Hopewell Hoping to Maintain Bright Start

Manchester, England: Australian Hayden Hopewell fired an opening four-under 68 at St Annes Old Links in the stroke play qualifying stage of The 127th Amateur Championship.

Hopewell’s effort left him in a share of fourth place, three shots off the lead being set by Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.

Also making a bright start was New Zealand’s James Hydes, who is tied for 11th following a 69.

While St Annes Old Links offered more favourable scoring opportunities than the test posed by Royal Lytham & St Annes, host to The Open on 11 occasions, Malaysian Khavish Varadan and New Zealanders Mako Thompson and Jared Edwards will all be satisfied with 73s at the latter venue.

That leaves them in equal 63rd place with the prospect of improving their positions at St Annes Old Links on Tuesday.

Following the second round of stroke play, the top-64 players will qualify for the match play rounds.

Of the other Asia-Pacific participants in the 288-player field which features competitors from 42 countries, it was a day to forget for Thai prodigy Ratchanon 'TK' Chantananuwat.

The 15-year-old, a winner on the Asian Tour this year and ninth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), signed for a 78 at Royal Lytham, and is languishing in equal 242nd place.

Harry Bolton shot a two-over 74 at St Annes Old Links while fellow-Australians Connor McKinney, Max Charles, Blaike Perkins and Joshua Greer all returned two-over 72s at Royal Lytham.

Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho, runner-up to Japan’s Keita Nakajima in last year’s Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, had a 73 at Royal Lytham, a score matched by Singapore’s Brandon Han.

Number three on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Aberg took advantage of idyllic conditions to set the early pace. In one of the final groups of the day, Denmark’s Mathias Lorentzen posted a six-under 66 to secure second place..

Aberg, the Texas Tech student who won the 2022 Ben Hogan Award presented by PNC Bank as best men’s college golfer over the previous 12 months, chipped in for an eagle at the 18th to highlight his day.

“I feel like I’ve worked hard to get to where I am and it’s more of a testament to me doing some good stuff,” he said.

Another Swede, Hugo Townsend, posted a five-under 67 at St Annes Old Links in the late evening sun.

The best round at Royal Lytham came from Scotland’s Jamie Roberts who signed for a four-under 66 – helped by two birdies in his last three holes on the demanding closing finish.

Anton Albers from Germany and the Irish trio of Matthew McClean, Paul Coughlan and Jack Hearn are alongside Hopewell on four-under and inside the top-10 after their efforts at St Annes Old Links.

The 36-hole Final will be played on Saturday with the champion earning a dream place in The 150th Open at St Andrews next month.

The R&A will provide live broadcast coverage of the quarter-finals and semi-finals on Friday and the Final on Saturday. This can be watched on The R&A’s website randa.org as well as its YouTube channel.