Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Coffee Shop Worker Qualifies For Open

Sam Locke works in the cafe at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre and turned up for his shift the day after qualifying for The Open

Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Coffee Shop Worker Qualifies For Open

Sam Locke works in the cafe at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre and turned up for his shift the day after qualifying for The Open

Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Coffee Shop Worker Qualifies For Open

Sam Locke qualified for The Open yesterday at the Renaissance Club in East Lothian and celebrated with a shift in the cafe where he works part-time at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre today.

The 19-year-old is the Scottish Amateur champion will tee it up at Carnoustie this month after winning the final qualifier with rounds of 69 and 66.

Related: Open Final Qualifying Round Up - Retief Goosen comes through at Prince's

He is coached by his father who coached his now-mentor Paul Lawrie, who won The Open the last time it was at Carnoustie in 1999.

The Open tweeted confirmation that Sam did indeed turn up for work today:

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Lawrie replied to the tweet saying, "He makes a mean latte does our Sam. He's got loads of time to prepare btw He's a top lad who deserves all the plaudits coming his way."

After his round Locke said, "I can’t wait to be playing in The Open. I’ve always wanted to play in that event so, to qualify for it at my first attempt, I’m obviously delighted.

"I can’t wait for Carnoustie. I played there for the first time about a month ago in an R&A event for patrons – and I shot level par. I’d take that again!"

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Locke's mentor Lawrie told the BBC, "He's a great lad, a joy to work with, he works hard and works in the coffee shop to earn enough money to play.

"Stuff like that I absolutely love; you've got to learn that money doesn't grow on trees. He's certainly got that in abundance. When he has success it's really cool for the foundation to see someone coming through it and kicking on and getting a game at the Open, it's amazing.

"You'll spend an hour chatting to him about something and he'll go away and work on it for the next couple of days and he's overdone it sometimes - that's what you want. But it's all about Sam, it's not about what I've done. We just help him a little bit along his way."

Retief Goosen was the biggest name to qualify for The Open yesterday as 12 spots were taken in the four final qualifiers across England and Scotland.

Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!


Elliott is currently playing:


Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV