Van de Velde to miss Open

Jean Van de Velde will not be returning to the scene of his British Open Championship heartbreak in two weeks’ time.

Suffering from a mystery illness for more than three months, the 41-year-old Frenchman today made the “bitterly disappointing” decision that he was not fit enough for next week’s Scottish Open, his last chance to qualify for the British Open at Carnoustie.

Eight years ago, in the most dramatic finish to any Open in history, Van de Velde stood on the final tee three clear of the field and needing only a double bogey six.

France’s first win in the Championship since Arnaud Massy in 1907 was there for the taking, but inexplicably to many of the watching millions Van de Velde went for the green with his second shot instead of laying up and paid an incredible price.

The ball rebounded off a grandstand, over the Barry Burn and into a horrible patch of rough. His next went into the burn and after taking his shoes and socks off and wading it he decided he had to take a penalty drop.

His fifth shot went into a bunker and by getting up and down for a seven he was in a four-hole play-off with Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard, which the Scot won with two closing birdies.

Runner-up Van de Velde then suffered a marriage break-up and a knee injury which threatened his career, but fought his way back to win the Madeira Island Open last year – his first victory for 13 years.

After the Portuguese Open at the start of April, however, he began suffering sickness and a London Harley Street specialist has so far not discovered the cause of the problem.

Manager Jamie Cunningham said today: “Jean is going to go for further tests next week. The one on Tuesday this week solved nothing.

“He knows what pulling out of the Scottish Open means and he is bitterly disappointed about tit, but he does not think there is any point going there not feeling competitive.

“He does not feel 100% confident of playing four rounds, so reluctantly is withdrawing. Hopefully it won’t be long before he’s back, but no there’s point speculating on that at the moment.”

One British Open Championship place is up for grabs at Carnoustie, but Van de Velde would have had to finish in the top 10 to be in contention for it, but he last achieved that in March.

Since the illness started he has played eight events and made the halfway cut in just one of them, falling to 203rd in the world as a result.

It was at last week’s French Open that Van de Velde spoke publicly for the first time about the problem.

“I’ve been physically sick on occasions, including on the course during the Wales Open,” he said. “I've had several tests already and they thought at first it might be a liver complaint which my father has also suffered from.

“That could have meant draining half a litre of blood every week for a while, but the latest test came back negative.

“What bothers me more than anything is that they don’t know. ”I have some good days and some bad days. I was planning to practise on Tuesday, but I didn’t because I was a wreck. Anybody seeing me would have thought I was drunk.

“The specialist thinks it could be either a virus or an infection. There’s no problem with my game technically, but I find that I hit about 30 balls and then have to stop as I’m tired.”