Eagle hero Higgins earns place in Open

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.

His achievement means Ireland will have seven players in the championship – Higgins, holder Pádraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley and Damien McGrane.

Higgins’s career was interrupted over the last couple of years by illness that kept him off the European Tour circuits for six months and cost him dearly where qualifying to get into the most important tournaments was concerned. But he has come back fit and well this year and he is currently out in front in the Irish PGA Region order of merit by a comfortable distance.

“I am absolutely over the moon,” he glowed. “I was out early and it was a long day waiting around but I got the right result in the end. You have to enjoy two good days in these qualifiers, and there’s obviously a lot of pressure to get into the biggest tournament in the world, so I’m absolutely delighted.”

Monday’s opening 70 had put Higgins in with a decent chance of claiming one of the four places on offer at Glasgow Gailes and he played steadily yesterday for a 69 that moved him to three under and ultimately into a share of third, sufficient to claim one of the four spots on offer and so make it to Turnberry for his first tilt at the Open since Carnoustie in 2007.

Higgins bogeyed the third but got the shot back immediately with a birdie at the fourth before the eagle two at the ninth gave him just the spark of inspiration needed as he turned to tackle the homeward journey. He might have been upset by a bogey at the 12th but hit back in style with gains at the next two before playing the final four in par.

The 36 year-old Waterville golfer rushed home last night from Scotland to take his place in the line-up for today’s Irish PGA Championship first round at the European Club. He is due off at 12.40pm.

Peter O’Keeffe of Douglas went into the second round in third place at Western Gailes after a fine 70 on Monday and was looking a likely qualifier. He swapped a birdie at the first with a bogey at the second but picked up shots at 6, 9 and 13 to move three under for the day and four under overall.

However, all that great work was undone by bogeys at the 15th and 16th followed by a disastrous double at the 18th. A round of 72 for even par left him five strokes behind the Swede Fredrik Anderssen and two strokes outside the qualifying mark.

Austrian Marcus Brier looked a safe bet to qualify after Monday’s 64 at Kilmarnock Barassie and he made sure yesterday with a 66 for a superb 12 under par total of 130. Ulsterman Jonathan Caldwell was in contention after a first round 70 but lost out after a 74 yesterday.

l The 12 players to make it through to Turnberry were Thomas Aiken (South Africa), Peter Baker and Elliott Saltman (Scotland) and David Higgins at Glasgow Gailes; Markus Brier (Austria), Scotland’s Lloyd Saltman, Daniel Gaunt (Australia) and Peter Ellebye (Denmark) at Kilmarnock Barassie and Fredrik Anderssen Hed (Sweden), Steve Surrey, Thomas Haylock and Daniel Wardrop, all from England, at Western Gailes.