Part 1: Laird Shepherd, The 2021 Amateur Champion

The British Amateur Championship is one of the oldest and greatest events in golf. The first, in 1885, was played at Hoylake in England. 

Bobby Jones won the British Amateur in 1930 in what was then considered a part of his Grand Slam of championships. Other notable winners include Sir Michael Bonallack, who won it five times, Joe Carr, the great Irish Amateur, who won it three times, Jose Maria Olazabal in 1984, and Sergio Garcia in 1998. Runner-ups include Colin Montgomerie, Trevor Immelman and Tommy Fleetwood. You like the stories of Monday Qualifiers who get a spot in a PGA Tour event? Then you’ll love the fact that the winner of the British Amateur Championship gets a spot in the Open Championship, the Masters, the US Open, a European Tour event and a five-year exemption into the US Amateur.

The 2021 British Amateur Championship would be played at Nairn Golf Club in Scotland on the same weekend as the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Here at the Fire Pit Collective, the team had assembled to meet and greet, brainstorm story ideas. Colt Knedler jumped in: “Have you guys heard about the incredible comeback at the British Amateur?”

We have now.

 

Special thanks to the R&A for their help from across the pond.

 

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