Lifelong Royal Liverpool Golf Club member, Matthew Jordan, will hit the opening tee shot at the Open Championship on Thursday.
Jordan has been a member at Hoylake since he was seven years old and punched his ticket to the 151st Open having come through Final Qualifying at West Lancashire Golf Club. The 27-year-old shot ten under par over the 36-hole event, a score only bettered by fellow countryman Matt Wallace who shot -11.
Brother of 2022 US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Alex, also qualified at West Lancashire alongside South Africa's Kyle Barker and amateur Tiger Christensen. 2017 Masters Champion, Sergio Garcia, failed to qualify, meaning the Spaniard will miss his first Open in 26 years.
"It's an amazing honour," Jordan said at a pre-tournament press conference.
"I'm sure the first tee, no matter what was going to be special, but obviously to have this as a kid growing up, I used to wake up early, 6:30, and that was The Open commencing. I've got fond memories, so to have this honour is brilliant."
Jordan attended the Open the last two times it was at Hoylake - Tiger Woods' win in 2006 and Rory McIlroy's in 2014 - with the latter serving as a seminal moment in his decision to turn down University and pursue golf in his gap year, with the aim always being to play an Open when it returned to his home course.
"It was two different times, but certainly 2014 was kind of the more inspired Open for me because I can remember it more," he said.
"I think once that Open happened and golf became the No. 1 thing, then that's what I always aspired to do. It's like, right, I've seen what I'd love to do. So that was always like in the back of my mind of yes, I really want to get there."
This year’s tournament will be Jordan’s second Open, having played last year at St Andrews where he missed the cut.
The World No. 329 enters the week having finished 77th at the Scottish Open last week. Prior to that, the Englishman had recorded five successive top-40 finishes on the DP World Tour including his season’s best - a T7 finish at the Scandinavian Mixed last month.
Alongside that good form, the unheralded Englishman will be hoping that his in-depth knowledge of his home course can provide the platform for a successful week in front of family and friends.
"Ultimately I want to perform. That is my main goal," he ended.
"I think in terms of me doing that [finishing high on the leaderboard], when I come away from this next week I just want to play the golf course like I know I can, like I do in practice, like I normally will if I'm here preparing for any other events. And if I feel like I can do that, then I know that I can do well around here.
"It's not letting the occasion dictate what I exactly do. It's just me playing the golf course."
