While some of the battle-hardened professionals struggled to come to terms to the conditions at the Old Course, the 144th Open Championship will forever be remembered as one in which the amateurs provided plenty of fun and drama with their impressive skills and shock with their results.
World No2 Jordan Spieth, who is 21 himself and younger than most of the amateurs in the field, was in awe of what the amateurs managed to achieve, saying he felt that the time is not far when one of them will win a major.
“I’m not extremely surprised. I think in years to come, you’re going to see more and more of it. The amateur game has changed to be more like the professional game in the way that there’s more tournaments, there’s better golf courses, harder golf courses and better competition.
“That’s what I felt like when I was playing junior and amateur golf. It was almost a mini-PGA Tour,” said Jordan, who finished tied fourth and missed the play-off by one shot.
The 3 lowest 54-hole scores by amateurs in the entire history of #TheOpen 204 P. Dunne (2015) 207 J. Niebrugge (2015) 210 A. Chesters (2015)
— Alex Perry (@AlexPerryESPN) July 19, 2015
“There are some great players out there. I think there will be an amateur that wins a PGA event or something like that, possibly even a major, at some point in the next decade or so just because the game in amateur golf across the world now I think is getting more diverse and more intense, and I think it’s awesome for guys to step up and do this.
“There’s just no fear – in how they play and approach tournaments. They’re just coming in with no fear and being able to really settle in.
“I think getting off to a good start is really important for amateurs playing in a professional tournament, just because it’s a new situation for them. I think that’s what these guys did, they got off to a good start, and from there they know they can attack the course. To me it’s not much of a surprise. I think it’s awesome.”
The Open: Winners and losers from St. Andrews
From Jordan Spieth to Tiger Woods: Quotes of the Open 2015
VIDEO: Jordan Spieth – My sights are set on the PGA Championship
The biggest surprise was the 22-year-old Irishman Paul Dunne, who claimed the top spot on the leaderboard ahead of Spieth after the third round. It’s a pity that Dunne was undone by a bit of nerves and the tough scoring conditions on the back nine of the final day and finished way down at six-under par and tied-30th place.
Dunne, who started the final round with two bogies, did well to pull himself back to even par at the turn, but made six bogies coming in.
Niebrugge, Schniederjans & Chesters finished with the 3 lowest totals by amateurs in history of #TheOpen. Well done. pic.twitter.com/Ykzo7ol6Zi
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 20, 2015
The Silver Medalist was the impressive Jordan Niebrugge, who became the first amateur since Chris Woods at Royal Birkdale in 2008 to finish inside the top-10. His final tally of 11-under par was the lowest total by an amateur in the Open Championship, and by finishing tied sixth, he earns a place in next year’s 145th Open at Royal Troon.
And then there was the other amateur from Jordan’s home state Texas, Ollie Schniederjans. He finished on nine-under par, tied 12th with an English amateur Ashley Chesters. Schniederjans is turning pro this week at the Canadian Open, and he gave an excellent account of himself at The Open, making 23 birdies in four days, which was just one short of birdie leader Spieth (24) and one more than eventual champion Zach Johnson.
Schniederjans tried to explain the success of the amateurs. “You have to learn how to handle so much, stay organised, and then you go around and you travel and you play some very difficult courses, set up very difficult,” he said.
“They put the pins tough. You play in tough conditions. You play tough courses against the other best amateurs in the world, and you also have to handle your school obligations.
“You’ve got to learn how to manage your life and when you’re done with school, it feels like: ‘This is easy, I can manage everything else in life. At least, I don’t have to do schoolwork’.”
Five amateurs made the cut last week, Frenchman Romain Langasque being the fifth.
