But Saltman has been encouraged by his recent form and is looking to maintain that in this week’s Challenge Tour event, The Princess, in Bastad.

“Missing out on The Open is a sore one, especially after coming so close again, but my game is definitely better than it was when I qualified for Turnberry a year ago,” he said.

“I played well last week (in La Gomera] after also doing well in the Scottish Challenge and things are looking good for the rest of the season.”

The Aegon player, who qualified at Scotscraig in 2005, looked set to repeat the feat after a first-round 66 earned him a share of the halfway lead.

He was still going strong after seven holes of his second round before suffering a setback at the 17th – his eighth.

“I hit a poor 5-iron off the tee into the right rough,” he said. “It was plugged and I chopped it out into a bunker and ended up with a double-bogey.

“It was really tough in the middle of the afternoon round in the wind. It was difficult to get the ball on the green and I made a lot of good up-and-downs.”

One of those was a 20-footer for a bogey on the seventh and he was still in with a chance of securing one of the three spots up for grabs after hitting a lovely approach into 15 feet at the last, giving him an eagle putt.

“I knew I probably needed to hole that and it was a good putt but didn’t drop,” said the former Walker Cup player.

As a consequence, Saltman found himself up against two Englishmen, Gary Clark and Steven Tilley, in a play-off for two spots after Paul Streeter from Lincoln had secured one with the leading total of 135.

With the majority of those in a sizeable gallery rooting for him, Saltman hit a good tee shot with an iron only to then suffer a nightmare as he didn’t catch his second shot right and left it 60 yards short of the green.

He couldn’t save his par from there and his dream of returning to the scene of a great memory from his amateur days – winning the Silver Medal for top amateur in 2005 – died as both Clark and Tilley made their 4s.

“I played lovely in the morning and also hit a lot of good shots in afternoon but they didn’t come off,” he reflected ruefully.

The Scotsman: 30 June 2010

It was very disappointing as I would have loved to play back at St Andrews where I won the Silver Medal in 2005.

Elliot and I are  today in Sweden for the Challenge Event.  It was very hard to get up this morning  to catch the early  flight, as I have played eight tournaments on the bounce, but loving every minute.

I have had a mixture of results the best finishing 11th in Scotland.  It has been good playing with my brothers Elliot and Zack  who also played in Morocco and Elliot played La Gomera last week finishing second.

Thank you for your emails and questions.

A spot in the field for last month’s event in Colombia came too late for Saltman to make the journey to South America but, on this occasion, he knew a few days in advance that he’d climbed off the reserve list for a tournament being played at Muthaiga Golf Club.

“I’m feeling really good about the new season – everything seems to be coming together,” said Saltman, who was particularly pleased with his performance in winning on the Hi5 Tour a fortnight ago.

“I know people will look at the fields for those events and say they haven’t got strength in depth but the other two players in contention had European and Challenge Tour experience, one of them being Callum Macaulay.

“Last season I got off to a slow start and that cost me, so I am determined not to let the same thing happen again.”

On the European Tour, Stephen Gallacher, David Drysdale and Andrew Coltart are joined by Andrew Oldcorn, a former winner, in the Andalucian Open starting tomorrow in Malaga.

The Scotsman: 24 March 2010
By MARTIN DEMPSTER

Former Open star Saltman, who led by four shots heading into the closing round in Spain, signed off with a two-under 70 for an 11-under 205 and won by five strokes from Holland’s Floris De Vries and former Scottish Amateur champion Callum Macaulay.

Aegon-backed Saltman’s success, which earned him almost £2,000, was his second title in just over a week following victory in the Major Golf Championship at his home course of Archerfield last Tuesday.

His older brother, Elliot, shared 11th spot on 221 after a 72 while youngest sibling Zack posted a 76 for 227.

By NICK RODGER and MARTIN DEMPSTER, The Scotsman 12 March 2010

In the ladies golf division Swede Johanna Lundberg carded a final round of 71 to win by one stroke from fellow-country women Josefin Leijon.

The senior golf division was won by European Tour veteran Miguel Angel Martin of Spain who had a final round of -3, 69 , for +1, 217.

Hi5 Pro Tour 2010 Polaris World Condado Open (Par 72) :-

1-205 Lloyd Saltman (Scotland) 68 67 70
T2-210 Callum Macaulay (Scotland) 71 68 71, Floris De Vries (Netherlands) 73 72 65
4-211 Andreas Hogberg (Sweden) 71 68 72
T5-214 Gary King (England) 68 76 70, Felix Fihn (Sweden) 71 72 71
7-216 Gareth Davies (Wales) 75 70 71
T8-217 Miguel Angel Martin (Spain) 78 70 69, Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 70 72 75.
10-220 Alex Belt (England) 71 73 76.
T11-221 Elliot Saltman (Scotland) 72 77 72, Lasse Sonne Nielsen (Denmark) (amateur) 70 73 78, Patrick O’Neill (amateur) 72 74 75
14-222 Tim Sluiter (Netherlands) 70 72 80
T15-224 Ruaidhri McGee (Ireland) 75 76 73, Richard Kind (Netherlands) 70 76 78, Jan-Philip Neuendorf (amateur) 73 75 76
18-225 Ryan Street 76 77 72
19-226 James Housby (England) 72 76 78
T20-227 Zack Saltman (Scotland) 75 76 76, Emilo Rodriguez Aguilera (Spain) 73 76 78, Martyn Hamer (England) 73 77 77

He shot a superb seven-under-par 65 in the second round yesterday to pip overnight leader Danny Belch by a shot.

“I played really well,” admitted Saltman afterwards. “My coach Colin Brooks was caddying for me on Monday and, even though I shot 77, I played quite well then, too. “The damage was done by a bogey, bogey-double, bogey finish and, having been on the bag when I’ve shot many good scores in the past, it was good for him to see how that happened.”

Playing the back nine first, there was little sign of what was to come from the Aegon-sponsored player as he reached the turn yesterday in one-under.

However, he then birdied four holes in a row from the second and, after taking a breather at the sixth, added two more birdies at the seventh and eighth.

“I didn’t know I had won when I came off the course but it still felt good to have posted a low score,” added the former Walker Cup player.

“To win £1,700 on an event on your doorstep is a nice way to start the season and I’m really looking forward to getting my campaign up and running for real.

“I’ve got an event on the Hi5 Tour in Spain coming up and that will help get me ready for the Kenya Open on the Challenge Tour.”

The Major Golf Championship is for pros aged 26 and under run by former England football player David Platt. Dale Marmion finished third on 144, with Greg McBain, winner of a similar event at Archerfield last October, a little further back on 146.

Former Scottish amateur champion Kevin McAlpine, lying second overnight, dropped back after a 77 for 147, just ahead of Steven Hume (149) and James McGhee (150) while David Laing and Zack Saltman finished on 157 and 159 respectively.

Liam Jeffrey won the amateur event with a two-round Stableford total of 69 points, with tournament host Platt unable to repeat his first-round fireworks as he finished on 63.

The Scotsman: 03 March 2010
By MARTIN DEMPSTER

The Lothians man showed his class today at the Archerfield Links with a superb second round of seven-under-par 65 – the next best score on the day was a 71 – to win the Major Golf Tour’s The Master Golf Championship for players aged 26 and under.
Trailing after a first-round 77, Saltman surged up through the field to win with a two-under-par total of 142 – a shot ahead of Danny Belch whose scores lurched the other way: a first-round 68 followed by a 75.
Greg McBain from Royal Dornoch finished fourth with a 72 for 146 while former Scottish amateur stroke and match-play champion Kevin McAlpine from Alyth slipped back to fifth place on 147, slumping from a first-day 70 to a 77.