WARWICKSHIRE county golf player Seb Cave has qualified to play at this year’s Open Championship.
Cave finished fourth in a 72-player field at Royal Cinque Ports in Kent to earn his place at The Open.
He shot five under par (-5) across 36 holes to finish ahead of professional players Ian Poulter, Matthew Southgate and Peter Uihlein.
The Open takes place from Thursday, July 17 to Sunday, July 20 at Portrush in Northern Ireland.
Cave said: “It’s a surreal feeling, it’s not sunk in yet. I was five-under in the morning and it could have been eight or nine quite easily.
“I struggled a bit in the afternoon as the wind got up and you could probably tell by the scores, but I had a weird feeling all day that I was going to make it.
“Even when I made a few bogeys and a double, I told myself I wasn’t out of this and I holed out from 50-yards on 16 for eagle and stuck it to a foot on 17 for birdie, and despite missing my birdie putt on the last, luckily it was enough.
“It may have exceeded expectations a little, but you’re going there to qualify.
“To get through with the way I played, it was surreal to pick up a flag and a player tag, which is currently on the kitchen side.”
Cave, who plays out of Coxmoor Golf Club in Nottinghamshire, went into the final Open qualifying event after missing cuts at the St Andrews Links Trophy and the British Amateur Championship.
He also finished tied 18th at the European Amateur Championship in Sweden.
However, the 21-year-old Warwickshire golfer will now play with some of the world’s best in the sport.
And Cave has already set himself a target of finishing as the highest-placed amateur player at the tournament.
Cave added: “The number one player in the world Scottie Scheffler, how good he is right now, he’d be a standout name I’d love to play with, and obviously Rory McIlroy.
“I’d love to try and out-drive Bryson DeChambeau in one of the practice rounds too!
“It’d be nice to play with some of the big names but I’m going there to do a job and try and get a finish that I know I’m capable of and deserve.
“I don’t really have an expectations but I know my game is good enough on links courses to be able to go and shoot a good score and test myself against some of the best players in the world.
“If that means I play great and miss the cut then amazing, if it means I play great and finish top-20, then it’s amazing. But I’m not too fussed about a finish – the goal is the Silver Medal (for being the top amateur).
“One thing I think a lot of people do is change routine, but I’ll probably do more of the same.
“Obviously it’ll be a different week as I’ll be there earlier than I would for an amateur event, but I’ll keep going through my drills, coaching and warm-ups that I would do for a normal amateur links event.
“I think Dad (Alex) will be on the bag again. I usually have my mate, but Dad did it at Open Qualifying and it works quite well as I quite like doing it on my own.
“He’ll just be there carrying the bag and cleaning the clubs.”
Cave has three career wins and five top-10 finishes in the amateur game to date.
And he believes qualifying for The Open sits just ahead of representing his country in the sport as his best career achievement.
Cave said: “It has to be up there as my best achievement.
“Representing England Golf, and also Great Britain and Ireland has been great, but this probably tops it.”
