Dundonald Links, Ayrshire, Scotland …
Gatton born golfing giant Andrew Dodt muscled his way to a share of second place on day one of the Scottish Open and then admits he faces a predicament.
Dodt, 31 birdied four of his closing five holes to be among six players with five under par 67s and trail just two shots behind Finland’s Mikko Ilonen who established a new Dundonald Links course record with his seven under 65.
Sharing second with the 189-metre tall Dodt is American Rickie Fowler, and contesting the event for a first occasion since winning in 2015 at Gullane, his European Tour based compatriot, Paul Peterson, the England duo of Ian Poulter and Callum Shinkwin along Padraig Harrington and next week’s defending Royal Birkdale Open winner from 2008.
Aussie golfing giant Andrew Dodt muscled his way to a share of second place on day one of the Scottish Open and then admits he faces a predicament
Dodt, and a two-time European Tour winner, immediately boosted hopes of contesting a very first Major Championship in his now decade long pro career.
If the Queensland-born Dodt should win the $US 7m event or be among the leading three not otherwise already exempt then he will secure a place into next week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
However therein lies Dodt’s predicament.
“My wife, Ashley and myself are booked next week to travel to New York on a holiday”, he smiled.
“She arrives from Australia here into Glasgow tomorrow and then we are supposed to then be going next week to New York for five days.
“Or, if all goes well this week it could mean instead heading south to Birkdale, but hopefully we will be heading to Birkdale as we can postpone flying to New York.
“I have tried to qualify for The Open and the U.S. Open but at this stage I have not managed to get through.
“We saw what Wade (Ormsby) managed to achieve in qualifying for Erin Hills, and in what was his first Major, so maybe now I can follow in his footsteps.
“So, qualifying for The Open has been my primary focus for about a month now and it a case of one round down and three to go and maybe I will be heading to Royal Birkdale and then heading to the Big Apple”.
Dodt’s round was a mix of seven birdies and just two bogeys contested in overcast conditions but with rain falling during his last handful of holes.
“Early on it was quite nice to play being nice and warm and not too much wind”, he said.
“As the round went on, it started to get a little bit colder and wind picked up a little bit. Got a bit tricky toward the end but a solid day’s work.
“So, to birdie four birdies in five holes was good. I grazed the edge a couple of times, and then just got on a bit of a run there through the middle to sort of setup the round and it was pretty solid from there on in.
“I played well last week in Northern Ireland and 2oth is probably the worst I could have finished.
“Also, the thing is also I grew up playing golf in Australia in windy conditions as well as I feel pretty comfortable on links courses and that definitely helped today.
“Though in saying that, this is the first time I have been to this area of Scotland as I have played a lot on the east coast up around St. Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie along with Castle Stuart up north near Inverness but not here before on the west coast”.
Fellow Australian and Queenslander, Adam Scott and contesting the Scottish Open for a first time in nine years, signed for a three-under par 69.
