And the young Dane, known as Toby, did it after recovering from a series of knocks – including a groin problem caused by falling off a camel.
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From nowhere, Finch suddenly finds himself chasing one of the three qualifying spots on offer at Gullane for next week’s Open with an extra reason to muscle his way into the field for St Andrews.
McIlroy, 26, revealed on Monday he had torn an ankle ligament playing football with friends.
But the sirens were soon flashing loud and clear in the eyes of his rivals at Gullane as he thundered around the venue in a morning blitz to post a target that was never bettered throughout the day.
For McDowell, it’s been a much more hard time.
One of the best things for me as a professional golfer this year has been that early successes at the Hero Indian Open and in Malaysia opened a whole lot of doors for me. “It wasn’t a great round but it was a very good round”. A short birdie miss on No. 13 didn’t help matters, but Mickelson turned it around with three straight birdies on Nos.
“That came out of nothing”. “I thought reading the extent of Rory’s injury it would be pretty tough for him to be fit enough by next Thursday so it’s a big blow he’s had to withdraw”, the American said. I was sitting around on the couch all day watching movies.
“It was also nice to get back on a course that gives you a few opportunities in benign conditions”. Nobody wants to get in because someone else got injured.
Brooks’ only title came after a playoff at the Madeira Islands Open in May previous year, but that victory came in a tournament that was reduced to 36 holes because of fog and was overshadowed by the death of the caddie of Alastair Forsyth earlier that day. “I’ve been searching a little bit”.
In fact, the leading score was in keeping with the average to par in recent Scottish Opens.
After picking up a shot on the par-five second, McDowell rolled in four birdies in succession from the fifth to reach the turn in 30 and lead by a shot from England’s Matthew Nixon, France’s Michael Lorenzo-Vera, Spain’s Adrian Otaegui and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen.
While the Frilford Heath player recorded the best result of his career in May, losing in a play-off for the Irish Open, it is his only top-40 finish in the last eight outings.
Speaking about his round, Rose said his game was “running at 50 per cent”, adding: “There are still a couple of loose shots that I am getting away with on this course that I wouldn’t on other courses”.
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“You can’t wait for the golf ball to make you happy and I feel like I’ve been letting it piss me off a lot lately but I felt like I was in a good place out there today for a change. I hit nearly every green – only missing the 18th – and hit a lot of fairways, which was the key”.
