Amateurs rub shoulders with Tiger

Tiger Woods arrived on the practice range accompanied by his own sizeable entourage, teenager Lloyd Campbell turned up with his sister carrying his clubs.

But both will start the 133rd British Open championship on Thursday on an equal footing after Campbell and his friend and fellow amateur Steven Tiley came through qualifying to book their place at Royal Troon.

Campbell and Tiley, who have come through the ranks of Kent amateur golf together, shot rounds of 67 and 70 at Turnberry over the weekend to claim two of the four spots available.

And they then found themselves practising next to the world number one at Troon this morning as the world’s best golfers arrived to prepare for the third major of the year.

“He’s just a normal person,” said 19-year-old Campbell, who is from Upchurch in Kent but is currently on a golf scholarship at the University of Tennessee. “He’s just won more majors than everybody.

“It would be nice to play alongside him on Thursday but I don’t think I can swindle that somehow. It would be good to play with some of the top players.

“I couldn’t get to sleep last night, I was just worrying about the first shot off the practice tee let alone the course. I thinned a few but I’m hitting it a bit better now.

“I’m going to enjoy it but I’m also going to keep my head and try and first make the cut, finish top amateur and top prize would be the Open. That’s probably aiming a little bit high but who knows? Anything could happen. I’m swinging the club good and if I get the breaks who knows?

“It was no great surprise to get through qualifying. I knew I was playing well. I tried two years ago and was a bit young at 17, I’ve got a bit more experience since going over to America and it’s made me a stronger person being away from home. I felt I was 10 times the player.”

Tiley, 21, also tried to qualify for Sandwich last year at his home course of Royal Cinque Ports, but after an opening round of 67 collapsed to a second round 80 to miss out.

This year he shot 67 again and then spoke to 2003 US Open champion Jim Furyk in the clubhouse at Turnberry to get some tips on how to handle the pressure.

“It helped me a lot the next day and it was a bit easier because it wasn’t my home course,” said Tiley, who will attend Georgia State University in August.

“I’m a member of two clubs and they both came out last year to support me but there were a lot of people – there was only my dad and his friend this year - and the pressure got to me. But I learnt from it and I just had to prove to myself this year I can go out and do it.

“I couldn’t sleep last night and it’s all sunk in now. It’s an unbelievable feeling to see Tiger Woods practising next to you. You just want to hit them half decent, you don’t want to hit it badly next to the best in the world. He’s in a different league.

“He didn’t know who I was, hopefully by the end of the week he might know who I am.

“He was here before me with his entourage, I just came up and hit balls next to him and left him alone. I didn’t want to ruin his preparations. I saw him hit some drivers and they looked pretty good to me, so if he’s struggling I hate to think what I’m hitting it like.”

The other three amateurs in the field are newly crowned British Amateur champion Stuart Wilson, US amateur champion Nick Flanagan of Australia and Ireland’s European amateur champion Brian McElhinney.