CONNOR SYME, the Drumoig amateur, is relishing the prospect of making his Open championship debut alongside John Daly after revealing he was only a new-born baby when the American lifted the Claret Jug at St Andrews in 1995. Syme, a one-time Rangers youth prospect, will tee off at Royal Birkdale on Thursday morning with Australia’s Adam Bland and also the man known universally as Wild Thing.

“I just saw the draw and it’s cool, I can’t wait,” said Syme, last year’s Australian amateur champion. “Playing with a former champion - I’m really looking forward to that. The year he won I was born around that time. I was probably about ten days old or something!

“You’ve seen him through the years and he has just won again on the Seniors Tour. It’s good to see him back playing and I’ll be able to pick his brains about some of the events he has played in down the years and the things he has won.

“My swing is a little shorter than his, he’s got a fair bit of torque, hasn’t he? I can’t wait to see him hit it because he still looks like he is bombing it on the Seniors Tour. It should be class. It will be incredible to play with him. We’ll probably get a gallery and that should be good.”

Syme hopes playing with Daly will help him with his twin aims of making the cut and finishing as the leading amateur.

He added: “Every amateur is striving to win the Silver Medal, that’s a target. And making the cut is one of my other goals as well.”