Andy Sullivan Smiling from Ear to Ear at the Open

Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements

IF ANDY SULLIVAN wins The Open Championship at Troon he will walk away from the course smiling from ear to ear - it is what he does.

The Englishman is a breath of fresh air in an era dominated by miserable young men, most of whom seem to derive little or no pleasure from earning millions of pounds playing golf in glorious weather on some of the finest courses in the world.

Sure, Sullivan gets a little agitated when things don't go his way. But he permanently has a smile on his face and it is difficult not to root for him and want him to win whenever he gets himself into contention, which he does rather a lot.

It has been quite a ride for the 30-year-old. He qualified for the European Tour in 2011 but finished 145th in the 2012 Race to Dubai and was forced to head back to qualifying school. Once again, he won his card and his rights to play on tour in 2013. He had a decent year, finishing 98th - his season included a third-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

During the 2014 season, Sullivan memorably hit a hole-in-one at the KLM Open, winning a flight into space. But it was last year when his life and career changed for ever. Out of the blue, he won the South African Open in 2015, beating former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel in a playoff. In March he won the Joburg Open and he capped an incredible season when he took the Portugal Masters in October by a staggering nine shots.

Not surprisingly, he suffered something of a reaction this year but has recently returned to his best form and looks a shoo-in for the Ryder Cup.

He missed the cut at The Masters but finished in a tie for 23rd at the US Open at Oakmont, having briefly contended before fading away. He finished second in the Dubai Desert Classic and heads to Troon on the back of finishing fifth at the French Open and sixth at the Scottish Open.

Sullivan still has to pinch himself every now and then to remind himself that what is happening to him is real. “I was working in Asda in Nuneaton five years ago  and now I’m getting an invite to tournaments like The Masters. It’s incredible. It’s like a Disneyland-type feeling, it’s like I’m a kid at Christmas. It’s hard to put into words how I feel.”

As a teenager, Sullivan played truant from school so that he could play golf instead. His parents were oblivious until a truant officer knocked on the door at the family home one day to ask why the 13-year-old was spending so little time at school. They realised how serious he was about the sport but told him that he had to find work when he was old enough so that he could pay his way.

He and a group of other top amateurs were invited to play golf with Lee Westwood, and the European Tour star told Sullivan that he was good enough to eventually turn professional. The youngster was taken aback, to put it mildly.

“I thought, ‘is he winding me up?’ I found it hard to believe but he meant it,” said Sullivan. But he took Westwood's advice on board, worked hard on his game and was chosen to play in the 2011 Walker Cup, where he lost to Harris English and Jordan Spieth. He then turned professional and the rest is history.