Scotland’s Calum Scott wins the Silver Medal as low amateur of the Open Championship

Calum Scott is the 2024 Silver Medal winner

Calum Scott holds off the competition to win The Open’s Silver Medal in front of a home crowd at Royal Troon.

Royal Troon started the week with 12 hopefuls vying for the prestigious Silver Medal, awarded to the low amateur of The Open Championship at the Claret Jug presentation ceremony. And after the cut was made at +6 on Friday night on the Ayrshire coast, only four remained in contention.

Fast forward 24 hours through a miserably wet Moving Day and home favorite Calum Scott was three shots clear of the pack following a one-under 70 to thrust him into pole position, and one he wouldn’t let slip, despite shooting a final round of 75.

Scott, who qualified as The R&A’s Open Amateur Series winner, was able to enjoy an emotional walk up the 18th fairway to the applause of packed grandstands in the comfort that nothing was going to stop his name from being added to the illustrious list of former winners.

“I’m super happy, excited, buzzing, relieved as well, said Scott as he began to come to terms with the achievement.

“I guess it will probably sink in a little bit more when I’m out on that green with the Silver Medal. I’m just really happy where everything is right now. It’s a memory I’ll have forever and cherish for a lifetime.”

Scott’s score of 292 is the second lowest by an amateur in an Open at Royal Troon, whose last three winners have all been from Scotland – Barclay Howard in 1997, Stuart Wilson in 2004, and now Scott in 2024. This year was the first time that Troon has handed out a Silver Medal since 2004 as no amateurs made the cut in 2016. All nine Scots to have won the Silver Medal have won it in Scotland.

“It’s one of the highest honors you can win as an amateur and to beat 11 other amateurs, I’m very proud of myself for that,” added Scott, who spent two years watching ‘generational talent‘ Ludvig Aberg cut his teeth at Texas Tech.

“I got to spend two years with him, and we knew he was good, but we didn’t know he was that good. He’s just a great role model for us, and he’s a proper nice and humble guy, great to talk to and get advice from. Yeah, I’d be happy to follow in the footsteps of him.”

The low amateur contest at The Open is one of the Major’s most exciting subplots. Over the years the Silver Medal has been won by many future stars of the game including Hal Sutton, Jose Maria Olazabal, Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, and Matt Fitzpatrick. Only two, however, have gone on to lift the Claret Jug.

Tiger Woods was the first to achieve the feat in 1996 at Royal Lytham, finishing T22 to win the Silver Medal. Unbelievably, Tiger was slipping on a Masters green jacket less than a year later. And the second, a fresh-faced Rory McIlroy in 2007, who introduced himself on golf’s main stage with the only bogey-free round of Hoylake’s opening day. It propelled him to the Silver Medal and on a trajectory to winning the first of his four Major titles at the 2011 US Open, lifting the Claret Jug in 2014.

The 2024 Open Championship Amateur Leaderboard

About the author

Ross Tugwood

Senior Digital Writer

Ross Tugwood is a Senior Digital Writer for todays-golfer.com, specializing in data, analytics, science, and innovation.

Ross is passionate about optimizing sports performance and has a decade of experience working with professional athletes and coaches for British Athletics, the UK Sports Institute, and Team GB.

He is an NCTJ-accredited journalist with post-graduate degrees in Performance Analysis and Sports Journalism, enabling him to critically analyze and review the latest golf equipment and technology to help you make better-informed buying decisions.