Sampson Zheng

Sampson Zheng will celebrate his 24th birthday on the eve of The Open, having scored 68 and 69 to take the second of five available places in Final Qualifying at West Lancashire on 1 July. 

“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “It’s not quite sunk in yet, but there’s going to be a lot of emotion when that happens.”

Represents China, but was born and lives in Japan and is tri-lingual.

He went into the qualifier 648th on the world rankings, having turned professional only last year after winning the US fourball title with fellow University of California-Berkeley student Aaron Du.

In August he tied for fourth in the Asian Tour’s International Series England event at Foxhills in Surrey. On his next start three weeks later he did even better on the circuit, finishing joint runner-up in the Mandiri Indonesia Open.

Zheng was also a runner-up at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, where he and Wenyi Ding were beaten in a play-off by Jasper Stubbs with an exemption into The 152nd Open at Royal Troon among the rewards for the victor.