GOLF: The great thing about the British Open, of all the majors, is that it is a great leveller. Philip Reid reports from Muirfield

Men like Jarmo Sandelin, with nigh on €3 million in prize money and five titles in a decade-long tour career, can drive into the car-park at a place like North Berwick and find someone like Colm Moriarty, an amateur from the Irish midlands, walking to the first tee and striving to accomplish the same dream of escaping the traditional final qualifying lottery.

Yesterday, as if to confirm the openness of it all, Moriarty, an Irish international who celebrated his 23rd birthday last month, took a major stride towards securing one of the places in the field for the 131st Open Championship which gets under way here at Muirfield on Thursday. A little more than two hours after South African Trevor Immelman shot a course record eight-under-par 63 at North Berwick - one of four final qualifying venues - Moriarty equalled it, and put himself in line to secure one of the six spots on offer.

The second round of the 36-holes qualifying process concludes today, and Moriarty, from Athlone, simply needs to keep his nerve to progress. "After nine holes, I just thought I needed to keep hitting fairways and greens," said Moriarty, who laid the basis for his fine round with a run of four successive birdies from the fifth, and then also birdied the 10th and 11th to make it six birdies in seven holes. Indeed, his round of eight birdies didn't contain a single dropped shot.

It is only a matter of time before Moriarty makes the move into the professional ranks, although he is in no rush. His season's aim is to make the Irish team for the Eisenhower Trophy - world amateur team championships - in Malaysia in November and, as a member of the 2003 Walker Cup squad, he intends to stay in the amateur ranks at least until that match in Ganton next year. But earning a ticket into the British Open would represent a considerable milestone in his fledgling career.

Second in this season's Brabazon Trophy, which is the English strokeplay championship, Moriarty, a plus-three handicapper, is a player who has underachieved to some extent in matchplay but consistently shoots low in strokeplay events. Beating the eight-year-old record of Nick Job, which was set in the 1994 PGA Club Professionals Championship, Moriarty and Immelman established a two-stroke cushion over third-placed Scott Henderson.

For the 11 Irish players involved in yesterday's first round of final qualifying, the North Berwick links proved most hospitable. While Moriarty led the charge, he got considerable back-up from another Irish international, Mark Murphy of Waterville.

In whatever spare time he has away from the golf course, Murphy spins records in his work as a disc jockey - but the plus-two player opened his bid for qualifying with a 68, with all of his birdies coming on the three par fives. "I've never won anything big, always second, just like Padraig," quipped Murphy, who intends to turn professional at the end of the year.

Murphy, in tied-12th place overnight, still has some ground to make up to earn a qualifying place. Unsure of how many qualifying spots were on offer, and informed there were six, he replied: "That's fine, I only want one." At the same course, Headfort professional Brendan McGovern opened with a 69 which, incidentally, was the same score as Sandelin.

Elsewhere, the other Irish competitors have even more ground to make up. At Dunbar, Graeme McDowell and Paddy Gribben - who both shots 72s - were best of the Irish but a measure of the task facing them was that they trailed Mark James by seven strokes; at Gullane Number One, Stephen Browne and amateur Padraig Dooley had 70s, which left them eight shots behind leader Fredrik Andersson; while, at Luffness New, where Andrew Coltart shot 61, the sole Irish player, Danny Sugrue, had a 77.

Michael Hoey, who had been scheduled to play at Luffness New, chose to remain on at Loch Lomond - where he made the cut - rather than playing in the final qualifying. But Hoey's tied-32nd finish there wasn't sufficient to earn him one of the exemptions on offer from the Scottish Open.

Final qualifying first round (Irish scores, * denotes amateur)

At Dunbar: 72 - G McDowell, P Gribben; 73 - J Dignam.

At Gullane No 1: 70 - S Browne, *P Dooley; 74 - E Brady.

At Luffness New: 77 - *D Sugrue.

At North Berwick: 63 - *C Moriarty; 68 - *M Murphy; 69 - B McGovern; 72 - D Higgins.