Lewis Wins: "And don’t be shocked if a player from the unpaid ranks wins the game’s oldest major in the near future."
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Alistair Tait uses the occasion of Tom Lewis' first professional win (already!) in the Portugal Masters to make an interesting prediction about the Open Championship and amateur golfers:
Youngsters like Lewis have no problems dealing with the European Tour’s international schedule because they’ve already traveled the world as amateurs. They’re comfortable dealing with different currencies, languages and cultures.
As for links golf, the majority of major amateur events in the United Kingdom are held on links courses, so the amateurs have a distinct advantage by the time the Open Championship rolls around. The unpaid players already have spent most of the season playing the bump-and-run game while the professionals are sampling the oldest form of golf for the first time that season.
So Lewis is the new darling of European golf, a man who could go on to add majors to his name. But don’t be surprised if another amateur makes a big splash in next year’s Open Championship at Royal Lytham. And don’t be shocked if a player from the unpaid ranks wins the game’s oldest major in the near future.
**Iain Carter reviews Lewis' win that included a rough start to the round, his relief at now bypassing Q-School, his new caddy Colin Byrne's role and how his dyslexia became an issue Sunday.
The experienced Colin Byrne, unavailable for that debut event, is Lewis's full-time caddie and jumped at the chance having carried the youngster's bag in Dubai earlier in the year.
Lewis was aghast at forgetting to thank the Irishman in his winner's speech. "Without him I wouldn't have won," the champion later admitted.
Indeed stepping up to the microphone after receiving the trophy was the hardest part of the day for the Tour's newest winner. "I was so nervous that I didn't know what to say. I'm dyslexic so I didn't want to have to write anything and I just wanted to keep it simple," he said.
