DROITWICH golf ace John Bickerton experienced caddy trouble on the first day of the Open Championship at Muirfield before eventually failing to make the cut-off point for the final two days.

The Droitwich player's manager had to carry his clubs round as he shot a first round two over par 73, which left him with an uphill battle to beat the cut.

Thirty-two-year-old Bickerton said: "My caddy went over on his ankle a couple of days before the championship and it was up like a balloon, so he couldn't caddy for me. My manager stood in and did his best."

Bickerton tried hard to avoid an early departure, but just missed the cut by one stroke.

He was three over par for the two rounds after scoring 72 on Friday, saying he he had no complaints, didn't putt well and didn't take enough birdie chances.

Bickerton said: "You have to take advantage of the opportunities for birdies and make them, but I didn't.

"I hit a bad shot on the sixth, three putted and ended up with a double bogey and then bogeyed the ninth, which you can't afford to do out there."

He added: "There was not a lot to shout about. I didn't putt well, so I have no complaints."

South African Ernie Els won the title after ten years of trying, in a sudden-death match with Frenchman Thomas Levet after there had initially been a four-way play-off