Just one Scot teeing up in 'Golf's Longest Day' in bid to join Bob MacIntyre

California-based amateur Niall Shiels Donegan is the sole Scot teeing up in the so-called ‘Golf’s Longest Day’ on Monday as players battle it out for the final spots in the US Open.

Bob MacIntyre, who finished runner-up to JJ Spaun at Oakmont last year, is currently the only Scot in the field for next week’s 126th US Open at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island.

Niall Shiels Donegan pictured talking to his caddie in last year’s US Amateur Championship at The Olympic Club in San Francisco | Thien-An Truong/Getty Images

Ewen Ferguson and Cameron Adam were among those who came up short in one of the final qualifiers last month at Walton Heath, where Englishman Nathan Kimsey claimed top spot.

The remaining berths up for grabs in the season’s third major are now set to be determined in ten more final qualifiers in the US and Canada.

Shiels Donegan is among the hopefuls at Gaston Country Club in North Carolina, where the Scot is now combining his studies and playing golf at the University of North Carolina.

Among the players Shiels Donegan will be up against in his 36-hole shoot-out is Webb Simpson, who won the 2021 US Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco in just his second start in the event.

Sandy Scott pulled out of Georgia event

Others in the 78-strong field include Bill Haas and Chev Reavie, both of whom have played in eight previous US Opens.

At Lambton Golf & Country Club in Ontario, the hopefuls are headed by multiple PGA Tour winner Max Homa, with European Ryder Cup star Rasmus Hojgaard also teeing up in that field.

Nairn’s Sandy Scott, who qualified for the 2020 at Winged Foot won by Bryson DeChambeau, had been in the line up at Hawks Ridge Golf Club in Georgia, but his name is no longer on the tee sheet.