NICK Dougherty was pipped to the one exempt Open place on offer at the Scottish Open yesterday.

Maarten Lafeber finished on 17 under par to secure a place at St Andrews, two shots ahead of the former Shaw Hill player.

It left Dougherty rueing what might have been.

"My bogey on the 14th (a driveable par four) was the killer," he said. "You can't afford a mistake like that.

"I was seething coming off, but finished strongly and that's a credit to me.

"I've played better than some of the top players in the world here (Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen managed only five under) and it could be a blessing in disguise to have a week off.

"I heard a rumour there were two spots in the Open here, but Maarten has played great in a field like this and all credit to him.

"He and I were in the same restaurant last night and I put a lot of pepper on his meal when he went to the toilet - but I hope he does really well this week."

A second round 69 wasn't enough to give Mark Ashworth an Open place as he finished joint 17th at the Ladybank qualifier.

He scored 142, as did his Clitheroe club-mate Paul Dwyer, which was six shots off the top three spot needed to secure a place at St Andrew's.

Pleasington's Michael Hunt couldn't repeat the record-breaking form he showed on his home course a week ago as a 76 and a 73 left him well off the pace.

Italian amateur Edoardo Molinari led the qualifiers at Ladybank with rounds of 67 and 66, finishing one clear of Australian John Wade.

Coventry's Robert Steele took the final place after a long wait to discover if his round of 69 was good enough.

"It was the longest day of my life and the most important," said the 22-year-old amateur, who celebrated his birthday earlier this week.

"It will be great to be there for Jack Nicklaus' last Open."

Former European Tour professional Murray Urquhart led the qualifiers at Scotscraig with rounds of 68 and 66, one ahead of Norfolk's Andrew Marshall and Scottish amateur Lloyd Saltman.

Here, Blackburn golfer Anthony Harwood opened with a 73 but his dreams faded with a second round 77.

The only play-off came at Leven Links, Scottish amateur Eric Ramsay and Dorset's Sean McDonagh sharing top spot on eight under par 134, one ahead of EuroPro Tour player Phil Worthington and Germany's Tino Schuster.

Schuster then birdied the first play-off hole to claim the final spot, leaving Worthington as first reserve for the championship.

For Ramsay, winner of the Australian amateur title in March, qualifying will go some way to make up for the disappointment of not being selected in the Walker Cup team which will defend the trophy in Chicago in August.

McDonagh, who is based in California and plays on the Nationwide Tour in America, carded a superb round of 64 to equal the course record.