Silver Medal

The amateurs at The 152nd Open will likely never have faced a test like Royal Troon. 

But, luckily for them, they can lean on the experience of the field around them in the final major of the year. 

Several of the 12 amateurs have been drawn alongside major winners, including Champion Golfers, for rounds one and two. 

Australia’s Jasper Stubbs is surrounded by an embarrassment of riches on Thursday and Friday. 

The 22-year-old will play alongside 2018 Champion Golfer of the Year Francesco Molinari and former world number one Justin Rose, teeing off at 7:41 am on Thursday. 

Rose is the perfect role model for Stubbs, with the Englishman claiming the Silver Medal for the leading amateur in 1998 and finishing an incredible tied-fourth.

The reigning Amateur Champion, Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen, is joined by two fellow Scandinavians, including the first Nordic man to win The Open. 

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson was the victor the last time the Championship came to Royal Troon, while Olesen’s fellow Dane Rasmus Hojgaard completes the group.

The first amateur to tee off is a local player, with Scotland’s Calum Scott to begin his debut Open at 6:46am alongside Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland and Sweden’s Alex Noren who is playing in his 12th Open. 

2009 Champion Golfer of the Year Stewart Cink will guide another debutant, England’s Dominic Clemons, around the Championship course in a group that also contains Chris Kirk. The trio tee off at 8:47am. 

Gordon Sargent is part of an all-American group that goes out at 10:20am with one of the more important people in US golf. 

Keegan Bradley will serve as Team USA’s captain for next year’s Ryder Cup meeting with Team Europe at Bethpage Black in New York, while Will Zalatoris completes the group.

Tommy Morrison is just behind Sargent with the European Amateur champion going at 10:42am alongside Sean Crocker and Guido Migliozzi. 

The first day of The Open is usually a day of nerves but Mexico’s Santiago de la Fuente has the experienced presence of John Daly, the 1995 Champion Golfer of the Year alongside.

Daly is one of the characters of the golf world and will begin his 26th Open at 8:36am with Aaron Rai joining them.

There are only three players in the field who have won The Open more than once, and one of them is playing alongside Altin van der Merwe. 

The South African won the inaugural Africa Amateur Championship earlier this year and will tee off alongside his countryman Ernie Els, who triumphed in 2002 and 2012. 

Joining them in their group at 12:31pm is 2019 US Open champion Gary Woodland, whose best finish at an Open, T12, came at Royal Troon in 2016. 

The day rounds out with back-to-back Spanish amateurs. Luis Masaveu tees off at 3:54pm, 11 minutes before Jaime Montojo. The latter is playing alongside Liam Nolan in the only group to feature two amateurs, while the final amateur is Matthew Dodd-Berry. 

He begins his first round alongside fellow Englishmen Daniel Brown and Denwit Boriboonsub of Thailand at 4:16pm.