Simon Wakefield followed an opening round of 65 with a 68 to finish among the top the qualifiers at IFQ Europe. An avalanche of late birdies in his opening round allowed Wakefiled the luxury of relaxing somewhat over his lunch, knowing that steady burn rather than fireworks would be all that he needed in the afternoon. A steady 68 was plenty, and he is relishing the thought of heading to Birkdale in three weeks' time.
Though it's a course he's never played, he has strong memories of watching Ian Baker-Finch winning the 1991 Open at the venue. "At the time I was too busy climbing conker trees to worry about playing golf," said Wakefield. "But my mum and dad took me along there to try and inspire me to get back into the game. It worked!"
Round of the day, however, belonged to Swede Alexander Noren, who must have considered packing up and going home after a morning 72 on the New Course. Yet he must be glad he stayed: a 63 on the Old Course in the afternoon propelled him up the leaderboard and secured him a spot at Birkdale. If anyone knows what he had for lunch, please let us know...
Feeling almost as inspired was Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal, who needed to produce something special after an indifferent 71 in the morning. Despite carrying an injury that would ordinarily have prompted him to sit out the event, he shot a five-under-par 65 on the New Course in the afternoon to make it likely that he'll find himself in a play-off with at least nine other players for the last few Open berths.
Alongside Olazabal will be Alastair Forsyth, who had a beautiful 65 in the morning but dropped back with a 71 in the afternoon: whether he makes it through or not, Forsyth will discover when he gets home late this evening that his brief tenure as Scottish number one is over, following Colin Montgomerie's second place finish at the weekend.
Several players had produced good morning rounds, only to fall away drastically over the second 18. Wales's Sion Bebb followed his opening 68 on the Old Course with an afternoon 77 on the New to go from being well-placed to near the bottom of the field. Equally disappointed will be England's Benn Barham, who shot 67-75; Australia's Matthew Zions, who shot 66-76; Robert Dinwiddie, with 66-72; and Mark Tullo, with 66-71. That none of them will be teeing up in The Open despite such good scoring goes to demonstrate the incredible strength in depth of this 240-man field.
Thomas Bjorn will also be ruing his luck, but for very different reasons. After a decent 68 in the morning, an injured shoulder forced him to withdraw after 11 holes of the afternoon round; he will be missing his first Open since 1995. "I tried to soldier on, particularly given that another player put a new slant on playing through injury a few weeks ago," said Bjorn, "but in the end I thought I should step aside and let Pelle [Edberg] concentrate on having a go at it." Bjorn walked the final holes with Edberg, marking his card and watching him finish on 135, safely within the likely qualifying number. But for Bjorn, it's disappointment, and having come to close to winning The Open at St George's in 2003 the Dane must be wondering if he is jinxed never to win the championship.
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