A free weekend wasn’t what Stuart Grehan wanted from his debut appearance in the Open, but the amateur champion’s first taste of life in a Major at least had him looking forward to future dates in golf’s biggest championships, with exemptions next year into the Masters and the US Open pencilled into his diary.
The 33-year-old Offalyman was “dejected” after an opening round 77 but responded with a 69 in the second round – finishing on six-over 146 – that left him with the belief that his “game is well able to stand up to a pretty high level”.
“I feel like I probably need to get better at certain areas; certainly putting, anyway. That’s one of the things I’ve learned over the past couple of days, I need to become a better putter! There’s a couple more Majors next year that I’ll get into, so just try and get ready for them then,” said Grehan, who, as the Amateur champion, can expect an invitation from Augusta National to arrive around Christmas for the Masters, while he is assured of a spot in the US Open at Pebble Beach.
In the coming weeks, Grehan – who followed up his great amateur win at Royal Liverpool by helping Ireland to the European Amateur Team Championship in Estonia last week – has the Home Internationals at Woodbrook next month and the Walker Cup at Lahinch in September in a busy schedule.
Rory McIlroy flexes his muscle to keep Open challenge alive
Stuart Grehan focused on improving putting after first Major experience at Birkdale
Solid Open start for Shane Lowry, who arrived at the first tee wearing Argentina colours
Shane Lowry best of the Irish after scorching opening round at Royal Birkdale
Unlucky Matt Fitzpatrick misses rare cut
Funny old game, ain’t it? Well, Matt Fitzpatrick – one of the most in-form players in world golf coming into the Open – could attest to that view.
For the first time in 15 months, in a streak of cuts made that extended to 35 tournaments dating back to the Texas Open in April 2025, Fitzpatrick failed to make the cut in the Open in the event that means most of all to the Englishman.
“You need to have that rub of the green sometimes, and I didn’t have it this week,” admitted Fitzpatrick, who shot two rounds of 72 for 144 to miss the cut.
For the world number three, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour this season with wins in the RBC Heritage and the Valspar, it will be a case of putting the clubs away for a three-week break before getting going again at the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Arnold Palmer remembered at Birkdale with plaque
An aged grey stone plaque off the fairway of the 16th hole commemorates the extraordinary recovery shot played by Arnold Palmer en route to Claret Jug success here in 1961.
On a hole that played as the 15th at the time, with course changes since then resulting in the reconfiguration, Palmer hit his tee shot into thick rough at the base of a blackberry bush and left with what seemed to be an impossible ask to find the green.
But Palmer’s powerful 6-iron shot not only escaped the thorny lie but managed to reach the green. “I never hit a ball so hard in my life,” Palmer would later say of his resultant par which proved crucial as he held off Dai Rees to win the 90th Open by a single shot.
The plaque – simply engraved on a metal plate reads, “ARNOLD PALMER THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 14TH JULY 1961 – remains the only one at Royal Birkdale, with a push to install one for Jordan Spieth’s miracle shot on 13 in the final round of the 2017 Open proving short-lived, so that the man known as The King has free reign on that accolade.
What would it take over the weekend for someone else’s majesty to earn a second plaque on the famed links?
Irish teenager wins prestigious junior competition
Teenager Ollie McEvoy has ensured there will be at least one Irish winner in the northwest of England with his victory in the McGregor Trophy, a prestigious junior tournament that includes Justin Rose, Edoardo Molinari, Marco Penge and Rasmus Hojgaard among its past champions.
The 16-year-old from Ballycastle – whose dad Damien, the head professional at the north Antrim club, is his coach – came from five strokes behind in the final round at Clitheroe, some 60 kilometres up the road from Birkdale, to defeat Finland’s Valtteri Lindroos on the second playoff hole of the 72-holes championship.
Of joining the likes of Rose and company on the roll-of-honour, McEvoy said: “It’s unbelievable! Quite surreal to be honest! It’s something you dream of.”
Next up for McEvoy is the upcoming European Young Masters at Parador de El Saler in Spain, which starts on Thursday.
Number: 155
The ticket ballot for next year’s 155th Open at St Andrews is currently live, with applications open until July 24th on theopen.com. There were almost one million applications for tickets for this year’s championship at Royal Birkdale.
Quote
“I thought there was zero per cent chance [of playing] ... I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over here and play, and here we are.” – Sam Burns after leapfrogging his way into contention with a 62. Burns’s wife Caroline gave birth to a baby girl on July 3rd, with the golfer previously uncommitted to playing.
