Acclimatised Stubbs Ready for Stern Open Examination

Troon, Scotland: Jasper Stubbs will be ready and raring to go when he tees-off in the 152nd Open Championship tomorrow.

The Australian secured his starting spot at Royal Troon by virtue of his dramatic Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) play-off defeat of China’s Ding Wenyi and Sampson Zheng at Royal Melbourne last October.

In preparation for The Open, 22-year-old Stubbs has spent the past month in the United Kingdom, competing in amateur tournaments and getting himself accustomed with links-style golf.

In his final build-up, Stubbs has had the privilege of playing practice rounds here alongside his compatriots Cameron Smith and Adam Scott, both Major champions.

As if that’s not enough, the 22-year-old will line-up in the first two rounds with Italian Francesco Molinari, the 2018 Open champion, and former world number one Justin Rose of England, who won the Silver Medal as the leading amateur in 1998.

While Stubbs has one eye on emulating Rose’s feat from 26 years ago, his primary target is to survive the cut which will fall after the second round.

Having missed the cut at The Masters in April, the Victorian has altered his approach to his second Major.

Unlike his trip to America’s Augusta National, Stubbs has had several weeks acclimatising in Europe, playing in a number of prestigious amateur events.

He qualified for the match play section of The Amateur Championship last month and has been sharpening his game and getting used to British links conditions.

Stubbs is not the only past AAC winner competing at Royal Troon with the Japanese duo of Hideki Matsuyama and Keita Nakajima also in the 158-strong field.

So, too, is New Zealander Kazuma Kobori, who led last year's AAC in Melbourne after two rounds and eventually ended sixth.

That was to be his final act as an amateur. Kobori made his professional debut at the Queensland PGA Championship on the PGA Tour of Australasia last November, ending in a tow for ninth.

At the start of this year, he won three consecutive WebEx Players Series tournaments. The only other player in male golf history to secure three wins in his first 10 pro starts was Tiger Woods.

Kobori earned his spot into the 152nd Open as one of the five qualifiers from the new Federation Ranking list exemption category.