Open Championship diary day one: Matt Cooper reports from Royal Troon

The last 24 hours have been rather hectic. Yesterday tea time I was watching the dramatic finale of the Evian Championship, on the shores of Lake Geneva. Afterwards, I was splitting my time between a hotel room (writing responses to the late-finishing Scottish Open), the bar below my hotel (to watch the football) and the square outside (for an excellent view of the spectacular Bastille Day fireworks).

After getting an early alarm call, I was astounded to find my airport transfer was a Porsche, but when we picked up two caddies they had so much luggage the driver had to steer the thing with his arms ramrod straight ahead of him at shoulder height and visibility at best restricted and on his right side possibly close to zero. Suddenly I was reminded of a perilous bus journey in Nepal and so failed to catch one never mind 40 winks, it occurring to me that I owned a better view of the road to Geneva than the man at the wheel.

After that, a plane to Birmingham and three trains north was a bit of a doddle, but I am in need of a good night’s sleep.

The last time we were in Troon

Back in 2016 I had a much more relaxing Monday and ended it with a languid stroll around the far end of the course where I witnessed an entertaining version of Alan Partridge’s Dan episode.

Eight years ago, you’ll recall, Andrew Johnston was at the height of his Trans-Atlantic fame and I spied him on a distant green, practising with his caddie, when a voice emerged from the dunes. “Beef!” a Canadian voice cried. “Beef!” it repeated. And then again. And again. Every time a little more anxious, a little more frantic as the over-commitment to those initial cries demanded staying in the game even as hope of success dwindled.

It was Keith Pelley and there was a happy ending because the cheery Johnston eventually heard him and the pair enjoyed a nice little chat.

Top Amateur

My memories of last year’s Top Amateur market have been keeping me entertained on a regular basis over the last 12 months because I have never felt so vindicated by an opinion and yet got it so completely wrong.

I suggested taking on the huge-hitting South African Christo Lamprecht who had been dazzling when winning the Amateur Championship at Hillside but who I was convinced would be found out by a tighter Open set-up. I followed him early in the second round and he was. His tee shot at 1 nearly found the 18th fairway, his tee shot at 2 would have found the tee box at 1 had it not nestled in the tall grass ahead of it, his tee shot at 3 landed in the hospitality tents, and his tee shot at 4 found the road to Chester. He carded 79.

The thing is, he’d already been brilliant in round one, shooting a 66 to share the lead. He just made the cut, the man I tipped fell one shot short of joining him, and Lamprecht added 76-74 at the weekend. Re-reading my column it wasn’t all comedy near-miss, however, because I was keen on Alex Maguire to win his first round three-ball at 4/1 and he did just that.

So what of this year? Gordon Sargent is an obvious favourite. The big-hitting 21-year-old is ranked number one in the world, has performed brilliantly up against the best college golfers this year, was the low amateur in the 2023 US Open and won all four matches in last year’s Walker Cup at St Andrews as part of the victorious US side.

Dominic Clemons is challenging him as a consequence of discovering an X Factor this summer. The 22-year-old Englishman is now at his third US college and he keeps being signed by higher grade institutions. He racked up 11 top-20s in 12 events last season and then, on return to the UK, he won the Scottish Amateur at Muirfield by a ridiculous 17 shots (shooting 68-65-65-62). Soon after he lost in the final of the Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin and was furiously distraught.

He used the disappointment to fuel a brilliant Final Qualifying effort, sharing top spot with Justin Rose at Burnham & Berrow. He’s confident, declaring to the BBC that he’s aiming to win the Open this week, but I suppose if you thrash your way around Muirfield in 62 you deserve to aim high. When I saw just how down he was after the Amateur final I considered that it could go two ways. On the one hand, it all seemed a little excessive, with the possibility of it burning far too much mental and emotional energy. On the other, it could fuel big things – and his response in Final Qualifying was undeniably impressive.

It was Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen who beat Clemons in the Amateur Championship yet he was rather startled to have won on the linksland having never previously enjoyed it. Calum Scott is a native of Nairn in north Scotland so has spent his life playing links golf. The 20-year-old was rock solid in winning the Open Amateur Series (second in the St Andrews Links Trophy, the last eight of the Amateur Championship and fourth in the European Amateur Championship) and with it his place in this week’s field.

Tommy Morrison impressed the lovely fella who hired me a car at Derry Airport. “Big lad,” he said in awe of the 6-foot-9-inch tall 19-year-old. “Big future,” he texted when the American won the European Amateur Championship in Denmark a week later. He’s twice made the match play stages of the Amateur Championship so has links experience.

Matthew Dodd-Berry is a 20-year-old Royal Liverpool member so has almost certainly played more Open rota golfer than any of his fellow amateurs. He has just transferred from East Tennessee State to Louisiana State, one of the fastest improving college programmes, making the same move as the respected English coach Jake Amos.

The 21-year-old Spaniard Luis Masaveu interests me. He progressed from Final Qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports and did so with an old set of sticks and no 3-wood after his bag was lost at the European Amateur Championship. He was T12 at the St Andrews Links Trophy, T11 at the Lytham Trophy but the runner-up there last year when he was very impressive with a fine links game.

His compatriot Jamie Montojo Fernandez is two years younger and plays at the same club, La Moraleja. He’s the fourth golfing generation of his family to represent Spain. The 24-year-old Irishman Liam Nolan won the 2023 Brabazon Trophy at Sunningdale and was second this year in the Irish Amateur at County Sligo. He played little golf over the winter as he concentrated on his studies.

The Aussie Jasper Stubbs won his spot with victory in the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur at Royal Melbourne and living two miles away suggests sandbelt experience was a big help. He carded 80-76 to miss the cut at the Masters. Santiago De La Fuente of Mexico carded a final round 64 to win the Latin America Amateur Championship but missed the cut in both the Masters and US Open. Altin Van Der Merwe is, at 27, the old man in the group. He recorded top 20s in the Links Trophy and Scottish Amateur without cracking the top five.

I spoke to Dan Davies at Clippd to add their statistical insight to this market. They have taken over the National Collegiate Golf Rankings that were devised by Mark Broadie, the architect of Strokes Gained. Introduced for the 2023/24 season, they are based on a Strokes Gained to Points Ranking System and the Open amateur field lines up like this: Sargent 5, Olesen 17, De La Fuente 20, Scott 34, Morrison 86, Clemons 87, Montojo Fernandez 146, Dodd-Berry 168 with Nolan, Masaveu, Van Der Merwe and Stubbs all unrated as not at college. If you want to dig deeper, scoreboard.clippd.com is the home of all collegiate scores and performance analytics.

My feeling is that Clemons is a very fine links performer, he’s currently very confident, has good cause to be, and is driven and hungry. His college ranking doesn’t take into account his sensational summer. I like him at 5/1. I also think there is each-way value in Masaveu at 14/1. I’ll keep an eye on their collective three-ball chances and discuss more later in the week.