By Daragh Small

Paul Dunne held the 54-hole lead at the 2015 Open Championship at St Andrew’s, the first time an amateur was out in front at that stage of this historic Major since Bobby Jones in 1927.

Tom Nolan was watching on along with his son, Cathal, and next week Tom will make the journey to this year’s Open Championship, this time to Royal Troon with his other son Liam, the amateur golfer who came through qualifying last week to secure a slot at this year’s tournament in Scotland.

“I don’t know what my brother’s situation is yet because he is in Australia, but Dad and Mom are going to be over. It’s a special week for them as well,” said Liam Nolan.

“I grew up watching it. I loved links golf from watching The Open. It’s mad I am going to be teeing it up with the best players in the sport I play. I qualified in Dundonald, which is 15 minutes away from Troon, and on the way back to the airport I had a quick drive around the facility down there.

“The thing that stood out for me was the really big yellow leaderboard that they have. That thing is huge. It is insane, that definitely was the thing that caught my eye for sure. Just seeing that and hopefully all going to plan, being able to see my name on it up and around the higher end of the field for the week would be awesome,” the young Galway golfer said.

The 24-years-old grew up in Bearna, and went to school at St Joseph’s ‘The Bish’ in the city and then studied at University of Galway before he graduated earlier this year.

His progress has been steady in recent years with 2023 illuminated by some huge wins in the South American Amateur Open and Brabazon Trophy before a Walker Cup appearance at St Andrew’s, when he became the first Galway golfer to tee-it up in the match, which pits the top amateur golfers from Great Britain & Ireland against their compatriots from the US.

He took some time to focus on his studies but also the core mechanics of his swing over the turn of the year and made his much-anticipated return when the Irish Men’s Amateur Open went to Rosses’ Point in Sligo earlier this summer.

That culminated in a thrilling final day battle with good friend, and former US Mid-Amateur champion, Matt McClean, and while Nolan failed to make his chance pay on this occasion, he learned plenty on a difficult links course.

“I took a lot of positives from Rosses’ Point,” said Nolan.

Pictured: Liam Nolan (second from left) pictured with his parents, Tom and Edel, and his brother Cathal, before the Walker Cup at St Andrew’s last year.