Scottish siblings Lloyd and Elliot Saltman became the first brothers to qualify for The Open in 26 years.
Scots carve out piece of Open history
Scottish siblings Lloyd and Elliot Saltman became the first brothers to qualify for The Open in 26 years as they both scraped through qualifying for next week's event at Turnberry.
The Saltman's will emulate Seve and Manuel Ballesteros when the pair line up at Turnberry next week after they both made it through the qualifying event in Scotland.
Lloyd Saltman finished with a ten-under par total at Kilmarnock Brassie to grab one of the four spots on offer there, while Elliot scraped through by a shot at Glasgow Gailes.
Former amateur star Lloyd, who four years ago finished a brilliant 15th at St Andrews in his only Open so far, had to wait five hours before discovering his round was good enough to get him through.
The 23-year-old spent some of that time watching his older brother competing at nearly Glasgow Gailes, where he made it through from the final group on course - and only as Ricky Lee failed to birdie the last.
Austrian on song
Austrian Markus Brier stormed through to Turnberry as he followed up his course-record 64 with a 66 for a six-stroke win over Saltman, Gaunt and Dane Peter Ellebye, who sank a six-iron at the long eighth for the second albatross of his life.
"Links golf is in my body - I loved it from when I was a teenager and visited Turnberry with six or seven other Austrian amateurs," said 41-year-old Brier, who finished on 16-under overall.
Former Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal was still in with a chance of grabbing one of the four places on offer at the same course when he resumed on three under par, but after bogeying the long first he then blasted a drive out of bounds at the third and ran up a triple-bogey seven.
Olazabal's Turnberry hopes now rest on him grabbing the one exempt spot up for grabs at the Scottish Open.
"It was doom and gloom after that for me, but Markus played really well," said the Spanish star, whose level-par 73 put him out by seven strokes.
Ferrie fumes
England's Kenneth Ferrie, who missed out by one shot by finishing sixth at the French Open on Sunday, launched a scathing attack on Open organisers after falling three shots short at Barassie.
After teeing off just before 7.30am Ferrie feared a closing three-putt bogey had cost him dear and said: "The pin placing on the 18th is an absolute disgrace.
"My putt had four breaks on it from 25 yards and it just leaves a sour taste.
"I drove here late at night on Sunday and battled away for 35 holes, but just feel now it was a waste of time. And I guarantee when I turn on the TV next week there will be a lot of stupid flags at Turnberry."
The successful quartet at Western Gailes were Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed and English professional Steve Surry, Thomas Haylock and Daniel Wardrop, who had six successive birdies from the eighth to get through right on the mark of two under.
At Glasgow Gailes, Saltman was joined by South African Thomas Aiken, former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker and Ireland's David Higgins.
