Curtis Knipes

Curtis Knipes was the youngest player in the field at Royal Portrush in 2019, having won 36-hole Final Qualifying at Prince’s.

He made it through again this year – at nearby Royal Cinque Ports this time and from a world ranking of 1,694th – finishing in joint-second place after back-to-back rounds of 69.

He had hopes of winning the Silver Medal, awarded to the leading amateur, when he started with a one-over-par 72 six years ago, but still laments opening his second round with a triple-bogey seven and following it immediately with a bogey six.

He turned professional a year later and posted a runner-up finish on the Mena Tour’s Journey to Jordan tournament just before the pandemic.

When things started to get back to normal Knipes, from Essex, competed on the Clutch Tour, winning the penultimate event of the 2023 season to finish second on their Order of Merit and so graduate to the Challenge (now HotelPlanner) circuit.

His best finish there was a tie for seventh at the SDC Open in South Africa in February last year, when all his four rounds were in the 60s.