CROWD UPSETS VAN DE VELDE

Jean Van de Velde kept alive his hopes of returning to the Open Championship with a two-under-par 70 in final qualifying at Hillside today - and was then promised protection from the crowd in the second round.

The 42-year-old Frenchman, who has played only three Opens since his unforgettable last-hole collapse at Carnoustie in 1999, complained about the absence of crowd control.

"At the end of the day it's a job here," he said after being told by a Royal and Ancient Club official that six marshals would be following his group with a rope tomorrow.

"It's great that lots of people want to watch, but when they get in the way it's difficult.

"We couldn't even stand on one tee and my caddie had to sort it out."

Even with 96 players battling for just four Open places at each of the three courses, Van de Velde opted for this route rather than last Monday's qualifier at Sunningdale because that was 36 holes in one day and he also does not agree with it being the day after the French Open.

As it was, he arrived in Southport at around midnight after driving up from the European Open in Kent, where he finished joint 33rd.

Van de Velde missed out on trying to qualify for a return to Carnoustie a year ago because of ill-health. He was even tested for bone cancer during the week of the event, but it is now thought it was a virus and he is back to health.

His playing partner Danny Willett, the former amateur world number one, holed from off the green at the last to return a 70 and take a share of third place with Van de Velde.

Fellow English professional Jamie Elson led with a five-under-par 67 which included a hole-in-one on the 170-yard seventh, but former Ryder Cup Scot Andrew Coltart dropped three late shots for a 72.

Australian amateur Scott Arnold, whose father and brother are both professionals, leads by three at Southport and Ainsdale after a six-under-par 66.

At West Lancashire, meanwhile, the two-under 70 of Scot Barry Hume was the best round of the day.

Former Welsh World Cup player Mark Mouland is in the group only one behind and among those two back, in joint fifth spot, is 1995 Ryder Cup hero Philip Walton.

ALL THE SCORES FROM ALL THE QUALIFIERS
(x) denotes amateurs

Hillside

67 Jamie Elson

68 Ian Walley

70 Mark Laskey, Stephen Bennett, Dale Marmion, (x) Stephen Brown, Danny Willett, Jean Van de Velde (Fra), George Murray

71 Ally Mellor, Craig Goodfellow, (x) Chris Wood, (x) Rohan Blizzard (Aus), Steven Surry, Kevin Harper, Chris Kelly

72 Matthew Richardson, John Wade (Aus), Andrew Coltart

73 David Green, George Cowan, Ben Jones, Mats Hallberg (Swe), Danny Belch

74 Iain Simpson, Mark Ramsdale, Laurence Collier, Paul Curry, (x) Jonathan Gidney, (x) Adam Keogh, Mark Finlayson, Craig Housden, Daniel Brooks

75 Anthony Tarchetti, (x) Duncan Harris, Warren Wood, (x) Carl Corbin, Jorge Garcia (Spa), Paul Reed, (x) David Coupland, Rob Harris

76 Darren Bartlett, (x) Corey Coshan, Van Phillips, Michael Nesbit, Carlos Balmaseda (Spa), Lee Nash, Brendan McCarroll, Jonathan Evans, Steven Rettie

77 (x) Jonathan Hurst, Richard Wallis, (x) Myles Cunningham, Alfredo Da Corte (Ita), Gareth Davies, David Wilton, (x) Darren Wright, (x) Lee Heaton, Richard Gurney, Craig Butler, Gary Brown, (x) Daniel Sefton, Jonathan Cheetham, Jose Manuel Ocejo (Spa), Mark Sheppard

78 Ben Briscoe, Noel Quinn, Matthew Wilcox, (x) David Rawluk, Kevin Crosslan, (x) Steven McGlynn, Peter Berman (Rsa), David Mansell, James Whatley

79 (x) Charlie Cossins, Nick Deme, Ron Won (USA), (x) Jake Amos

80 Andrew Miller, (x) Mark Millhouse, (x) Steven Brown, Sean Mason

81 Mark Heinemann, James Gurry, Ian Lewis, Daniel Belcher, Gary Emerson, Jose Luis Adarraga (Spa), Mark Harling

82 Adam Pond

83 Ian Cording, Chris Hall, (x) David Corsby, Adam Scallon

85 Robert Hillas, Manfred Kraintz (Aut)

Retired Marco Bernardini (Ita)

Southport & Ainsdale

66 (x) Scott Arnold (Aus)

69 Francis McGuirk

70 Jamie Howarth, Mark Murphy, Jon Bevan, (x) Ian Winstanley

71 (x) Adam Wootton, Gary Boyd, Jason Kelly, Jonathan Lupton

72 (x) Sean Elliott, (x) Thomas Sherreard, Tim Dykes, (x) Adam Andrews, Johan Rydheim (Swe), (x) Colin Mundie, Steve Parry, (x) Charles Ford, Justin Kehoe, David Higgins, Graham Gordon

73 Jack Doherty, Sven Struver (Ger), Shaun Webster, James Harper, Cameron Clark, David Drysdale, Oscar Floren (Swe), Chris Hanson, David Skinns

74 Ben Scott, Matthew Mills, (x) Billy Hemstock, Paul Wesselingh, Steven Capper, (x) John Mathers, (x) Lloyd Godwin, (x) Shaun Malone (Aus), (x) Tom Shadbolt

75 Martin Sell, Raymond Russell, Adam Norman, Diego Torne (Spa), Ian Proverbs, (x) Christopher Paisley, Lloyd Kennedy, Colin Maroney, Philip Golding, (x) Wallace Booth

76 Jason Powell, Roger Tuddenham, Eddy Rawlings, Jordan Smith, Ian Ridgway, (x) Jack Hiluta, (x) Michael Moore, Michael Hempstock, Tim Rice, Knud Storgaard (Den), Johan Skold (Swe), Lee Wood, Albert MacKenzie, Nevill Bland, (x) Jack Senior

77 Nick Ludwell, Anthony Millar, (x) Richard Prophet, Chris Hudson

78 John-Paul Banbury, Matthew Freeland, Criag Bell, Andrew Barnett, Allyn Laing, Paul Maddy, Russ Berry

79 Oliver Whiteley, Ryan Riley, Hugh Macdonald, Roger Gray, (x) Warren Harmston, (x) Nicholas Panting

80 (x) Stanislas Jeuffrain (Fra), Marco Donghi (Ita), (x) Neil McKinnon, (x) Kelvin Day, (x) Stuart Havelock

81 Mark Bradley, Adam Chamberlain, James Barr, (x) Nicholas Pateman, Guido van der Valk (Ned)

82 Lee Jordan

83 Mark Pilling, Jeremy Kavanagh

90 Andrew Green

Scratched (x) Anthony Richardson

West Lancashire

70 Barry Hume

71 Anthony Sproston, Mark Mouland, Daniel Greenwood

72 Philip Walton, Darren Parris, Peter Appleyard, (x) Jason Palmer

73 (x) Mark Young, David Shacklady, Vince Guest, (x) Farren Keenan, John Cheetham, John Wells, Peter O'Keeffe, Simon McGreal

74 Robert Watkins, Simon Hurd, Antonio Espinosa (Spa), (x) Ryan Newman, Nicky Harris, David Clark, David Patrick, Brett Taylor, (x) Matthew Baldwin, (x) Billy Fowles, Daniel Gaunt (Aus), Mariano Saiz Vega (Spa), Barry Taylor

75 Matthew Griffiths, Andrew Oldcorn, Eddie Vernon, Andy Smith, (x) Dale Whitnell, Alistair White, Noel Fox, Jonathan Lomas, Craig Simmons, (x) Jason Barnes, David Carter

76 Peter Cherry, Mark Kerr, Nick Redfern, (x) Keith Hamilton, (x) Robert Bardsley, Sam Osborne

77 (x) Jack Bartlett, Daniel Wood, Michael Bush, Robert Leopold (USA), Barry Forster, James Crompton, Danny Taylor, (x) Christopher Cannon, Richard Sadler, (x) Steven Lane, Daniel Sugrue, Andrew Willey, Scott Dunlap (USA), (x) Duncan McCarthy, Jamie Moul

78 Sean Doherty, James Ruebotham, Markus Brier (Aut), (x) Oliver Farr, Matt Morris, Phil Worthington, Nigel Bark, Graeme Brown, Albin Thaller (Aut), Greg Tucker

79 (x) James Atkinson, (x) Josh Sims, Scott Jackson, (x) Alex Hogben, (x) James Byrne, (x) Mark Thistleton

80 (x) Andrew Thorpe, Andrew Cloke, Scott Emery, James McGhee, (x) Michael Saunders

81 Kevin Freeman

82 Julio Zapata (Arg), (x) Ciaran Doherty, Lee Rooke

83 Daryl Ley, (x) Nick Day, Sandeep Grewal, Mark O'Sullivan

84 George Woolgar

85 (x) Tom Boys, Matthew Edwards

88 Jim Sorenson (USA)

Disqualified Jon Wetton

Withdrew Luis Calverie (Spa)