Current Scottish Amateur champion Sam Locke served both the golf communities he was representing impressively as he emerged from the first day of the Open as both leading Scot and joint leader in the race for the amateur silver medal.
Admitting to feeling more jittery than he looked as his round got underway, the 18-year-old from Stonehaven quickly came to terms with his surroundings, repeatedly responding to setbacks as he followed bogeys at the fifth, seventh, ninth and 13th holes, with birdies at the sixth, eighth, 12th and 14th
Read more: The Open: Tiger effect has knock on for Russell Knox
“I didn’t feel like I was in
total control of the ball, but
I holed a lot of nice putts,” was his candid assessment of his performance after he had comprehensively out-played his playing partner Brandt Snedeker, the two-time American Ryder Cup team member who shot a five-over-par 76.
“I really enjoyed the whole experience. Obviously, it’s a bit different to what I’m used to but once I got the first tee shot away I settled down.
“It was really cool to walk on the first tee. That’s as good as it gets. I felt like I dealt with it quite well.”
Doubtless he benefited from having, as his caddie, his father Andrew, a professional golfer who works with Paul Lawrie, while Locke jr is a beneficiary of Lawrie’s highly-regarded Foundation and the man who won the Open at this venue
19 years ago, would thoroughly approve of the determination Locke expressed to build on what he has done so far.
“I maybe didn’t show it, but I was a bit nervous. If I can just get a bit tidier off the tee I should be in for a good week,” he said.
“I just went out there trying to enjoy it and play the best golf I can. Thankfully I posted a decent enough number and hopefully I can do better tomorrow.”
There should be no shortage of overnight confidence either after he recovered from two more bogeys at the 15th and 16th holes with one of the day’s most stylish finishes as he produced one of only a handful of birdies at the closing hole, where world No.1 Dustin Johnson was one of several players to register a triple bogey seven.
Further context was provided by the struggles of his fellow Scots Russell Knox taking 73 to get round, Sandy Lyle and Scott Jamieson shooting 75s, while Grant Forrest was unable to break 80.
All of them have been left with considerable work to do to make the cut which Locke must also do in order to have a chance of claiming the silver medal.
However, with just four amateurs in the field, he and Denmark’s European Amateur champion Nicolai Hojgaard - who matched Locke’s 72 – hold a substantial advantage over South Africa’s Jovan Rebula and China’s Yuxin Lin, who battled round in 79 and
80 respectively to leave themselves little or no chance of staying on for the weekend.
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