Pioneering Lin Blazes Solitary Royal St George's Trail

Sandwich, England: The fourth Major championship appearance of his fledgling career will live long in the memory of Lin Yuxin.

For the 20-year-old Chinese left-hander, the 149th Open Championship at Royal St George’s has proved to be an exceptional experience. And it’s not over yet. Far from it.

While South African Louis Oosthuizen and American heavyweights Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson lead the charge for the Claret Jug, two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner Lin is chasing his own piece of silverware.

Following a hard-fought third-round 74 at the wind-whipped Kent links, Lin will head into tomorrow’s finale with the chance to become only the second Asian-born winner of the Silver Medal, awarded to the low amateur.

Of the eight amateurs in the starting line-up on Thursday only Lin and German Matthias Schmid progressed to the weekend.

While Lin would love to emulate Korean Jin Jeong, who took the honour in 2010, he’ll have his work cut out to overhaul Schmid, his team-mate at last year’s Palmer Cup, an annual team competition for college/university golfers, pitting a United States team against an International team representing the rest of the world.

“Matthias is a good friend of mine. I’m just happy for both of us making the cut this week. It's a big achievement for both of us,” said Lin, whose three-day aggregate of five-over 215 sees him trail the German by five strokes.

“I think the big thing is I just stick to my gameplan, play some good golf and see what happens,” said Lin, who has already achieved his primary target this week – playing all four rounds.

It’s the first occasion he’s made the cut in a professional Major, having missed out at Carnoustie in The Open in 2018 and twice fallen short at Augusta National in the Masters Tournament.

“It's an unbelievable feeling to make the cut at a Major championship,” said Lin after holing a knee-trembling six-footer for par on the final green on Friday evening to qualify on the cut-off mark.

“It's been a dream come true for me. I've dreamed about this since I was a little kid. This week has been unbelievable for me. I can't believe that I can be here competing with the best in the world,” said Lin, whose surreal experience took another twist on Saturday morning when he learned he’d be first out at 9.20 am – playing on his own.

A total of 77 players made the cut with Lin among 13 on 141. As he was the last of them into the clubhouse on Friday he was deemed to be ‘first off’ in round three.

Ordinarily in such circumstances when there’s an odd number that make the cut, there’s a designated marker that steps in to make up the numbers, usually the pro at the host venue.

However, due to Covid protocols that was not possible this year. “I’ve never had anything like that happen to me. It was quite odd,” said Lin, who appeared somewhat bewildered by the rapturous applause he received, from the moment he stepped onto the first tee on his own to the time he tapped in for par on 18.

Perhaps initially fazed by the glare of attention, he bogeyed the first two holes before steadying the ship with a run of eight successive pars, notable for splendid up-and-downs from greenside bunkers on the short sixth and long seventh.

Although he drove the ball beautifully, birdies eluded him, chances going begging at nine, 10, 12 and 14. After further dropped shots at 11 and 15, the birdie drought appeared certain to end at the 16th when his short-iron tee shot came to rest six feet from the flag. But the putt stayed above ground.

With his father acting as caddie and a handful of friends and family cheering him on from behind the ropes, Lin persevered all the way to the end. Perhaps his day was encapsulated by what proved to be his penultimate stroke, a chip from off the green at 18 that clattered into the flagstick.

Neither did it drop for what would have been his only birdie of the round, nor did it ricochet off the green and into a bunker. His ball came to rest a couple of inches from the cup. It was a case of what might have been.

There was, however, one final consolation for Lin. The fact that he overhauled five players on the leaderboard has ensured it will not be him who is flying solo at the start of Sunday’s Open denouement.