Opening Golf to the World
The Amateur
Super sub Styles shines in opening round of Amateur Championship stroke play qualifying
15 Jun 26
7 mins
Henry Styles revelled in a return to one of his happy hunting grounds as he set the early pace in the opening round of stroke play qualifying at The 131st Amateur Championship.
The 20-year-old from Romford harnessed the testing conditions at West Lancashire to fine effect with a five-under-par 67 to get his quest for more glory on England’s Golf Coast off to a purposeful start. Styles was part of the GB&I side that won the Jacques Leglise Trophy at West Lancashire in 2024 while his victory in last year’s English Amateur Championship came on the same Royal Liverpool course where he tees-up for his second qualifying round on Tuesday. “It’s always good when you go back to places where you’ve had success,” said Styles. “It does give you a spring in the step and you feed off the good vibes. “I have great memories of this area and hopefully I can create some more this week.” Styles initially missed out on a place in the Championship at Pre-Qualifying, but he was a late call-up from the reserve list and seized his opportunity. The Englishman burst out of the blocks at West Lancashire and covered his opening 11-holes in six-under to stamp his authority on the leaderboard. “The putts were dropping and that was nice to see,” added Styles, whose cushioned 9-iron to within five-feet of a tricky pin on the par-3 6th underlined the excellence of his execution. Sweden’s Wilhelm Ryding made an evening surge and covered his inward half at Royal Liverpool in five-under en route to a four-under-par 68.
Sweden's Wilhelm Ryding finished his opening round in style.
Estonia’s Kevin Christopher Jegers, meanwhile, made a telling move on the run-in and a three-under-par 69 left him tucked in among the qualifying frontrunners.
Two-under through the turn, the 25-year-old got into trouble on the 10th and stumbled to a double-bogey.
He mounted an admirable salvage operation, however, and a trio of birdies at the 13th, 14th and 16th repaired the damage.
“On the 14th, I blocked my tee-shot and thought it was out of bounds, but it stayed in by a few feet,” he said of this stroke of good fortune.
“I got a 4-iron on it, then had an easy chip and a putt for my birdie. Sometimes you get these little breaks in golf.”
Jegers’ Estonian compatriot, Richard Teder, also found himself in the upper reaches of the leaderboard after a two-under-par 70 at Royal Liverpool.
Teder is now eagerly anticipating a return to West Lancashire, the site of his dramatic play-off pitch-in during Final Qualifying last year which saw him earn a tee-time for The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush.
“I’ve watched it a billion times,” he said of footage from that dramatic denouement. “I still get goose bumps when I see it.”
Richard Teder enjoyed a strong start to his week at The Amateur Championship.
For the American Brandon Robison, it was a case of beware the ill-equipped golfer.
The 24-year-old arrived in Hoylake at the start of the week for his Amateur Championship debut, but his clubs have remained lost in transit.
Robison put the inconvenience behind him and a replacement set helped him to a spirited two-under-par 70 at Royal Liverpool.
“My clubs were stuck in Atlanta, then Manchester so I ended up with a ragtag set that the Titleist guys were able to piece together for me,” he said of his substitute clubs. “They’ve worked out fine. I might keep them?”
Despite back-to-back bogeys on the 4th and 5th, Robison rallied superbly and reeled off three birdies and an eagle over his next four holes to galvanise his qualifying push.
“It helps when you put together a stretch like that,” he added of that purple patch. “On courses like this, things can wrong very quickly so you just try to keep it steady and take your chances when they come.”
Stuart Grehan, the 2025 Walker Cup player who is fresh from victory in the East of Ireland Open Amateur Championship, continued his good form with a two-under-par 70 at West Lancashire.
The 33-year-old, who has also been sixth in the Lytham Trophy and third in the Irish Amateur Open Championship over the past month or so, illuminated his card with an eagle on the 5th hole.
Luke Poulter, the son of the Ryder Cup talisman Ian, opened his qualifying campaign with a one-under-par 71 at West Lancashire.
Poulter, who is the highest-ranked player in the field at number nine on the World Amateur Golf Rankings® (WAGR®), had been three-under for the day through 16 holes but a pair of bogeys at 17 and 18 saw the 22-year-old Englishman fall back.
Poulter’s GB&I team-mates at Cypress Point, Connor Graham and Niall Shiels Donegan of Scotland, both posted 72s at West Lancashire while Ireland’s Gavin Tiernan, the runner-up in last year’s Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s, had to settle for a 72 at Royal Liverpool after a late double-bogey.
The leading 64 players after Tuesday’s second qualifying round will progress to the match play stages beginning on Wednesday, with a 36-hole Final determining the winner on Saturday.
The eventual champion will earn coveted exemptions into The 154th Open and the 2027 US Open, and by tradition, an invitation to the Masters Tournament at Augusta National.