Great Scot! Peter Whiteford

in joint third place at

Gleneagles after 68 for 141

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE

(with additional material by Colin Farquharson)

Kirkcaldy man Peter Whiteford is lying in joint third place going into the third round of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. Scroll down to read more about that.

Meanwhile, Englishman Oliver Wilson made the greatest comeback of his golfing life to stay on course for a Ryder Cup debut next month.
Six over par with 10 holes to play and heading out of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, the final qualifying event, Wilson grabbed an eagle and two birdies to survive the halfway cut by the skin of his teeth.
Minutes later German Martin Kaymer, his biggest danger in the race for places in Nick Faldo's team, missed four-foot putts on the final two greens to miss out by one.
"I'm proud of myself," said Wilson, poised now to become the first player ever to play for Europe against the Americans without winning a tournament in his professional career.
"That was the biggest round of my career. It was not the front nine I wanted, but it was the back nine I needed."
With Justin Rose and Soren Hansen on the verge of clinching a first cap as well, Wilson now has to hold off the challenge of only Nick Dougherty and Ross Fisher.
But Dougherty has to finish first or second on Sunday and Fisher has to be in the top three - and at halfway they are way down the field on one under and level par respectively.
Frenchman Gregory Havret still leads on seven under par, overcoming a shank with the second shot of his day to add a two under 71 to his opening 68.
Kaymer was understandably dejected. As Lee Westwood had feared would be the case, he felt a victim of greens which the former European number one said should be ripped up before the course stages the 2014 Ryder Cup.
"I was playing very well, but the greens were ridiculous," said the 23-year-old, who despite two wins this year gives himself no chance of a wild card with so many big guns - Darren Clarke, Paul Casey, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Poulter, Paul McGinley - not qualifying on points either.

Little known Englishman Robert Rock is closest to halfway leader Havret with a tally of 140 but the great Scottish performance is that of rookie Euro Tour player Peter Whiteford, pictured above, sharing third place with Bradley Dredge on 141 after a second-round, five-under-par 68.

Whiteford, a 28-year-old from Kirkcaldy, is meantime 152nd on the Euro Tour cash table and only the leading 115 retain their playing privileges at the end of the 2008 season.

Whiteford has come up the hard way, via the Challenge Tour, and it's not all that long ago he was on the point of giving up golf as a means of making a living because of a lack of success. He has had only one top-ten finish this season on the main tour, eighth at the Volvo China Open. A high finish come late Sunday afternoon at Gleneagles would make a world of a difference to Whiteford.

Starting at the 10th hole, Peter produced a storming finish to his back nine with an eagle-birdie-birdie run between the 16th and 18th. He chipped in from 30 yards at the par-5 16th.

Tournament leader Havret overcame the confidence-shaking effect of a shank with his second shot to the first green and escaped with a one-putt bogey. The Frenchman also followed a double bogey at the 15th with a 50ft putt for eagle on the next.

Gary Orr, despite a last-hole bogey, is still in there pitching with a 72 for 142 which gives him a share of fifth place.

Chairman of the board Colin Montgomerie is not finished yet. He had a 70 to make the cut on 144, four shots inside the limit.

Tartan Tour pro Stephen Gray made it on 147 alongside Stephen Gallacher.

Caprington amateur Steven McEwan, beaten finalist in the Scottish amateur championship at Carnoustie, is another great Scottish success story. He shot 70 for 148 to make it through to the weekend action with nothing to spare after an adventurous last few holes during which he was (a) bunkered, (b) lost a ball and (c) finished with a birdie.

Also on 148 were Tartan Tour regulars Paul McKechnie and Robert Arnott.

The Scots who did NOT make it included Scott Drummond and Paul Lawrie on 149, Alastair Forsyth and Lloyd Saltman on 152 and Greig Hutcheon and defending champion Marc Warren, both on 153.