Why Scotland is feeling proud of Open debutants Michael Stewart and Graeme Robertson

As always, Final Qualifying for The Open delivered lots of great storylines. Matthew Jordan, for example, will be playing at his home club when Royal Liverpool hosts the season’s final major in a fortnight’s time while Alex Fitzpatrick will be joining his big brother, Matthew, in the field on Merseyside.

Michael Stewart celebrates at Dundonald Links on Tuesday after securing a spot in the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool. Picture: Mark Runnacles/R&A/R&A via Getty Images.

Tiger will be there, too, but a German amateur named Tiger Christensen and not Tiger Woods, the 2006 winner at Hoylake, as he recovers from ankle surgery since his last appearance in The Masters in early April.

A minimum of six Scots will now be teeing up in the event’s 151st edition and it’s no surprise that Michael Stewart and Graeme Robertson bolstering that Caledonian contingent has been met with widespread delight in both cases - and not just in their home country.

Around the same time, Stewart and Robertson were both outstanding amateurs - the former playing out of Troon Welbeck and the latter flying the Glenbervie flag - and looked destined to do well in the professional ranks.

Graeme Robertson celebrates with his caddie after securing the last of four spots up for grabs at Dundonald Links at the fifth hole in a play-off. Picture: Mark Runnacles/R&A/R&A via Getty Images.

Stewart, though, is only starting to make proper headway at the age of 33 while 35-year-old Robertson had a spell away from the game as personal circumstances led to family coming first before resuming his playing career.

“I wasn’t sure I’d ever play in a major,” admitted Stewart after securing his Open spot in style by picking up four birdies in the last five holes to win by two shots in the qualifier at Dundonald Links. “It’s maybe a little case of don’t give up on your dream.”

There were certainly times over the past ten years when the affable Ayrshireman felt that dream had died, having never hidden the fact he found life at the start in the paid ranks - he was signed by ISM at a time when Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke and Louis Oosthuizen were in Chubby Chandler’s stable - a lot more difficult than he had anticipated.

“I was very naive at the time as I just thought that getting a European Tour card was a natural progression if you played good golf as an amateur and that would be me set up,” admitted Stewart last year. “But it’s not as simple as that.”

In 2019, he was even close to walking away from his beloved game. “I don’t want to say I was in a dark place as I wasn’t,” he recalled. “It was just a case of maybe accepting that I might just not be good enough to progress.”

Helped by linking up with Alan McCloskey, who brings way more than just technical swing input to a player’s table, Stewart has definitely progressed, stepping up to the Challenge Tour this year and looking as though he could eventually make the jump up to the DP World Tour.

That’s where Robertson was aiming to be after using a spell at Stirling University, where he was mentored by Dean Robertson, to play in a Palmer Cup match against a US side that included Justin Thomas at Royal County Down in 2012.

But, soon after losing in the final of the 2014 Scottish Amateur Championship, he took up a job working as a sales person in the building trade, the reason for which was becoming a father and fair play to him for facing up to reality at a time when he could easily have allowed his heart to rule his head by ploughing on in golf.

It wasn’t until he was 33 that Robertson turned professional and, helped by playing - and winning - on the Tartan Pro Tour - he’s now teed up the biggest week of his career after securing the last of four spots up for grabs at Dundonald Links in a play-off.

“Dreams do come true,” he declared and, in both cases, an exciting opportunity now lies ahead for two people who have done themselves and their country proud on every step of their golfing journey so far.