8am Round-Up: Scottish duo among European Tour '˜bubble boys'

It's squeaky-bum time for Scott Jamieson and Craig Lee as they find themselves among the 'bubble boys' heading into the final regular event on the 2016 European Tour season.
Scott Jamieson is sitting 107th in the battle to finish 110th in the Race to Dubai. Picture: Getty ImagesScott Jamieson is sitting 107th in the battle to finish 110th in the Race to Dubai. Picture: Getty Images
Scott Jamieson is sitting 107th in the battle to finish 110th in the Race to Dubai. Picture: Getty Images

Needing to finish inside the top 110 to hang on to their cards for next year, Jamieson sits 107th and Lee is 110th as fates are set to be decided in this week’s Portugal Masters.

It’s a case of deja vu for both Scots. Jamieson scraped through in a similar position 12 months ago by finishing 106th on the money-list. Lee is going for a hat-trick when it comes to leaving it until the 11th hour, having ended up 107th in 2014 then 100th last year.

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Jamieson’s position has been left perilous by a closing 73 that saw him have to settle for a tie for 28th in the British Masters when something much better looked to be in store after opening efforts of 68 and 65 at The Grove.

It means he’s heading to Portugal just over £3,000 ahead of the player sitting 111th, Eddie Pepperell, while Lee’s cash cushion over the Englishman is only around £900.

The Stirling man, though, will be heartened by the fact he finished sixth in the Portugal Masters at the same venue - Oceanico Victoria in Vilamoura - when the chips were down a year ago.

Having climbed to 129th on the back of a top-15 finish in the British Masters, Stephen Gallacher could also still retain his card in Portugal without having to rely on an exemption he’d get through the career money-list.

Higher up the Race to Dubai, Richie Ramsay will be aiming to use this week’s event to get back into the top 60 after slipping to 66th, while Marc Warren will be out to maintain his rise up the rankings, having climbed another two spots to 68th.

He leapt 55 places to 70th after finishing fifth in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship the previous weekend.
David Drysdale, who missed the British Masters due to back trouble, is safe in 92nd.

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Three Scots - Duncan Stewart, Scott Henry and Ross Kellett - are on course to feature in the Challenge Tour’s Grand Final in Oman next month.

Stewart, a winner in Madrid earlier in the year, has already secured his European Tour card for next season due to the fact the money he’s earned to sit ninth in the Road to Oman is enough to secure one of the 15 cards up for grabs.

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Henry has jumped to 28th after his third-placed finish in the rain-hit Hainan Open last weekend while Kellett is 42nd, with the top 45 on the money-list after next week’s inaugural Ras Al Khaimah Challenge making it to the season-ending event in Oman.

David Law sits 82nd in the rankings with Peter Whiteford nine spots below the Aberdonian.

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Jack McDonald headed into today’s second round of of the MENA Tour’s Sahara Kuwait Championship just three shots off the lead.

The former Walker Cup player opened with a five-under-par 65 as Englishman Joe Herati set pace at Sahara Golf and Country Club.

McDonald, a member of last year’s winning Walker Cup team at Royal Lytham, is preparing for the upcoming second stage in this season European Tour Qualifying School.

Paul Doherty, the only other Scot in this week’s field, opened with a 67.

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Three of Scottish Golf’s Orders of Merit have been finalised, with Hannah McCook, Hazel MacGarvie and Sheena Wood winning their respective domestic titles for 2016.

Grantown-on-Spey’s McCook has triumphed in the women’s standings with MacGarvie from the Ladies Golf Club Troon taking the girls’ title while Wood from Aberdeen Ladies Golf Club was the runaway winner in the senior women’s rankings.

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McCook racked up 567 points in the women’s order, ahead of Craigielaw’s Gabrielle Macdonald on 470 and Ailsa Summers from Carnoustie who was third on 433 points.

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Tartan Tour player Graham Fox finished alongside former Open champion John Daly in joint-second in the Beko Classic in Turkey.

In an event won by Englishman Robert Coles, Fox fired rounds of 71, 68 and 69 on the New Course at Gloria Golf in Belek for an eight-under-par total.

Raymond Russell, who’d shared the lead after an opening 65, finished joint-eighth as Coles, helped by a second-round 64, recorded a four-shot success.