Dunne master of emotions in charge for silver medal
THEY may not be permitted to get their hands on any of the £6.3m prizepot available to their professional colleagues but for the nine amateurs competing in this week’s Open Championship winning the famous silver medal and the respect of their peers was surely motivation enough.
An impressive six are in good shape to make the cut when the line is finally confirmed today and, while none are expected to trouble the very top of the leaderboard, all are in a position to enhance their reputations ahead of a potential future switch to the professional ranks.
Irishman Paul Dunne is leading the charge. The 22 year-old, set to play in this year’s Walker Cup, recorded two successive rounds of 69 that saw him reach the dizzying heights of the top 10. With stern competition to follow for the silver medal over the weekend, Dunne sang the praises of the unpaid ranks.
“Amateurs are well capable of shooting the scores needed to do well, it’s just about controlling your emotions,” he said. “It would be nice to get the silver medal in my last year as an amateur, but there’s a lot of golf and a lot of bad weather to play in before that.”
Chasing him over the weekend will be the American Jordan Niebrugge who reached four under, with compatriot Oliver Schniederjans just behind on -2.
Romain Langasque, who became Amateur champion at Carnoustie last month, continues to go well in his first Open championship. The Frenchman is also on four-under with five holes still to play.
Englishman Ashley Chesters, the leading amateur at Hoylake last year when they all missed the cut, is another in contention. He’s one under going into the weekend, while Paul Kinnear will return this morning to complete his remaining 10 holes on level par.
Not coming back for the weekend are England’s Alister Balcombe, Ben Taylor, as well as Gunn Yang of Korea.