Galway amateur Liam Nolan qualifies for The Open
Team GB&I’s Liam Nolan reacts to winning his match on hole 18 during afternoon singles of the 2023 Walker Cup at Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023. (Chris Keane/USGA)
Galway amateur Liam Nolan was in disbelief after he made testing putts on his final two holes to clinch a dream spot in The Open at Royal Troon.
The former Walker Cup star (24) opened with a three-under 69 in Final Qualifying at Dundonald Links in Scotland — one of four venues offering four spots each in the season’s final major— and followed it with a 70 to finish tied second on five-under.
Venues:
Burnham & Berrow: Justin Rose, Dominic Clemons (A), Abraham Ancer, Charlie Lindh.
Dundonald Links: Sam Hutsby, Angel Hidalgo, Liam Nolan, Jack McDonald.
Royal Cinque Ports: Matthew Southgate, Elvis Smylie, Jaime Montojo, Luis Masaveu.
West Lancashire: Matthew Dodd-Berry (A), Sam Horsfield, Daniel Brown, Masahiro Kawamura
“It's incredible,” said Nolan, who was tied with Spain’s Angel Hidalgo, just three shots behind England’s Sam Hutsby in the race for four places at Royal Troon.
“I mean, I can't really wrap my head around it. I'm just happy I holed that five-footer or so on the last. Still getting over that.
“Yeah, it's an amazing opportunity to play my first major and I just can't wait for it now.”
Later, he added: “It was a long day with a lot of different weather conditions, so you had to adapt all day and just keep the ball in play as best as possible.
“It’s going to be crazy. I feel like I’ve had a very good amateur career, but this a nice one to tick off, playing in my first major.
“It’s hard to process the fact that I’m going to The Open. I’m looking forward to everything - the crowds, it being in Scotland, the Home of Golf, and, yeah, I just can’t wait to go.”
Nolan, who will play for Ireland in next week’s European Amateur Team Championships in Italy, does not mind having to make hasty preparations for Royal Troon, where he will join Tom McKibbin and major winners Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry.
He made four birdies and a bogey in his opening 69 and while he was inside the top four after following birdies at the fourth, ninth and 11th with a bogey at the 16th, he had to make par saves at the 17th and 18th to secure his dream ticket.
“I was actually quite confident,” he said of his par putt at the last. “I actually had a six-footer on 17 and another one again on 18.
"I was putting well, especially in the afternoon. So I just said I'd give it a roll. And if it didn't go in, I'd still have a chance to get it to get to Troon.”
He added: “A major championship is the pinnacle of golf. So to get to play (in an event with) Tiger, Rory McIlroy, all the best players in the world, yeah, that's as good as it gets.”
Nolan knew he was playing well enough to qualify, having contended for last week’s European Amateur Championship in Denmark, where he finished 11th.
“I did believe,” added Nolan, who graduated from the University of Galway with a degree in Biomedical Engineering in April.
“I played very well in the European Amateur last week, I was trending really nicely. My ball striking was very good, which is so important around a windy links. To not be looking for your golf ball is so important.
“So I knew if I rolled in a couple of putts during the day, I'd have a great chance. And that's what happened.”
Nolan, who won the South American Amateur and the Brabazon Trophy last year to secure his Walker Cup spot, is looking forward to the European Team Championships in Turin next week.
“I finished college at the end of April, and I’m happy to be just focusing on golf at the moment,” he said.
“We have the European Team Championships next week in Italy with Team Ireland, and I’m really looking forward to that week.
“We got bronze last year, so hoping to go a couple better this year. And then it’s on to Troon so I really have to do a lot of planning now. It’s good planning, though, fun planning.
"I'll enjoy doing that. I will just try to sort out my next three weeks as well as I can. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Hutsby shot rounds of 67 and 69 at Dundonald to top the qualifiers by two shots from Nolan and Hidalgo, who eagled the last from 130 yards as Scot Jack McDonald came through a three-way playoff for the final spot.
Graeme McDowell shot rounds of 72 and 73 to miss by three shots out at Royal Cinque Ports, where Matthew Southgate topped the qualifiers by three shots on six-under from Southport’s Elvis Smylie and Spanish amateur Jaime Montojo.
Ireland’s Alex Maguire played alongside Sergio Garcia at West Lancashire but missed out by nine shots as they were put on the clock.
The Spaniard blamed poor crowd control as he failed to make his 100th major by two strokes and English amateur Matthew Dodd-Berry and LIV Golf’s Sam Horsfield topped the qualifiers by a shot on six-under from Dan Brown as Masahiro Kawamura.
“The marshals were trying to do the best job they could do but obviously, we had to stop pretty much on every tee for 2-3 minutes to hit our tee shots because people were walking in front of the tee and on the fairway,” Bunkered reported. “Unless we wanted to start hitting people we couldn’t hit. Because of that I made a couple of bogeys that might cost me getting to Troon.”
Niall Kearney shot rounds of 69 and 71 at Burnham and Berrow to finish three shots outside a playoff for two spots as Justin Rose and amateur Dominic Clemons topped the leaderboard on eight-under.
