The Silver Medal

KEEP an eye on the winner of the Silver Medal at St Andrews - that is the young man who finishes the week as the top amateur at The Open Championship.

Why? Well, the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Jose Maria Olazabal, Justin Rose and Hal Sutton are all past winners of the Silver Medal - and every one of them went on to win majors. So the trick is to look at this year's group of nine amateurs and pick the one you think has the potential to join that illustrious list.

They are Ashley Chesters, Alister Balcombe, Ben Taylor and Paul Kinnear, who are all from England, Romain Langasque,  of France, Paul Dunne, of Ireland, the splendidly named Gunn Yang, of South Korea and Oliver Schniederjans and Jordan Niebrugge, both from the USA,. Special mention should be made of Dunne, who led qualifying at Walton Heath. Yang, 21, travels to the Old Course after winning the US Amateur Championship

The medal has been played for since 1949 and was won four times in the first five years by Frank Stranahan, of the United States. Since then only three players have won it twice: Joe Carr, Sir Michael Bonallack and Peter McEvoy. All of them were career amateurs. The chances of this year's Silver Medal winner remaining in the unpaid ranks for long are slim to non-existent.

It may surprise you to learn that only two of the 42 players to have won the Silver Medal went on to pick up the Claret Jug -  Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Since 1981, however, Sutton, Olazabal, Woods, Rose and McIlroy have all gone on to win majors.

But there are no guarantees. Gordon Sherry, of Scotland, completed all 72 holes at St Andrews in 1995 after winning the Amateur Championship. He even picked up £1 from Tiger Woods after finishing ahead of the American. Sherry turned professional soon afterwards but failed to make the grade.

So what about our famous five that did make it?

Hal Sutton

When Sutton finished as leading amateur at Royal St George’s in 1981 most observers felt that great things lay ahead.  At 23, he found himself tagged as "the next Jack Nicklaus". He turned professional later that year and won his first tournament on the PGA Tour the following season. When Sutton claimed the 1983 US PGA Championship, Nicklaus told him: “I feel this is going to be the first of many.” It didn't work out that way. Sutton, who went on to become US Ryder Cup captain in 2004, failed to win another major, although he beat Woods to win The Players Championship in 2000 and had a total of 14 wins on tour.

Best Open finish: T10, 1999

Jose Maria Olazabal 

This year’s Open marks the 30th anniversary of Olazabal’s Silver Medal winning performance at Royal St George’s in 1985. At just 19, he looked like the next great thing from Spain.  And he was.  A year earlier, he won the Amateur Championship at Formby, beating Colin Montgomerie 5&4 in the final. He was outstanding with long irons and a genius around the greens, just like his idol, Severiano Ballesteros.

Olazabal turned professional in 1986 and finished second on the European Tour’s Order of Merit. He won The Masters   in 1994 and again in 1999 after returning from a debilitating foot injury that had threatened to end his career. He played in seven Ryder Cup matches, formed the most successful pairing in the history of the competition with Ballesteros,  and went on to captain the winning Europe team at Medinah, Chicago, in 2012.

Best Open finish: 3, 1992; T3, 2005

Tiger Woods

After finishing as leading amateur at Royal Lytham in 1996, Woods went on to win a record third consecutive US Amateur Championship before turning professional, aged 20. By the end of the year, he had claimed two victories on the PGA Tour in just seven events.

The following April, Woods enjoyed a record-breaking victory at the 1997 Masters, where he became the youngest winner in the history of the tournament. His first and second Open wins came at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005, and his third came at Royal Liverpool in 2006. He now has 14 Majors to his name, but won his last, the US Open, in 2008. He needs another four to equal Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18.

Best Open finish: Winner, 2000, 2005, 2006

Justin Rose

The enduring image of Justin Rose is of his celebration – cap off, arms spread wide, eyes looking towards the heavens – after he had pitched in from 90 yards at the final hole of the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale.  At just 17 years of age, the Englishman had already thrust himself into the national consciousness with his performance on the links that week.  Rose finished in a tie for fourth and turned professional afterwards. He missed the halfway cut in his first 21 events.  He finally won his first major, the US Open, at Merion in 2013, beating Phil Mickelson and Luke Donald. He has won more tournaments on the PGA Tour than any other English golfer, but his record in The Open is poor, and his fourth-place finish as a 17-year-old remains his best/

And what of this year's nine amateurs?

Chesters would have turned professional by now had he not won the European Amateur Championship last year, thus qualifying him for St Andrews. He played at Hoylake in 2014, opening with a 70 before missing the cut. Balcombe, a 19-year-old from Clevedon, near Bristol, heads to the Old Course after finishing joint first in the qualiifying event at Royal Cinque Ports.  Taylor, from Walton Heath, has been the star of the University of Louisiana team and the 23-year-old, who has a handicap of plus five, also came through qualifying at Cinque Ports after finishing tied with Balcombe. Dunne led qualifying at Walton Heath, in a field that included the likes of Retief Goosen and Colin Montgomerie.

Kinnear, a 20-year-old from Liverpool, came through at Gailes Links while Niebrugge secured his place at Hillside. Langasque earned his trip after winning the Amateur Championship at Carnoustie. Schniederjans is the world's top-ranked amateur. He is 22 and gains his place at St Andrews as a result of his ranking.

So, who is the most likely to succeed? That is the million-dollar question, but you really should keepan eye on  Taylor, Langasque and Schniederjans, who are probably the three who are destined for the big time.