TROON, SCOTLAND | In a week of championship links golf when strong wind and driving rain turned a tough test into a torrid trial, experience mattered.
So it was that, although 12 amateur golfers from nine countries assembled at Royal Troon to compete in the 152nd Open, the Silver Medal for low amateur was won by the player who had travelled the shortest distance to get there.
Calum Scott, 13th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, is based in Nairn on the north coast of Scotland, 15 miles east of Inverness. He has played much of his golf being assaulted by gales hurtling in off the North Sea and sideways sleet that has been flung his way from Scandinavia.
Unlike so many of his amateur competitors, he was therefore no stranger to the muckiest weather of last week. Indeed, by the halfway stage the fight for the low-amateur honor had become a four-man race.
Scott was joined in that quest by Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen (winner of last month’s Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin, Ireland), Spain’s Luis Masaveu (who made the field via Final Qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports, England), and Tommy Morrison who plays out of the University of Texas in Austin (and was the first American winner of the European Amateur Championship in Denmark last month).
Masaveu (18-over for the week) and Morrison (11-over) were out of the hunt for the top prize after 54 holes, and Olesen fell away with a 76 on Sunday to join Morrison on 11-over.
Scott carded 71-76 to make the cut and added a 70 to go five shots clear of Olesen with 18 holes to play. A hat trick of bogeys at 11, 12 and 13 prompted anxiety until Scott got news that he was five strokes clear of his rival with the same number of holes to play. He signed for a final-round 76 and an 8-over par total of 292 to tie for 43rd.
“Super happy,” he said with evident relief afterwards. “Excited, buzzing, relieved as well because this is one of the highest honours you can win as an amateur.”
“You can’t really practise what that back nine does to you. But obviously Nairn provides a good test off the back tees, and it’s not flat calm all the time there either. It definitely prepared me well for the wind and conditions this week.”
Calum Scott
After the first of his 76s, on Friday, he’d shaken the sand from his tousled hair and said: “That front nine was brutal.”
But then Scott, who will be a senior at Texas Tech, added: “It’s never anything like that in the States, but in my first event back in Europe [last month], I was second at the St Andrews Links Trophy, and it was very similar to this, weather-wise. It was all about getting the ball on the ground as quickly as possible and being really good at lag putting.”
After the final round, Scott reflected on Royal Troon’s exhausting closing stretch.
“You can’t really practise what that back nine does to you,” he said. “But obviously Nairn provides a good test off the back tees, and it’s not flat calm all the time there either. It definitely prepared me well for the wind and conditions this week.”
In addition to finishing runner-up on the Old Course last month, he placed fourth in the European Amateur and was a losing quarterfinalist in the Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin. The combination of those results earned him first place in the R&A’s Open Amateur Series and with it his spot in this week’s field.
Moreover, the man who beat him at Ballyliffin was Olesen, whom Scott bested in the final round at Troon.
“I obviously needed some revenge for that,” Scott said with a laugh. “No, he’s a good player. I’m just happy to have won and beat the other 11 players as well.”
The 20-year-old had James Vargas, the associate head coach at Texas Tech, on the bag. “He was telling me to soak it all in as we walked up 18,” he said. “I did the last 100 yards just walking, and I got kind of emotional. I still had two putts to hit. But I was embracing it. It’s a memory I’ll have forever and will cherish for a lifetime.”
Asked what comes next, Scott revealed that he is in no rush to turn professional. In fact, he is well aware that his final year at college offers the prospects of chasing graduation to the PGA Tour via its PGA Tour University ranking.
“Winning the Silver Medal does a lot for my amateur career,” Scott said. “It will help me as I transition into pro golf and maybe earn a few starts. It’s also just a really cool accolade to have and to join some big names who have won it before me.
“But with the opportunities that college offers with regard to the PGA Tour, I just think it’s a no-brainer to go back and try to compete for that card because obviously that’s the peak; that’s where you want to be, and I’m in a decent position going into my last year.”
Scott’s older brother Sandy is also an accomplished player. They have represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Walker Cup (Sandy in 2019, Calum last year), and Sandy competes on the third-tier PGA Tour Americas.
Who is the best golfer in the family?
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “That’s a tough question. Probably my dad.”
Matt Cooper
