Oliver Farr is Hoping to Enjoy His Open Experience at Hoylake

By: Derek Clements | Wed 19 Jul 2023

I HAD the pleasure of spending some time with Oliver Farr a number of years ago and followed his progress throughout a season on what was then the European Tour. He began the campaign full of hope and optimism but struggled and failed to keep his card.

He has been back and forth to the DP World Tour several times, without achieving the success that his hard work deserves. Once again, he is plying his trade on the Challenge Tour after failing to keep his card last season. But Farr will be Wales’ sole representative at The Open at Royal Liverpool. He also made it to St Andrews last year but failed to make the cut.

His only other major appearance came at the 2015 US Open.

If ever there was a man who deserves more it is Farr. He is a delightful character and a dedicated family man, who has three young children.

"Everyone wants to play the weekend, especially at a major," Farr said. "That's always the first target in any tournament, and even more so at an Open Championship. But at the moment I am not thinking about it.

"The first thing I said when I qualified was that last year I was very result-focused and I came away from it disappointed. This year I just want to enjoy it is much as I can and not be as a result-focused."

Farr's priority for 2023 is to regain his DP World Tour card at the first attempt, having dropped down to the second-tier Challenge Tour last season.

He is in 28th in the order of merit, with the top 20 securing DP World Tour places next year, and knows that there are Challenge Tour points on offer at the Open.

Farr's wife Joanna and their three children, six-year-old George, four-year-old Jack and Millie, who is 11 months, will be there to see how he gets on.

"My six-year-old has just started playing golf," Farr said. "They remember quite a few things from last year [at the Open], so it will be good to get them back out there."

Farr came through Open qualifying at Royal Porthcawl, where he thought he had missed out after a three putt on the last but he made it through as others faltered.

He has been drawn alongside two Open debutants, England's Dan Bradbury and Haydn Barron of Australia.

Farr will be the solitary Welshman in this year's Open field after the likes of Jamie Donaldson, Stuart Manley and Rhys Enoch failed to come through qualifying events.

"It wasn't until a few days after I qualified that I thought actually that's pretty cool, back-to-back Opens," he said.

"Last year there were things I didn't do as well as I would like, results-wise and a few other things, so hopefully I can make amends this year.

"I'll try to prepare a bit differently and play a bit better."