'Super excited, happy, buzzing' - what it means to be leading amateur in The Open

The man himself summed it up perfectly. “Yeah, super happy, excited, buzzing, relieved as well,” said Calum Scott as he reflected on winning the Silver Medal as the leading amateur in the 152nd Open at Royal Troon.

Twelve amateurs teed up in this edition of the Claret Jug event and four made the cut. It was mission accomplished for Scott as he finished ahead of Dane Jacob Skov Olesen, American Tommy Morrison and Spaniard Luis Masaveu after 72 holes.

The 20-year-old from Nairn started the final round with a three-shot cushion and had seen that increase to eight as he teed off, with both Morrison and Olesen, his conqueror in the quarter-finals of the Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin last month, setting a clubhouse target of 11 over.

Calum Scott points something out to his caddie, James Vargas, during the final round of the 152nd Open at Royal Troon. Picture: Tom Russo/The Scotsman

After covering the opening ten holes in level par, the outcome was never really in any doubt, though a run of bogeys over the closing stretch meant Scott was three clear of his closest challenger at the finish. “Made it tough for myself coming in, but just super happy to be the low am for this event,” he admitted after signing off with a 76.

Jose Maria Olazabal (1985), Tiger Woods (1996), Justin Rose (1998), Rory McIlroy (2007), Matteo Manassero (2009) and Matt Fitzpatrick (2013) all picked up the same prize before carving out successful professional careers.

“Obviously there's been a bunch of Silver Medal winners that have gone on to do incredible things. I'm not exactly sure what this will do,” said Scott, who is the first player flying the Saltire to achieve the feat since Sam Locke at Carnoustie in 2018.

“It's one of the highest honours I think you can win as an amateur. First of all, you have to make the cut to win this award and to beat 11 other amateurs, I'm very proud of myself for that. To compete in a tournament like The Open, it's just amazing.”

On the back of wins in the pro ranks by both Ewen Ferguson and Bob MacIntyre in the past few weeks, it was another boost for Scottish golf. “Yeah, I'm going to take a bit of a break,” admitted Scott of how the next couple of days might look like for him. “It's been pretty hectic, the schedule, the last kind of two months. Basically since February onwards, it's been nonstop, it feels like.

“I'm going to take a few days off and kind of reflect and just decompress and chill with friends and family and enjoy this moment. Yeah, just take it from there.”

Scotland’s top-ranked amateur is due to compete in next month’s US Amateur Championship at Hazeltine, where Richie Ramsay landed the title in 2006, before starting his final year at Texas Tech, where he had a crossover at the start of his spell at the Lubbock facility with Ludvig Aberg.

“Yeah, I think I will,” he replied to being asked if he’d definitely finish off his college term, the Paul Lawrie Foundation ambassador having already been snapped up by Hambric Sports. “Obviously this puts me in a good position going forward, like maybe starts or something in regards to events.

"I think the opportunities that college golf has with the PGA Tour, I just think it's a no brainer to go back and try to compete for that PGA Tour card because obviously that's the peak, that's where you want to be. I'm in a decent position going into my last year.”

In what was a bit of an unfair question posed by this correspondent, Scott was asked who is the best golfer in his household at the moment, having achieved something that eclipsed his big brother Sandy’s amateur career, though both played in Walker Cups. “I don't know,” he replied, smiling. “That's a tough question. Probably my dad!”