Liam Nolan – the 24-year-old Galway amateur – has used his practice days to mix with past Claret Jug holders.
The week started with the Walker Cup player tapping into the brains of Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry.
Then, it was on to Todd Hamilton, the winner at Royal Troon in 2004 . . . with former Irish Open winner John Catlin making up the three-ball too.
“Todd was very generous sharing all of his knowledge when he won here in ‘04. Really cool to walk and play with him, and ask him a lot of questions,” said Nolan, a runner-up in this year’s Irish Amateur Open who came through final qualifying at nearby Dundonald Links to punch his ticket to the Open.
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And, of course, Hamilton couldn’t resist showing off his wizardry in using a fairway wood in replicating how he won his Open 20 years ago.
“Every hole,” said Nolan. “He dropped like three balls 30 feet short and got out his three wood and hit it up to four feet. Every one of them.”
Nolan has a late start – in the sort of time zone the late Christy O’Connor Jr once referenced being “out with the bin men” as the rubbish was collected late in the day – playing alongside New Zealander Kazu Kobori and another amateur, Spain’s Jaime Montojo Fernandez.
As for targets?
“The goal is to enjoy myself, to keep striking it the way I am and see where I end up Sunday evening!”
Symbolic Scots
Fate? Coincidence? Robert MacIntyre could start believing in such things.
The left-hander became the first Scottish winner of the Scottish Open since Colin Montgomerie in 1999 when he won the title in impressive fashion at the Renaissance Club on Sunday.
Guess what? The last Scottish winner of The Open was . . . . Paul Lawrie, also in 1999.
Can MacIntyre win here?
“It’s possible. We’ll start off from level par. I’ve got as much chance as everyone else in the field,” he said. “Same Thursday last week, I had the same chance as everyone else.
“It’s just about getting in that position on Sunday and seeing where the cards fall. Obviously last week they fell my way. My job is to go out there, fight as hard as I can, try my best, and hopefully get in a position where I can just have a chance.
“That’s all I can ask myself, and that’s the only bit of kind of anything that I want is just have a chance. If I do my job well enough and I hit the shots I see, execute them as well as I can, accept where they end up, then there’s a chance.”
Number: 158
There is an unusual number of players in the field. Normally, the R&A plan to have a full field size of 156 players. However, due to a number of past champions making unexpected decisions to play, the field ran over by two – at 158 – after the governing body kept to a commitment that 16 players would come through final qualifying.
Quote-Unquote
“I get frustrated like anybody else. I get down on myself like anybody else. I don’t win anywhere near as much as I would like” – Tommy Fleetwood on trying to get back into the winner’s circle. His last win came in the Dubai Invitational on the DP World Tour in mid-January. He has yet to win a major.
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