Open my childhood dream’s coming true
GOLF CARNOUSTIE WON’T BE CARNASTY
BRADLEY NEIL’S last Open experience at Carnoustie involved crawling through the legs of strangers just to get a glimpse of Tiger Woods hitting a shot.
This summer, 11 years on, he’ll strive to make that starry-eyed kid’s dreams come true by returning to the Angus links to tee up with Tiger and Co in front of his own folk.
Growing up in Blairgowrie, just a 45-minute drive from Carnoustie, this year’s Open has special appeal for Neil in his rookie season as a fully-fledged European Tour pro.
On a day when he appeared in Dundee City Centre to promote the R&A’s superb value Kids Go Free junior ticket initiative for under-16s, Neil said: “I remember being at Carnoustie in 2007, the year Padraig Harrington won.
“Blairgowrie Golf Club had organised a bus for the members to go along so me and my dad and brother jumped on.
“My biggest memory was just chasing Tiger all day. I think it was the same for every kid my age, you just wanted to get as close to Tiger as possible and see as much as you could of him playing. I’d have been 11 and because I was quite small I was running through the legs of people already up against the ropes – getting down as low as possible and peering through just to see Tiger hit a shot.
“I’ve got so many good memories of The Open but the best of them all was playing in 2014 at Hoylake.
“To see all these young kids in the crowd and to think that was me five years ago. To actually live that dream was fantastic.
“I absolutely loved it in 2014 but I think I’d love it even more competing as a professional and even more so with it being in Scotland.
“It gives me goose bumps just thinking about what it could be like coming up the 18th knowing I’m making the cut or in the final few groups surrounded by people who supported me throughout my career.”