Lyle fears for tour status

Sandy Lyle considers it unfair that after winning two majors and three Order of Merit titles he might still lose his European tour exempt status at the end of this season.

Lyle resumed the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond on four under par, two behind Justin Rose, and battling as hard as he can to end 10 years without a tournament win.

The 44-year-old does not believe his place on the circuit should be as much on the line as it is, however.

Lyle is a Category Nine member restricted to the tour’s leading 40 career money-winners.

‘‘I’m something like 39th and if it had been a points system I would have probably still been about ninth or 10th,’’ said the former Open and Masters champion.

‘‘But because it’s money and the value of tournaments has gone up so much now, somebody doing well for three or four years will go past someone like myself who has been on the tour for 20-odd years.

‘‘It seems a little unfair to me.’’

When he won the Open at Sandwich in 1985 Lyle collected £65,000 (€102,000). Seventh place on Sunday earns more than that.

His career earnings in Europe stand at £2.7m (€4.2m). Sergio Garcia has picked up virtually the same since turning professional in April 1999.

There are genuine signs, though, that Lyle is climbing out of the deep pit his career fell into.

After five seasons in which he did not manage a single top-10 finish, Lyle has now had a 65, three 66s and his 67 yesterday in his last five tournaments and was sixth at the English Open last month.

‘‘This is what I’ve been waiting for for a long time,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve always felt I could play a lot better than the way II was.

‘‘The whole jigsaw seems to be coming together now. The confidence is there and my ball-striking is good both on the range and the course.

‘‘Then it’s down to how determined you are. I don’t want to start mouthing off that I’m going to win the Open next week, but I think it could happen.

‘‘My expectations are very, very good. Muirfield is not all about power and the way I feel my irons are going, and the confidence level, I feel very competitive.

‘‘I don’t want to start looking too far ahead of myself and then just trip and fall, but I’m as happy as a sandboy.’’

Rose, seeking an amazing fifth win of the year and with a chance to take his 2002 winnings through the £1m (€1.57m) mark, had a one-stroke overnight lead over Marbella-based Englishman Miles Tunnicliff and Swede Fredrik Jacobson, with Lyle joint fourth.

Tunnicliff’s victory in the Great North Open three weeks ago - two weeks after his mother died of cancer - lifted him from 280th on the Order of Merit to the verge of his first-ever appearance in the Open championship.

He has not even filed an entry because he expected to be competing in a Challenge Tour event in Germany instead, but his win has helped him to eighth place in a mini-money list that has been running since the end of May.

On Sunday afternoon the top seven qualify for Muirfield - plus the top eight non-exempt players in the Scottish Open itself.