Former Ryder Cup captain Mark James looks set to maintain his proud record of having missed just one Open championship in 27 years as a professional.
James added a second round 73 to his opening 65 in final qualifying at Dunbar to lead the hunt for one of six places in the 131st Open which gets underway at Muirfield on Thursday.
With scoring nowhere near as good as yesterday with a testing wind now blowing, that was likely to be good enough for the 48-year-old to qualify.
Ex-Ryder Cup player Peter Baker could be even more confident of making it through as one of the seven qualifiers from Luffness New after adding a 68 to his opening 65.
Jarmo Sandelin, who made his cup debut under James' captaincy at Brookline in 1999, was facing a long and anxious wait at North Berwick however.
The Swede could only card a one over par 72 today for a total of 141, and with only six places available, could fail to qualify for the second year running.
- PA