Fatiha Betscher
It won’t be former Royal Liverpool champ Tiger Woods but golf fans will have a ‘Tiger’ to cheer for at next fortnight’s 151st Open.
Young German amateur Tiger Christensen upstaged some of the best of the game including Masters champ Sergio Garcia and former US Open winner Graeme McDowell to win through at Tuesday’s Open qualifier at West Lancashire.
Christensen, 19, posted scores of 68 and 67 to share fourth place and be among the leading five qualifiers.
He said: “It feels amazing to qualify for The Open. I’ve played really good golf over the last two weeks, especially at the European Amateur where I fell just short. It was good to see the putts drop today though and play my way into a major championship.
“I remember Rory (McIlroy) winning at Royal Liverpool and hitting a bunch of bombs. I’ll go there and figure out a game plan. I’m long off the tee so hopefully I can make that work for me.”
The Hamburg-born amateur enjoys an impressive amateur career going back to 2016 when he won the Under-14 Canadian Amateur Open.
Currently, he’s a student at the University of Arizona (UA) and where he will be returning later this year to complete his studies. Of course, Christensen is a member of the UA ‘Wildcats’ and enjoys the second-best season scoring average of 71.68.
However, he’s already under pressure with the university advising the prior best finish by a UA golfer at an Open Championship is fourth place by Jim Furyk, who did so four times (1997-98, 2006, 2014)
Nate Lashley and Rory Sabbatini were the last Wildcats to be in an Open field and that being 2019 when Sabbatini tied for 16th, Furyk tied for 63rd and and Lashley missed the cut.
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