Scot Stephen Dundas secures surprise spot in US Senior Open this year

Berth in USGA major is reward for his win in Amateur Championship at Carnoustie back in 1992

Spanish-based Scot Stephen Dundas will be teeing up in this year's US Senior Open in Rhode Island in June.

Stephen Dundas has lined up a reunion with Padraig Harrington after securing an exemption for this year’s US Senior Open in Rhode Island.

The exciting opportunity for the former Cowglen man has come out of the blue and is a reward for his win in the Amateur Championship at Carnoustie in 1992.

“I basically get an automatic exemption for the event through winning the Amateur Championship and also, of course, because I’ve just turned 50,” Dundas told The Scotsman.

“It seems a bit strange that the USGA offers this exemption and The R&A don’t because that means I don’t have an exemption for the Senior Open this year and that’s a shame as it’s at Carnoustie, which is where I won The Amateur.

“I didn’t know about this exemption, to be honest. It was only when I spotted on social media that Ian Pyman was playing in it last year. So I enquired about it with the USGA and they said ‘yip, you get a one-time exemption as the Amateur champion and you need to send an entry’,which I did earlier this week.”

After a spell in Russia, Dundas now runs the San Roque Club in southern Spain. “Yeah, looking forward to playing it,” he said of the $4 million event, won by Colin Montgomerie a decade ago and being played on this occasion at Newport Country Club on 27-30 June.

“I’ve got a practice round lined up already with Padraig Harrington, whom I beat in one of the rounds at Carnoustie in The Amateur, so it will be cool to play with him. Jody Fanagan as well as he secured an exemption after getting to the US Senior Amateur final, so that will be nice to meet up with those guys again.”