Studious Cave ready to 'dream' big at The Open

The pen will be mightier than any golf club that amateur qualifier Seb Cave will use during his practice rounds at The Open Championship early this week.

The 21-year-old from the Derbyshire market town of Melbourne is signed up to get on the Royal Portrush course for the first time on Monday, alongside World No 1 Scottie Scheffler and recently crowned US Open champion JJ Spaun.

Cave, who has honed his game in the United States playing for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is one of nine amateurs to have qualified for the event in Northern Ireland.

Tucked away in his luggage this week is a notebook where all his golfing thoughts and musings are stored.

"The thing I pride myself on is learning," Cave told BBC East Midlands Today.

"I journal every night and try to write things down, so I'm sure my journal will be full.

"I'm signed up with Scottie Scheffler and JJ Spaun on the Monday, so fingers crossed they turn up and I can play with them and learn from them how they go about their practice round, and see if I can learn anything from what they do and I don't."

Cave secured entry to The Open Championship for the first time by finishing fourth in a strong field in the final qualifier at Royal Cinque Ports at the start of July.

Among the high-profile names that Cave finished ahead of in Kent were former Ryder Cup team-mates Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

Cave said getting to the 153rd edition of the tournament is a "dream", but he describes his ambitions of not only challenging for the silver medal – awarded to the leading amateur golfer – but the overall prize in the same way.

"I know my game is there. If I can just allow myself to play, then anything could happen," he said.

"I'm not scared of anything that could happen, so the dream would be to win. But I'd be very happy with a lot of lessons learned, making the cut, and seeing what happens.

"If I stick to my routine and stick to my processes, I will be fine because it's a little white thing that needs to be hit. So I'm sure I'll be alright."