Lloyd looks on the bright side after heartbreak

LLOYD SALTMAN headed for Sweden today bitterly disappointed about missing out on a return to St Andrews but feeling confident about his prospects for the rest of the season. The Lothians star was one of three Scots who lost in play-offs in Fife yesterday for Open Championship spots – and he admitted that hurt badly.

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