Silver Medal

As of this year, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods have another thing in common as two members of the select group of six to have won a career Grand Slam.

However there is something completely unique that sets them apart from anyone else in golf.

McIlroy and Woods are the only players in the history of The Open who have won the Silver Medal, as the lowest amateur, and then gone on to lift the Claret Jug.

It has been on offer since 1949, with legendary American amateur Frank Stranahan winning it four times in the first five years that it was available, including the first time The Open went to Royal Portrush in 1951.

In modern times, players have been known to turn professional immediately after winning the Silver Medal, so matching Stranahan’s four wins will be a tall order. In fact, the last person to win it on more than one occasion was Peter McEvoy, doing so back-to-back in 1978 and 1979.

Since the 1980s, the prize has started to become a better indicator of future success, with America’s Hal Sutton finishing as the low amateur at The 110th Open at Royal St George’s in 1981 before going on to win the PGA Championship in 1983.

When The Open returned to Sandwich in 1985, it was another future major winner who took home the Silver medal, Spanish great José María Olazábal finishing tied 25th. He, of course, would later claim two Green Jackets at the Masters in the 1990s.

Then we come to Tiger. Woods was already a record-breaking amateur by the time he pitched up at Royal Lytham & St Annes, and he continued to break new ground, his 281 equalled the best-ever aggregate score for an amateur at The Open and was good enough for tied 22nd and that Silver Medal.

His first major, the Masters, came the following year, with Woods a three-time Champion Golfer of the Year, in 2000, 2005 and 2006.

Two years later, back in the North West at Royal Birkdale, Justin Rose produced one of the all-time great performances from an amateur at The Open, finishing two-over-par, good enough for tied-fourth and just two strokes out of the play-off that was won by Mark O’Meara.

Rose has gone on to finish tied-second at The Open on two occasions, including last year at Royal Troon, as well as winning the 2013 US Open.

After Rose, there was a spell of four tournaments in five years where no amateur made the cut, 2001 Silver Medal winner David Dixon proving the exception.

But fast-forward to 2007 and another budding superstar added a Silver Medal to his growing collection. McIlroy had already set the course record at Royal Portrush by this point, shooting a 61 as a 16-year-old, and at Carnoustie, he lived up to his billing to finish as the low amateur in tied-42nd.

Seven years later, McIlroy followed in Woods’ footsteps in adding a Claret Jug to his Silver Medal, triumphing at Royal Liverpool.

McIlroy’s Open victory came a year after another future major winner took the Silver Medal, Matt Fitzpatrick achieving the feat at Muirfield as he finished tied 44th. Nine years on, he won a first major at the 2022 US Open.

To date, Fitzpatrick is the last low amateur to go on and win a major, with the Silver Medal having been awarded seven times over the past 12 years.

The most recent of those was Calum Scott, who was tied-43rd at Royal Troon last year to win the Silver Medal at just 20 years of age.

Time will tell whether he, or any of the other recent Silver Medal winners, will turn Woods’s and McIlroy’s select club into a trio.