A SPECTACULAR eagle two at the ninth proved crucial as Waterville’s David Higgins yesterday made it through to next week’s Open Championship at Turnberry with a splendid performance over the Glasgow Gailes links in the final local qualifying round.

Scotland’s Lloyd and Elliot Saltman today became the first brothers to qualify for The Open since Seve and Manuel Ballesteros 26 years ago – both of them by the skin of their teeth.

Scott Hend and Tim Clark claimed the clubhouse lead at the 2008 Australian Masters after a violent electrical storm swept across Huntingdale, delaying play for almost three hours.