Irish amateur Liam Nolan putting no extra pressure on himself at first Open

The Galway native is one of a dozen amateurs at Troon this week. 

Ireland's amateur golfer Liam Nolan plays from a bunker beside the 14th green during a practice round ahead at Royal Troon. Pic: Glyn KIRK / AFP

Liam Nolan noticed it on Wednesday. Everyone did. A quantum leap in the numbers of people milling around the vast expanse of Royal Troon after what had been a low-key start to the week on the Ayrshire coast.

One of 12 amateurs among the field of 158, the Galway man felt the nerves rise in parallel but there is a determination to enjoy the occasion having qualified for the 15nd Open at Dundonald at the start of July.

Pinch-me moments come thick and fast for newbies here.

He went around the course with Pádraig Harington and Shane Lowry on Monday. Practise on Tuesday was spent in the company of 2020 Irish Open champion John Catlin and Todd Hamilton who produced one of the all-time shock Open wins at this course in 2004.

Nolan grasped the opportunity to quiz the American who was gracious with his time and knowledge and a man whose use of a hybrid came to symbolise that extraordinary triumph from two decades ago. Turns out that little enough had changed there.

“Every hole. He dropped like three balls 30 feet short, got out his three wood and hit it up to four feet. Every one of them. He was trying to teach John the shot, but John wasn't really getting the hang of it. Todd is one of the best at it.” 

Practise on Wednesday was ticked off in the company of England’s Sam Hutsby, German Stephan Jaeger and local boy Ewan Ferguson, but he will have to wait for his big moment having been drawn in the third last of the 53 groups in round one.

That’s a 4.05pm start, almost 10 hours after the openers. Accompanying Nolan around will be fellow amateur Jaime Montojo Fernandez and New Zealand’s Kazuma Kobori so there will be plenty of time for any creeping nerves to bed in.

“I don’t mind,” said the man from Bearna. “I know Jaime from Spain really well. I played with him a few times before. It’s nice to have a familiar face. I don’t know [Kobori] as well. I’m looking forward to getting going.” 

If the crowds will be busy elsewhere on the course that late in the afternoon then Nolan won’t lack for support with his mother and father Tom and Edel having made the trip to Scotland to see their son play on the game’s greatest stage.

Tom Nolan was a member of the Galway hurling squad that won the All-Ireland title in 1988. He grew up in the Whitestrand area between Salthill and the Claddagh and is a decent golfer in his own right.

Nerves will be one thing for a man intending to turn pro later this year, even if his Walker Cup experience at St Andrews last year should help prep him to some extent, but there is no extra pressure being heaped on his own shoulders.

No talks of cuts to be made, or of silver medals.

“The goal is to enjoy myself, keep striking it the way I am and see where I end up Sunday evening.”