Higgins rues ‘horrible’ club blunder

Ireland’s David Higgins has accepted full responsibility for the blunder which cost him the chance of a place in the British Open at Muirfield.

Higgins discovered he had 15 clubs in his bag — one more than permitted — on the first hole of a play-off in Local Final Qualifying at North Berwick on Tuesday, the two-shot penalty ending his hopes and seeing opponents Gareth Wright and George Murray progress. The 40-year-old explained in his regular column on GolfcentralDaily.com that he felt his five-under-par total had little chance of being good enough, so had therefore dried and stored his equipment — including a spare rescue club — in his car.

“I couldn’t believe it but was delighted to see the way things were panning out as I moved up the leaderboard and became more confident that I could get one of the spots available in the play-off,” Higgins wrote.