Qualifying tension as Lyle chases Jacobson

Sandy Lyle and Fredrik Jacobson were the exceptions but, with the Open Championship less than a week away, tensions are running high at the Scottish Open. There are those who have still to secure their places at Muirfield and those who have an invitation to the party but are hardly in the party mood. Count Colin Montgomerie and Ernie Els among the latter and Sam Torrance and Gordon Brand Jnr among the former.

Jacobson, at 11 under par, took the halfway lead, but Lyle will play in the final group at the weekend for the first time in 10 years since his last win, at the Volvo Masters in 1992. Justin Rose, the overnight leader, was a shot behind Lyle on six under after a 71. Lyle, who had his first top-10 finish for seven years at the English Open last month, added a 68 to his 67 of Thursday to keep up his recent resurgence.

"Today was a bit nerve-racking," he said. "I was not swinging as smoothly as yesterday. It was a bit of a grind. There is a lot of mental torture out there." Lyle was referring to mistakes and disasters from previous years. For example, at the 12th hole last year, he took five to get down from the edge of the green for a triple-bogey seven.

Yesterday he reduced his score on the hole to two. After hitting a three-wood off the tee, Lyle had 135 yards to the hole and hit a nine-iron which pitched two feet past the pin and then spun back into the cup. Lyle was the first of the great quintet of European golfers to lose form and has spent most of the last decade searching to get it back.

"I would not have been happy to have packed it in without knowing what was wrong," he said. "I want to see the bad golf buried in the loch. I definitely feel I can win again." Playing regularly on the weekend, as he has done for the last month, is a welcome step in the right direction. "I can recommend it," he said. "It's a good habit." But one lost by, among others, Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazabal and Thomas Bjorn. Montgomerie only just survived at one over par by holing from 15 feet at the last.

"I am not playing as I used to," said a resigned Monty. "I'm not hitting the greens." Els, at level, was equally worried about his game. "My lower body has got quicker and my upper body has slowed down. That is not a good combination," said the South African.

The arrangements for qualifying for the Open have become a divisive issue, with divergent views depending on the position on the leaderboard at Loch Lomond. Jacobson is perfectly happy as he is on course to receive one of the exemptions on offer to the leading eight players at the end of the tournament who are not already exempt.

Final Qualifying for the Open takes place at four courses on Sunday and Monday. Due to the multitude of exemption categories, the qualifying places have been drastically reduced to around six per course.

Anyone making the cut at Loch Lomond actually has a better chance, especially as there are also seven places available from a mini order of merit that runs from the Volvo PGA Championship to the Scottish Open. But Brand, at level par, and Torrance, at one under, may not view it that way. Torrance voiced his concern earlier in the week that the Scottish Open now overlaps with Final Qualifying.

But the Scottish Open, as befits a prestigious event in its own right, wanted a Sunday finish. It led to the scorer in the rec-order's hut having to ask the unenviable question to those who only just made the cut whether they wanted to go into the third-round draw or forfeit their place without penalty. "What kind of a question is that," snapped Brand. "There is no option."