Sam Locke Wins Silver Medal

Get to know Sam Locke, the 19-year-old Scottish amateur

sam locke
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Winner of the silver medal at the 2018 Open at Carnoustie, get to know Sam Locke the 19-year-old Scottish amateur

Sam Locke Wins Silver Medal - Carnoustie Open 2018

There were five Scots in the field playing at the 2018 Open Championship and the youngest, most inexperienced of them all, Sam Locke, was the only one to make the cut.

Locke, who shot rounds of 72, 73, 70 and 78 to finish at +9 at Carnoustie.

He follows the likes of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Jose Maria Olazabal as a winner of the Silver Medal.

Related: Past Open Championship Silver Medal Winners

He looks to have a very bright future ahead of him, but who is the 19-year-old amateur?

Currently a member at Banchory Golf Club, Locke is the Scottish Amateur champion and also works part-time at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Coffee Shop.

To qualify for this year's Open Championship he shot 69, 66 in the final qualifier at the Renaissance Club in East Lothian, and can count Paul Lawrie as a personal mentor.

No doubt the 1999 Open Champion has given the young Scot plenty of tips and tricks to use on the tough links of Carnoustie.

Lawrie said: “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.”

Related: Past Open Winners At Carnoustie

Sam Locke with his father who is his caddie for the Open week (Getty Images)

Locke's father also plays a significant role in his golf, coaching him from when he first started to play the game and acting as his caddy for this week at The Open.

Locke said; "My dad's on the bag this week. He's my coach as well. So it was quite nice for him, nice for me, I think, to let him do it and just a cool experience, obviously, father and son doing it". 

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His playing partners for both days were American Brandt Snedeker and Australian Cameron Davis.

When asked how they got on Locke said; "We got along great. Obviously, whoever I play with this week I'm going to learn a lot from them. So, no, I think you've got, as an amateur, do the best you can, but also soak up as much as you can from the whole experience. And obviously, just learning from the way the other guys deal with it because they've been and done it for years. Yeah, it was good fun."

Locke shot a 36-hole +3 and had a nervous wait to see if he would make the cut, but the tricky conditions meant that with a couple hours of play left the mark moved to his number and didn't move back.

"I felt I had to dig quite deep to get some of it back. Nice birdies there on 13, 14, and 15. When I felt I didn't really hit it good at all off the tee. So it was quite a tall ask to do that, so I was pretty pleased with myself to be honest. Poor finish again, but hopefully we'll just sneak in by one. We'll see"

Locke was right. He did make it by one.

When asked about the Silver Medal he said " I don't know how other amateurs are getting on. But hopefully, I'm here for the next two days and just keep doing the best I can."

Well as he was the only amateur to make the cut it was huge congratulations to Sam Locke as he will be there at the prize giving on Sunday evening, alongside whoever wins the Claret Jug.

The Golf Monthly team are at Carnoustie all week so check out the Golf Monthly website and the social media channels for all the latest.

Sam Tremlett
E-commerce Editor

A golfer for most of his life, Sam is a Senior Staff Writer for Golf Monthly. 

Working with golf gear and equipment over the last six years, Sam has quickly built outstanding knowledge and expertise on golf products ranging from drivers, to balls, to shoes. 

He combines this knowledge with a passion for helping golfers get the best gear for them, and as such Sam manages a team of writers that look to deliver the most accurate and informative reviews and buying advice. This is so the reader can find exactly what they are looking for.


Sam now spends most of his time testing and looking after golf gear content for the website, whilst he is also responsible for all content related to golf apparel. 

He also oversees all Tour player content as well so if you need to know what clubs Tiger or Rory has in play, Sam is the person to ask. 

Unfortunately, Sam is not a member of any club at the moment but regularly gets out on the golf course to keep up the facade of having a handicap of five. 


Sam's What's In The Bag: 

Driver: Titleist TS3 (9 degrees) 

Fairway Wood: Callaway Paradym (15 degrees), Nike Covert Tour 2.0 (19 degrees) 

Irons (4-PW): Titleist AP2 

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 54˚, 58˚ 

Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 

Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond

Shoes: G/FORE Gallivanter/Nike Air Zoom Infinity NEXT%/Cuater The Ringer