Dozen players earn Carnoustie spots in final qualifying

Four 36-hole qualifying events in Scotland ended Tuesday with 12 players punching their tickets. Scott Drummond and Steven Alker got in, but Thomas Levet, Marcel Siem and Scott Dunlap were among those who didn't make it through. 

CARNOUSTIE, Scotland (PA) -- One nightmare hole on Tuesday dashed Zane Scotland's hopes of a dream return to the Open Championship at Carnoustie.

Eight years after becoming the youngest qualifier for the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie -- he was just 16 at the time -- the Englishman was tied for the lead with two holes to play in his 36-hole final qualifying tournament at Pannal.

But then came a triple-bogey 7 and, with only three places up for grabs, there was no way back for Scotland, who just two weeks ago bogeyed four of the last five holes when only one shot off the lead at the French Open.

Scotland, yet to earn a European Tour card four years after turning professional, fell back to 1 under par with a 73, and failed to earn one of the 12 spots in the field handed out in four qualifiers on Tuesday.

"There's nothing you can say really; I just feel pretty sick right now," Scotland said. "Things were going my way, but I then lost concentration on one quite straightforward tee shot and it turned into a bit of a nightmare, to be honest."

After his drive close to the out-of-bounds fence on the downwind 401-yard 17th was found by a spectator, Scotland still had to take a penalty drop. He was short of the green in 3, chipped over it for 4 and failed to get up and down.

Instead of lining up at Carnoustie next week, he will be playing a second-division European Challenge Tour event in Austria. It will not be easy.

France's Thomas Levet, runner-up to Ernie Els after a five-hole playoff at Muirfield in 2002, also failed to come through on 2 under at Pannal following a 70. But he has one more chance.

Levet headed straight across to Loch Lomond for the Barclays Scottish Open, which starts on Thursday. He will now try to repeat his 2004 feat of winning the tournament to get into the Open; that year, he went on to finish fifth at Troon.

Here are the 12 players to qualify on Tuesday, plus scores from leading players who failed to qualify:

DOWNFIELD, SCOTLAND

MONIFIETH, SCOTLAND

MONTROSE, SCOTLAND

PANMURE, SCOTLAND

Copyright 2007 PA Sport. All rights reserved.