Royal Birkdale, where football fame is no passport to club membership, rose on moving day to acclaim Alfie Plant, a Millwall fan from Bexleyheath who can hardly believe he has emulated Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the nailed-on winner of the Silver Medal.
The only amateur to make the cut on a foul Friday, Plant was cheered from first tee to last hole on a warm, windless Saturday afternoon in celebration of a one-under par 69 that leaves him on three over par going into the final day. On a day of astonishing scores all around him, Plant’s return might appear unremarkable but, having quietly tamed a demanding course, he had plenty to be proud of.
He is well aware of his part in golfing history and said of matching the amateur achievements of Woods and McIlroy, “I’d like to carry on and follow in their footsteps. It would be great.” Justin Rose and Chris Wood have also won the medal, giving Plant’s feat a horticultural ring.
There are more puns to savour. Plant, an engaging and confident character, will surely make headlines when he marries his girlfriend, Daisy Meadows, and, with the sun finally on his back and a smile stuck permanently on his bearded and sunburnt face, he said, chuckling: “All the girls out there, I end up with a Daisy. What’s the chances?”
Where keen golfers such as Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen have felt the committee’s unaccommodating stare in the past, Plant earned entry the hard way, coming through qualifying.
Plant, who soon will join the European Tour, said: “It means the world to be here, such a great tournament. I’d have taken any of the majors, but this is great for family and friends to be able to come up and watch.
“My phone has been going a bit crazy. There’s been a couple of times I’ve sat down on a bank and just made sure I’d taken it all in. You definitely get them times out there.”
But he’s for the golf, not the cliches. “I had a bit of a target of 68,” he said, soaking up the rays on a day so dramatically different from the two that had gone before. “I’ve been pretty relaxed all week. It’s a lot easier with the sun shining and under par in your first Open is nice. I’ve had a week of enjoyable days. One more tomorrow will be great.”
Nor is he remotely overawed to be moving in this company. “It’s nice to be out here and competing with these guys and I’ve played with some very good players the last few days. My score is great.”
The remnants of Plant’s 150-strong travelling army of Millwall supporters, who are staying at nearby Pontins, gave full voice to their singing skills at the karaoke the night before. As one of them said: “It’s the Open by day and Shirley Bassey tributes by night.” Plant has given them plenty to sing about in his first appearance at a major.
Some of his loyal band – still wearing their #TeamAlfie T-shirts, no doubt – will be watching at home on television. “A few of them are making their travels today. It’s quite an expensive week, so a few days is great. Someone was singing yesterday in the pavilion out the back. So the house was a bit crazy last night. What were they singing? I can’t even remember.”
The big crowds here, who probably had never heard of him before he barrelled into the tournament, have given him an ovation fit for a king. And even Royal Birkdale has not seen one of those here for a good few years.
He went out in the most benign conditions and had his brother Albert – “Bert the Bag” – caddying wisely alongside him. He began solidly, came briefly unstuck at the wickedly difficult par-four 6th, regrouped and put a second bogey at the 436-yard par-four 11th behind him as he steeled himself for a disciplined finish. At the par-five 542-yard 15th, he went all square for the day with his second birdie and was playing with the freedom and confidence the equal of many of the pros around him.
His enthusiastic caravan combined in a chorus of communal disappointment when their hero left his eagle putt on the edge of the cup at the gettable 473-yard par-four 17th. He capped his day with a steady par at the 18th.
His mother, Emma, who works for the Royal Mail, said: “I couldn’t be prouder. I’m so overwhelmed by everything that’s going on.” As Plant, 25, said last week: “We’re normal, working-class people from Bexleyheath, so anyone can do it. It has got its struggles, it’s been tough over the years but it’s all worthwhile getting here.”
The notion that a player might soil his ungloved hands with lucre was prevalent in the distant days of plus-four amateurs and hideous snobbery in masonic-level clubhouses masquerading as sporting establishments, but, as Plant has shown all week, money neither makes you or breaks you in this game. It’s all about the talent.
