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• Paul Kinnear relishing Open Championship debut
• The England elite player qualified at Gailes Links in June
• Played a practice round on Tuesday with Rose & Warren

PAUL KINNEAR | THE OPEN

Full-time England amateur Paul Kinnear is relishing his first taste of the Open Championship and admits that the past few weeks have all ‘been a blur’.

The 21-year-old Liverpudlian shed tears as he came through final qualifying via a play-off at Gailes Links late last month and, after birdieing the first extra hole to secure his spot, he admitted that it took a while to sink in that he’d be teeing it up at St Andrews just a couple of weeks later.

“It’s been a blur really,” said Paul Kinnear, who also finished third in the Brabazon Trophy just days prior to his qualification. “You always dream about qualifying and playing in the Open and when you actually do it, the feelings are all over the place and you just don’t know what to expect.”

“It’s a dream come true to be here” – Paul Kinnear

So what has Kinnear, a former youth footballer at Tranmere Rovers, thought of his experience so far? Well, he’s still seems similarly overwhelmed.

“It’s a dream come true to be here,” he said. “Being able to see all the world-class golfers and getting to compare my game with them and see how they go about things has been brilliant. I’ve learned a lot already and I just can’t wait to get started now.”

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Two top players Kinnear has seen a lot of so far are Justin Rose and Marc Warren, after he went out in a practice round with the pair on Tuesday morning along with Mark Young, who won the qualifier at Gailes Links.

And the England elite team player revealed he picked up some top advice from 2013 US Open champion Rose, while he was also very impressed with what he gained from Warren.

“The experience of being with Justin, learning from him and seeing how he swings the club and works the ball around the course was just fantastic. I got a few ideas from him on certain holes as well which was a big help to me and I’ll take it all onboard for Thursday and Friday.

“Marc Warren was out with us too and he was really impressive. I’ve got a few videos of his swing because some of the stuff I’m working on at the minute is similar to how he swings it so it was really good to see first-hand how he struck and controlled the ball. I got some positive feedback from him and I think he’ll do well this week.”

“To make the cut would be absolutely massive for me” – Paul Kinnear

As for Kinnear’s own expectations, he says that to make the cut would be huge but is determined to enjoy the full experience no matter what, while friends and family who are making the trip to St Andrews are only booked for the Thursday and Friday – or at least at the moment anyway!

“To make the cut would be absolutely massive for me,” he explained. “But you can’t think that far ahead because you don’t know what the weather’s going to be like and you have to factor in the crowd and all sorts, so I’m just going to take each shot at a time, be patient and fully enjoy the experience.”

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