Jacob Skov Olesen secured an invite to three of the next four majors, including The Open at Royal Troon, after his impressive victory at the Amateur Championship.
The 25-year-old claimed a 4&3 victory over Dominic Clemons in the 36-hole final at Ballyliffin, seeing him become the first Danish golfer to win the event.
Victory earns him an exemption to The Open from July 18-21 and the 2025 US Open, along with an invite to The Masters next April at Augusta National.
Olesen dominated the 36-hole final on Saturday
“It’s an honour, and I’m really proud to be the first Danish winner,” Olesen said. I haven’t really gotten to think about that, but I guess that’s something I’ll have forever, which is super cool.”
How Olesen secured historic victory
Clemons, who was two-down after the morning’s opening 18 holes, appeared to be losing his composure and fell six holes behind when Olesen chipped in for a birdie on the 23rd hole.
Jacob Skov Olesen has never previously played in a major
A birdie putt of 35-feet on the 27th reduced the deficit for Clemons, who then drove the green on the 370-yard 28th to set up an eagle opportunity.
Olesen holed his bunker shot for a birdie to pile the pressure on his opponent, but Clemons responded to that counterpunch and made his putt for a hole-winning two to pinch another back.
The Dane went five-up again on the 30th and got a fortunate break on the 31st when his wayward approach ended up in a favourable lie on the adjacent tee, allowing him to halve the hole.
Clemons kept the contest alive with a mighty birdie putt across the green on the 32nd, although had to take an unplayable lie after his drive at the next buried himself in the rough.
The Englishman conjured a fine recovery and found the green, but he couldn’t salvage his par and Olesen had the luxury of two putts for the title.
“I will say on 15, the last putt there, I was thinking, two putts from 15 feet and you get to play The Open, the Masters and the US Open,” Olesen added. “That was probably the first time I really allowed myself to think about it.
“It’s what you dream of since you were a kid, to get to play those and play those courses and play against those fields. It’s really cool.”
Clemons said about his defeat: I usually pride myself on playing by best golf when it matters and when the pressure is on, and I didn’t do that today. I didn’t play well enough to win, simple as that.”
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Saturday 29th June 8:30am
What’s next?
The Women’s Amateur Championship takes place from June 24-29 at Portmarnock in Ireland, with the final two days live on Sky Sports. The winner gains entry to the AIG Women’s Open, US Women’s Open, the Amundi Evian Championship, Chevron Championship and an invite to compete at Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.
The 152nd Open takes place at Royal Troon from July 18-21 and the AIG Women’s Open is at St Andrews from August 22-25, with both events live on Sky Sports. Stream the PGA Tour, majors and more with NOW.
