Els struggled on day one managing to shoot a level par 72 and again found it difficult to score on day two with a round of 70 for a two under par tally on the Castle Stuart course near Inverness.
It left Els lying in a share of 90th place and two shots shy of the projected cut-off mark of four under par.
Scotland’s Chris Doak signed for a second straight 66 to take the clubhouse lead on 12-under par and lead American Peter Uihlein, who also carded a 66, by a stroke.
“It was fantastic to shoot a 66 in the first round and now to do it again today is tremendous,” said Doak.
In contrast to Els, Doak and Uihlein will now be looking to secure one of the two remaining spots into next week’s (British) Open Championship by finishing first in Scotland, and with the final Muirfield tee time allocated to the winner of the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour.
Chris Doak on route to a second straight 66 on day two of the 2013 Scottish Open. (Photo – Stuart Adams/www.golftourimages.com)
Els’ second round was a mix of five birdies but also three bogeys.
The current World No. 13 will now resist the urge to head to Muirfield early and instead will remain at Skibo Castle where he has been residing all week.
“I just didn’t get the bounces and even though I thought I played quite good today, I had no idea on these greens so I am glad I am leaving and get on some other greens,” said Els.
“But it was a nice time while being here and hopefully I brought something to the tournament.
“Of course, it is not always nice to leave halfway through but hopefully we brought something.
“Missing the cut is not great but then we’ve had a great time here and also staying at Skibo, and even though I was a late entry into the tournament, as I said hopefully I brought a couple more fans through the gates and I was a good playing partner for the other two guys.”
Els indicated he will work on his game over the weekend at the Skibo Castle course before heading south-east on Sunday night to Muirfield.
He will then meet with R & A CEO Peter Dawson mid-Monday morning next week for the handing back of the famed Claret Jug.
“I’ve been to Muirfield a couple of times already in the past few weeks so I will stick with going down there on Sunday night, as planned,” said Els.
“There’s nothing much really I need to work on as my game is where I want it. It didn’t quite go my way these last two days in making a couple of silly errors especially yesterday with a couple of soft bogeys.
“So hopefully I’ve got all those silly mistakes out of the system.
“But this is not a blow in anyway to my preparations next week and besides Castle Stuart is a lot more different that Muirfield that is a more traditional links course.
“I just got a lot of awkward bounces this week and didn’t make any putts but I feel I can get it going next week.”
