Proud Michael Stewart savours 'amazing' major debut in 151st Open

It takes something special for a Scot to attract attention from golf scribes outwith the game’s cradle and especially so in majors. Questions were being asked, though, about Michael Stewart in the media centre at Royal Liverpool for much of the second round of the 151st Open and rightly so.

Michael Stewart in action during the second round of the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool. Picture: Tom Russo/The Scotsman.

At one point during the day’s proceedings, the Troon man was tied for third at the Hoylake venue. Just take a moment to digest that because we are talking here about someone making a major debut at the age of 33 after coming close to walking away from the game he loves and is the world No 868.

And, even though a double-bogey 7 at the 15th took a layer of the gloss off his tremendous performance on the Wirral over the opening two days, Stewart still had ample reason to feel enormously proud of himself because he not only progressed comfortably to the weekend but is sitting in the top 15.

“Yeah, feels amazing,” he said, smiling, after following his opening 68 on Thursday with a 73 to lie alongside Rory McIlroy, the 2014 winner here, on one-under-par. “It's hard to put into words exactly how I'm feeling. My feet are killing me. But, yeah, I'm proud of myself, especially after the (bogey-bogey) start yesterday.”

Michael Stewart and his caddie Stuart Muir, who is the bar manager at Kilmarnock (Barassie). Picture: Tom Russo/The Scotsman.

To have a realistic chance of using his promising opening effort as a springboard to make the cut, the second circuit needed a solid foundation. That box was ticked as a five-foot tester to save par was confidently knocked in then, after seeing his iron off the tee at the second go 40 yards further than he’d expected and found sand, the feat was repeated from 17 feet at the second.

Working well with his caddie Stuart Muir - he’s normally serving pints in his role as bar manager at Kilmarnock (Barassie) Golf Club - the former Scottish Amateur champion mixed birdies at the fifth and seventh with bogeys at the seventh and ninth holes before suffering his one big hiccup after the “annoyance” of straying into a bunker off the tee at the par-5 15th led to a “spiral in errors”. Under the circumstances, he did well to par in from there.

“Absolutely, yeah,” he replied to being asked if he’d taken both his scores and position at the halfway stage. “Kind of a disappointment the way I finished obviously. Today I feel like I hit it pretty good but kind of put myself in some tough spots. Any time I hit it offline, bar a couple, I got some not-so-good lies in the bunkers, which you know you're going to get around here. But I got up and down, holing some good putts, so, yeah, just thrilled.”

Especially in an event like this, backing up a good start can be difficult due to getting ahead of one’s self. “I actually felt pretty good,” insisted Stewart as he reflected on leaving the course after 10pm on Thursday then being back on the first tee just after 11am on Friday. “I had sort of five minutes to myself when I got back to the flat and just sort of tried to message as many people as I could. My phone was going ballistic.

“I slept pretty good again. I wanted to be up at quarter to 7, but I was up at 6. I actually felt like I'd see every hour from like 2 or 3 in the morning, but, no, I was fine. Did some stretching and, when you're doing things to pass the time, you feel a little bit better. I thought it (hitting his opening shot) was going to be much better, but, just soon as you walk over that bridge, it's the exact same feeling.”

Stewart, who plays on the Challenge Tour after earning his step up from the PGA EuroPro Tour in its final season, is guaranteed to pick up $32,000, dwarfing his career-best cheque of £12,000 for winning the Eagle Orchid Scottish Masters at Leven Links last year. “I've got a wedding in March next year, which is in Eyemouth, so that helps pay for that,” he said of an exciting date down the line as he ties the knot with his fiancee, Abbie, who is a wedding planner herself on the west coast.

Playing in the 151st Open is a far cry from the position Stewart found himself in during the Covid pandemic. With the entire PGA EuroPro Tour season wiped out, he got a job operating a forklift for a company that made hand sanitisers and stuck with that for 13 months.

“Listen, it's not like a poor me story, it's just that's what people have to do,” he said. “There's so many guys that have been in the same position as me that have just left (golf) and they've not come back. I was fortunate, so extremely grateful.”

Stewart will be joined in the final two rounds by Bob MacIntyre (71) and Richie Ramsay (72) after they both progressed on three-over. “Making the cut in any major is huge and I’m happy to have another go tomorrow,” said MacIntyre. “Especially with the weather coming in, it’s just about getting in there and in a position where you’ve got a chance and who knows what the weather is going to bring tomorrow.”

The Oban man relished tough last-day conditions as he finished second to Rory McIlroy in the Genesis Scottish Open last weekend and added with a smile: “I’m always up for a good scrap anywhere - shinty pitch, golf course, I’m ready.”

Ramsay celebrated holing a five-footer at the last to make it with a fist pump. “I feel like today I showed the way I can play in the wind and hit some nice hold-up shots,” he said.