogey at 15, he still finished well in sight of a top four place needed to secure a trip to Royal Birkdale in the summer.
While Saltman pushed himself into contention, his fellow Scots all saw their chances suffer a blow. Ross Bain, leading on the Asian Tour at the weekend until a final round collapse, appeared to be suffering a hangover from that event and toiled to a four-over 76. Simon Dunn also found the going tough and slumped to a 78.
Other players who struggled included Edinburgh-born Welshman Rhys Davies who had a 78 while former Asian Tour No.1 Jyoti Randhawa and rising Korean star Noh Seung-yul could only muster 77s.
ALISON NICHOLAS has named former US and British Women's Open champion Liselotte Neumann and England's Joanne Morley as her assistant captains for next year's Solheim Cup in Illinois. Previous European captains have had only one assistant, but Nicholas believes that having one based in America and another in Europe could help her side achieve their first victory on United States soil.
American captain Beth Daniel recently named Meg Mallon and Kelly Robbins as her assistants for the match at Rich Harvest Farms on August 21-23, 2009.
The full article contains 343 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
