A history of the leading amateurs at The Open and 2024’s Silver Medal contenders

Which amateur will add their name to the illustrious list of Silver Medal winners at The Open?

The esteemed roll call of Silver Medal winners at The Open and the 12 pretenders primed for a launchpad performance in Troon.

The Open Championship’s first Silver Medal was awarded to Frank Stranahan as the leading amateur in 1949 at Royal St George’s with a winning score of 290. In the 74 Championships since, the Silver Medal has been won by 48 players on 53 occasions, with 20 editions not awarding the prestigious prize as no amateur made the cut.

The contest to be leading amateur at The Open is one of the Major’s most exciting subplots and over the years has been won by many future stars of the sport 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, and to give you a clue, they also happen to be the most influential players in the game…

An esteemed roll of honor

Tiger goes again in Troon as he continues his quest to persuade us that his unwavering belief in his ability to win again on golf’s biggest stages is justified. Woods became the first man to win three consecutive US Amateur titles and in 1996 at Royal Lytham, finished T22 to win the Silver Medal, propelled by a record-equalling second-round 66 – the equal lowest recorded by an amateur at The Open. Unbelievably, Tiger was slipping on a Masters green jacket less than a year later.

Another Augusta champion in the making was the Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal who as a 19-year-old won the Silver Medal at Royal St George’s to complete his haul of every medal offered by the R&A – the only man in history to have achieved the feat. Olazabal went on to have an illustrious professional career, picking up two Masters titles, 30 professional wins, and played in seven Ryder Cups before captaining Europe at the Miracle at Medinah in 2012.

A Ryder Cup barometer

After dropping outside the top 50 in the OWGRs, 20-time Open veteran and 2013 US Open Champion Justin Rose was grinding it out in Final Qualifying at Burnham & Berrow, as hungry as ever to make Troon and give himself another shot at the Claret Jug he still feels that he can win. The Englishman burst onto The Open scene 26 years ago at Royal Birkdale with a 66 of his own on day two, going on to finish the week T4 at the age of 17. It was the best British amateur performance for more than 75 years and added an Open Championship Silver Medal to Rose’s glittering amateur resume.

Seven years after Rose’s breakthrough performance in 2007, a fresh-faced Rory McIlroy 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.

And when McIlroy and Rose lined up for the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, they would be joined by a third Open low amateur, 2008 Silver Medal winner – Chris Wood, who finished T5 at Royal Birkdale. Wood secured a point (with Rose) for Europe in the 17-11 loss, struggling since to find the form that earned him three European Tour wins.

Fast forward five years and the Ryder Cup tie crops up again, this time with a Sheffield lad who followed up his US Amateur victory by taking home the Silver Medal at Muirfield in 2013. Less than a decade later Matt Fitzpatrick was lifting the US Open trophy in Brookline at the very same venue that he won the US Amateur. A couple more titles followed in 2023 and a third Ryder Cup appearance where Fitzpatrick picked up his first points for Team Europe.

Medal to Major is still a rarity

Since Fitzpatrick’s 2013 breakthrough Open, the Silver Medal has only been awarded on five occasions with the amateur field failing to make the cut in the other four. England’s Alfie Plant ended a baron three-year stretch (2014-16) without a winner at Royal Birkdale before a more fruitful five editions for amateurs that has seen the medal awarded every year other than in 2019 at Royal Portrush where The Open returns in 2025.

Winning the low amateur is a hell of an accomplishment, but unfortunately does not provide a guarantee for future success as a professional as the record books show. Barclay Howard was the last Silver Medal winner to emerge from Troon in 1997. An amateur in the true sense of the word, Howard worked a regular week, squeezing in golf in his spare time. Despite winning over a hundred amateur tournaments, two Walker Cup appearances were about as good as it got. The guy that won the medal a year prior went on to win 15 Major championships.

And then there was 2009’s low amateur – Matteo Manassero, the youngest-ever winner of the British Amateur who at 16 years of age played alongside Sergio Garcia and eventual runner-up Tom Watson at Turnberry, before making the cut and going on to finish T13. A year later, the Italian became the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters. He had the golfing world at his feet, but the promise never materialized for Manassero, fading into the wilderness before bouncing back into memory with a couple of Challenge Tour wins in 2023.

Last year’s Silver Medal winner will not be defending in Troon as big-hitting South African Christo Lamprecht turned professional after concluding his collegiate golf career, foregoing his exemption to compete in Pinehurst at the US Open. Lamprecht bludgeoned his way to the top of the leaderboard after day one at Royal Liverpool and despite shooting a 79 on day two, held on to make the cut and with it the medal as the sole amateur to complete 72 holes. It’s not been the best of starts for Christo as a pro, missing the cut in all three of his Korn Ferry Tour starts. It’s not all doom and gloom mind. Justin Rose missed his first 21 cuts and Christo would do well to remember that!

How do amateurs qualify for The Open?

The Open Championship field is made up of 156 golfers, the majority of which are professionals who meet one of the exemption criteria, providing direct access based on world ranking, previous wins, and final position in FedExCup and DP World Tour rankings. Eight exemption categories, however, are reserved for amateurs:

• The 2023 United States Amateur Champion
• The 2023 Mark H. McCormack Medal Winner – Men’s Word Amateur Golf Rankings
• The 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion
• The 2024 Latin America Amateur Champion
• The 2024 African Amateur Championship 
• The 2024 Amateur Champion
• The 2024 European Amateur Champion
• The 2024 Open Amateur Series Winner

Outside of these direct entry routes, amateurs must qualify through The Open Qualifying Series (12 International professional events), or via the Regional and Final Qualifying pathway. Any amateur player who turns professional before the start of The Open is not eligible to compete, and therefore the 2023 United States Amateur Champion – Nick Dunlap, forfeited his exemption after turning pro in January.

Who are the amateurs of the 152nd Open Championship?

Royal Troon welcomes 12 amateurs to its field in 2024, seven gaining direct access via the exemptions listed above, and five who battled into the top four in their field day at Final Qualifying to secure their place.

Dominic Clemons (ENG) – Final Qualifying

It’s been quite the summer for the English 21-year-old. He carded 68-65-65-62 to win the Scottish Amateur by an astounding 17 shots at Muirfield in early June, was a distraught runner-up in the Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin at the end of the month and then shared first place in Final Qualifying at Burnham & Berrow with Justin Rose.

Santiago De La Fuente (MEX) – 2024 Latin America Amateur Champion

Victory in the Latin America Amateur Championship earned the Mexican 22-year-old two sensational invitations. He carded 76-78 when accepting the first at Augusta National and will hope for better in Scotland.

Matthew Dodd-Berry (ENG) – Final Qualifying

The English youngster made the last eight of the Amateur Championship last month and then tied first in Final Qualifying at West Lancs to join fellow Royal Liverpool member Matthew Jordan at Troon.

Luis Masaveu (ESP) – Final Qualifying

The Spaniard has made three starts in pro events and spent the first 54 holes of the 2022 Open de Espana in the top 20. He was second in last year’s Lytham Trophy at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s.

Jamie Montojo-Fernadez (ESP) – Final Qualifying

The Spaniard celebrated progressing from Final Qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports alongside his fellow La Moraleja GC member Luis Masaveu. He’s studying at Texas A&M University and won their Aggie Invitational event earlier this year.

Tommy Morrison (USA) – 2024 European Amateur Champion

The 6-foot-9-inch University of Texas student reached the match play stages of both last year’s and this year’s Amateur Championship but earned his major championship debut with victory in June’s European Amateur Championship.

Liam Nolan (IRE) – Final Qualifying

The Irishman was victorious in last year’s Brabazon Trophy at Sunningdale, won two of his three matches in the 2023 Walker Cup on the Old Course, and was second in May’s Irish Amateur at County Sligo.

Jacob Skov Olesen (NOR) – 2024 Amateur Champion

A surprise winner of last month’s Amateur Championship at Ballyliffin, not least to himself. “I never liked links golf when I played it in the past,” he said. “I think that’s changed!” Once shared a US college win with Ludvig Aberg.

Gordon Sargent (USA) – 2023 Mark H. McCormack Medal Winner

After playing a practice round with the long-time World No. 1 amateur Rory McIlroy reported that he was the best non-pro golfer he’d ever seen. He’s missed the cut in two of the three majors he’s played and has a best of T39 in last year’s US Open, but he did win all four of his matches in the 2023 Walker Cup on the Old Course.

Calum Scott (SCO) – 2024 Open Amateur Series Winner

The Scot won the R&A’s Open Amateur Series, and with it an Open debut, courtesy of finishing second in the St Andrews Links Trophy, fourth in the European Amateur Championship and reaching the last eight of the Amateur Championship.

Jasper Stubbs (AUS) – 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Champion

The Aussie amateur won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne and with it earned two golden tickets. The first was to Augusta National where he carded 80-76, and the second to Royal Troon where he’ll be desperate to make the cut.

Altin Van der Merwe (RSA) – 2024 African Amateur Championship 

Victory in the first-ever Africa Amateur Championship booked the South African’s ticket to Troon. He also won the Sunshine Tour Qualifying School last year but has delayed joining the pro ranks.

Silver Medal Winners at The Open:

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.